via Politico

Biden's Mouth: Good for Obama?

Obviously, not good for Joe Biden.

But there's some interesting chatter today on whether this helps or hurts Obama.

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Some new polls have come out showing Hillary Clinton absolutely killing Barack Obama, among *black* voters. We seem to have a case here where a black candidate, Obama, is more popular among white voters than he is among black voters. And a white candidate, Hillary Clinton, who is evidently more popular among black voters than white voters.

Which brings up the question-- is Barack Obama's popularity among white voters actually hurting him among black voters? Do african american voters see Obama's white popularity as an indication that he's more white than he is black? When you hear black columnists calling Obama an "honorary white man", you get that impression.

via TPM Cafe & New York Observer

Joe Biden On Obama:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

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On LunchBox today, host Adam Green on: Barack Obama, Sam Brownback, John Edwards, John McCain, Tom Tancredo, Comptroller Candidates, Eliot Spitzer, Shelly Silver, Joe Bruno, Chris Callaghan and more...

 

John Edwards' speech at Riverside Church today was the most direct engagement yet in the 2008 Democratic primary, putting pressure on Hillary's considered stance on Iraq without, quite, mentioning her name. He's working hard to get to the anti-war left faster than Obama, and to confront those who disagree -- McCain and Clinton.

One odd political footnote to this: Whoever gets his way in the current fight over surge/escalation will likely pay in 2008 when -- under virtually all predictions -- Iraq remains awful. If it remains awful after a surge, blame McCain; if it's awful post-withdrawal, blame Edwards.

The Bush administration's gambit against big law firms whose associates (mostly) have been representing Gitmo detainees has the feel of a pre-election set-up. There's the FOIA request from Monica Crowley, the comment from a Pentagon official, Cully Stimson, and sort-of-distancing from more senior officials. You can see the attack coming: Hillary/Edwards/Obama has taken money from these law firms that represent terrorists. (Never mind that they have thousands of lawyers, etc.). The chilling effect on the lawyers is probably real, but there's also a political attack on Democrats here.

If I was writing for a newspaper this week, I'd probably be sticking this in there -- but in any case: Barack Obama has spent the last few days calling friends, select elected officials, and likely major donors to tell them he's running for president, according to a Democratic source.

He's also begun an Internet advertising campaign to build interest in his candidacy -- another sign that, at this point, his deliberation isn't much more than a pose. Looks like it'll be a fun year.