Following Willy Cunningham's incident at today's McCain rally, he now says he has "had enough of McCain" and may support Nader (click here for video). Earlier he even said he may support Hillary Clinton.
(on a side note, it is so much fun living in our new election Mecca. 2004. and now 2008, Ohio is the center of the political races)
While Clinton still has the lead, there is an even more interesting part of this poll. If you look at it by region, she is gaining a lot of her support from the Columbus area:
| Toledo A | Dayton A | Cincinna | Columbus | Clevelan | SE Ohio | |
| Clinton | 46% | 43% | 43% | 62% | 48% | 56% |
| Obama | 45% | 52% | 53% | 33% | 45% | 43% |
Obama is within the MOE in Toledo and Cleveland. If he picks up those two areas then he could feasibly win the delegate race in Ohio. To help give you a better idea of the delegate layout in Ohio, here is a map:
Below the fold is various clips of Cunningham spewing off at the mouth today. Huffington Post also highlights some of Cunningham's low points, as well as other Republicans coming out to denounce him.
Willy Cunningham is Cincinnati's own version of Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter all wrapped into one. Wait - he is probably worse than that. Anyways, the McCain campaign decided to have him speak at an event today. Here is what happened:
Republican John McCain quickly denounced the comments of a radio talk show host who while warming up a campaign crowd referred repeatedly to Barack Hussein Obama and called the Democrat a "hack, Chicago-style" politician.
Hussein is Obama's middle name, but talk show host Bill Cunningham used it three times as he addressed the crowd before the likely Republican nominee's appearance.
"Now we have a hack, Chicago-style Daley politician who is picturing himself as change. When he gets done with you, all you're going to have in your pocket is change," Cunningham said as the audience roared.
The time will come, Cunningham added, when the media will "peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama" and tell the truth about his relationship with indicted fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko and how Obama got "sweetheart deals" in Chicago.
McCain wasn't on stage nor in the building when Cunningham made the comments, but he quickly distanced himself from them and the talk show host after finishing his speech. McCain spoke to a couple hundred people at Memorial Hall in downtown Cincinnati.
This isn't the first time Cunningham has drawn fire for his actions. Following the riots in Cincinnati, racial tensions were high. How did Cunningham respond when an African American die in police custody?
Last night Dan Abrams talked about the 60 Minutes report that Karl Rove was behind the prosecution and conviction of former Al. governor Don Siegelman. At the end of the segment he called on Michael Mukasey to investigate the whole matter.
On a personal note I got to say I am really becoming an Abrams fan. I didn't care for him much in the olden days (before he ran MSNBC), but now he seems to becoming more proactive and fed up with our current system of injustice.
E.J. Dionne has an excellent piece over at The New Republic. He points out that the New York Times was a little careless in possibly trying to paint a picture that McCain and Iseman had some sort of sexual relationship, but that it still does point out his deep involvement with lobbyists. McCain's own denials since this story first emerged has also lead him into more trouble.
The Politico answers that:
Democratic leaders have vowed to work through their differences in the coming weeks and held a series of meetings last week to try to forge a compromise. Although the White House said Friday that the nation was losing intelligence as a result of the act's expiration - a claim it subsequently softened - Republicans boycotted the talks, saying they were unnecessary and that the House should vote on the Senate-passed version of the bill.
So Republicans are doing their typical stomp the feet, temper-tantrum to try and get FISA passed the way they want. Good for the House Democrats on not blinking to the typical Republican bullying.
Rasmussen has a new poll out for Ohio and Hillary's lead has slipped to only 5% now. It looks like NAFTA is a key player in the decisions, which are hurting Hillary:
By a 53% to 14% margin, voters believe that Obama opposes NAFTA while there are mixed perceptions on where Clinton stands. Thirty-five percent (35%) believe she favors NAFTA, 31% believe she opposes it and 34% are not sure. This issue is critical in a state that has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs. Politically, these lower-income voters have generally supportive of Clinton throughout the primary season.
I can attest to this being a big issue in Ohio. This state has taken a serious hit from NAFTA. Jobs have left this state at a record pace, and if Obama continues to show how Hillary supported NAFTA then she can count on losing this state.
He has published a list of pointers for McCain when it comes to taking on Obama. Here are a couple of highlights:
6. Allow some supporters to risk being accused of using the race card when criticizing Obama.
11. Emphasize Barack Hussein Obama's unusual name and exotic background through a Manchurian Candidate prism.
Maybe McCain should listen to Halperin. This would really emphasis how the Republican party is the party of old white men.
I guess John McCain should just concede to the Democrats now:
About 8,000 of the 30,000 "surge" troops sent to Iraq in 2007 will not go home as planned this summer, the Pentagon said Monday.
Support troops -- including helicopter crews, supply units, military police and headquarters staff -- will still be needed when the additional combat units return home, said Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, the chief of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In particular, U.S. troops are still needed to guard Iraqi prisons, he said.
"The transfer of responsibility for detention operations has not progressed as rapidly as we would like to the Iraqis, so there's a need to have that force sustained, as well," Ham said.
The war that keeps on going.
