News Roundup, 3/3/08: Tomorrow is Primary Day

Last week was a hard one in the news and the weekend was no exception. If you've been waiting for some sort of news bombshell to drop, for good or ill, you were likely disappointed, unless stories about weak fundraising performance by John McCain or possible legal squabbles are included in what you were looking for.

The weak fundraising was on John McCain's part, who is going to have to come into some serious money in a serious way before summer if he is to avoid getting stomped on in the resources game by the Democratic nominee. In a month when Clinton says she raised $35 million and Obama claimed more than that, John McCain only just broke double digits, getting to $12 million. It must be a sobering realization that you are not only being more than doubled by the opposition in fundraising, but that they are raising four times the money you raise with ease. And this is after you started doing significantly better than you had been able to manage before you were the frontrunner.

John McCain also walked a very thin line with the conservative / religious crowd last week, and showed the electorate what it looks like when one runs out of options save for baring the teeth and hunkering down for defense. John Hagee is seeking to be the unreasonable, shrill inheritor of the unreasonable, shrill thrones occupied by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, and he pushes even those august envelopes in his various quotes and protestations. And he also endorsed John McCain, who did not do much to distance himself from Hagee.

In news about the guy currently occupying the White House, Attorney General Mukasey unceremoniously confirmed all our suspicions when he announced he would not be pursuing the charges against Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers brought by the House for contempt, saying they did nothing wrong. The House is pursuing other methods, but (and I'm sure I'm not the first to make this joke) can't we get a little justice from the Justice Department?

There were some uncomfortable moments Thursday night and Friday when reports surfaced about possible litigation by one or both of the Democratic presidential campaigns over the caucus process. TDP Counsel Chad Dunn sent a letter to the campaigns counseling against litigation, making the point that it would damage the Democratic momentum andd energy in Texas. The idea seems to have gone dormant, at least over the weekend, but you never know what tomorrow will bring.

The media, as always, played a big role in presidential politics over the weekend, with some strange departures. Senator Clinton appeared on Saturday Night Live and I think the media may actually be taking the satire concerning possible bias against Clinton to heart. Oh yeah, and the Dallas Morning News endorsed Mike Huckabee while admitting he has no chance to win.

We gathered together some polling data on Friday, and everything looked very close, with some positive trends for Clinton in some polls and some 4-5 point leads for Obama in others. In purely technical terms, it is safe to say that this one will be a squeaker, and you can bet that more polling data will come out today.

Finally, we had some moments from some of last week's Obama and Clinton rallies in Texas. Obama had a funny bit in Fort Worth about George Bush coming back to Texas, and we have a collection of images from Clinton's Saturday rally at Fair Park in Dallas. With all this activity and excitement in Democratic politics, is it any wonder that people are starting to think Texas might be in play in November?