News Roundup, 4/24/08: Pennsylvania Primary Spin Day

After Clinton's definitive victory in the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday, it stands to reason that the news cycle yesterday would be dominated by analysis.

Some folks noted that Clinton had met the threshold that the media seemed to have settled on earlier for being a real contender, that being a ten-point victory margin; some basically called the primary victory a push, because even having met that criterion means the expectations game wasn't blown out, and some outlets (MSNBC and Huffington Post, I'm looking at you) seemed to think that Clinton's 10-point victory indicated that she should drop out of the race. I don't know — I'm a numbers guy, so that boggled my mind just a bit.

So I'll leave the margin of victory alone to be judged on by your own criteria, and instead note a number that is a little less prone to parsing: Terry McCauliffe went on TV yesterday to announce that the Clinton campaign had raised $10 million online from "50,000 brand new donors." That's one serious chunk of change, and a very well-timed wind under Clinton's sails ramping up to North Carolina.

General David Petraeus looks to be likely to get a promotion pretty soon. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended Petraeus for the currently vacant position of head of Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East. The position was previously held by Admiral William Fallon, who stepped down amidst controversy over some comments which were interpreted as his being against the Bush administrations' considering the use of military force to curb nuclear activities in Iran.

The issue of Petraeus getting the CENTCOM commander nod probably worries some people, particularly in the light of the administration's gestures toward Iran, but there's plenty of other countries in the Middle East to invade. There have been some closed-door meetings in Congress with the C.I.A., and, as closed-door meetings tend to do, news on them leaked yesterday. Apparently, they have found what they suspect to be a nuclear reactor in Syria that they believe was built with help from the North Koreans.

We here at the Blue were big fans of the Rockridge Institute. Their emphasis on the importance of one's cognitive frame in their interpretation of politics and how they process what they hear is something that we should have been talking about decades ago. But sadly, the Rockridge Institute is shutting its doors. They cite financial troubles for closing down, but their parting address is a valuable read as to the immensity of the work still left to do.

And finally yesterday, we interview Matt Angle, the founder of the Lone Star Project that made waves recently for tracking State Senator Kim Brimer's use of campaign funds to pay "rent" to his wife for a condo that they later sold for a large profit. The story of the hubris of the Republican state senator and his lack of accountability makes for a good listen.