Democratic schism could put some Clinton loyalists in McCain's camp
Hillary Clinton's loyalists appear to be hardening in their disdain for Barack Obama as he gets closer to the Democratic nomination.
Fewer than half of Clinton supporters in both Indiana and North Carolina said they would vote for Obama in November, according to exit polls. Instead, most said they would vote for presumptive Republican John McCain - or just stay home. Even though voters say that Clinton has run the more negative campaign, Obama backers are significantly more supportive of Clinton if she were to be the nominee.
Analysts say that polls in the heat of the primary campaign don't reflect what will happen in November, and Obama's campaign insists Clinton supporters will return to the fold.
Still, McCain's campaign is jumping on the numbers. Campaign manager Rick Davis issued a lengthy, figure-filled memo yesterday that says as many as one in five Democrats - the vast majority of them Clinton supporters - will defect and support McCain against Obama.
"If and when Senator Obama becomes the official nominee, Democratic Primary voters may not form a tight coalition immediately," the memo says. "Data to date suggest Democratic Primary voters will not blindly support Senator Obama."
FOON RHEE
Limbaugh backs Obama as preferred GOP opponent
Talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who for weeks has promoted Hillary Clinton to keep the Democratic race going, changed course yesterday and pushed Barack Obama.
Obama would be the weakest nominee, Limbaugh declared, telling listeners that Obama "has shown he cannot get the votes Democrats need to win - blue-collar, working-class people. He can get effete snobs, he can get wealthy academics, he can get the young, and he can get the black vote, but Democrats do not win with that."
"He will lose big," Limbaugh predicted.
Limbaugh, who credits his "Operation Chaos" for Republicans crossing over to support Clinton in open primaries such as the one in Indiana on Tuesday - "released" Democratic superdelegates to "get in the tank" for Obama, but also urged Clinton to stay in the race.
"You've come too far to quit," he said.
FOON RHEE
Tally shows Indiana ID law did not dampen turnout
Indiana's controversial photo identification rule did not appear to make a major dent in the state's high turnout, or cause confusion at the polls as some elections specialists feared.
More than 1.6 million votes were cast Tuesday in the presidential primaries with nearly all precincts reporting, according to an unofficial tally by the Associated Press. That smashed the 1992 primary turnout of a little more than 1 million votes.
The Republican-led photo ID law was designed to combat ballot fraud, but critics said it disproportionately affected minorities and elderly voters. Last month, the US Supreme Court ruled that the law did not violate the Constitution.
A group of voting rights advocates who established a hotline reported receiving several calls from would-be voters who were turned away at precincts because they lacked state or federal identification bearing a photograph.
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