Obama Now Ahead in NH Polls

Looks like his win in Iowa answered that electability question.

From CNN:

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) — MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) — Two days before New Hampshire's Democratic primary, Sen. Barack Obama has opened a double-digit lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton in that state, a new CNN-WMUR poll found Sunday.

Obama, the first-term senator from Illinois who won last week's Iowa caucuses, led the New York senator and former first lady 39 percent to 29 percent in a poll conducted Saturday and Sunday — a sharp change from a poll out Saturday that showed the Democratic front-runners tied at 33 percent.

Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is at 16 percent in the new survey, down four points from Saturday. Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico is in fourth place, with the support of 7 percent of likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters, with Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio at 2 percent.

A USA Today poll confirms this but also shows that Huckabee isn't receiving a similar boost from his win. Both show McCain in almost a dead heat with Romney.

The rundowns:

Democrats.

• Obama: 41%; up from 32% in the last USA TODAY/Gallup New Hampshire poll, taken in mid-December.
• Clinton: 28%; down from 32%.
• John Edwards: 19%; up from 18%.
• Gov. Bill Richardson: 6%; down from 8%.
• No one else above 3%.

Republicans.

• McCain: 34%; up from 27% in mid-December.
• Romney: 30%; down from 34%.
• Mike Huckabee: 13%; up from 9%.
• Rep. Ron Paul: 8%; down from 9%.
• Rudy Giuliani: 8%; down from 11%.
• No one else above 3%.

If I were betting on this race I'd put my money on Obama and McCain due to their broader appeal to independents. However Clinton has invested serious money and manpower in New Hampshire and it may pay off for her. NH is the least predictable of the early primary states after all. One thing I'm certain of is that if Obama wins NH he'll also win South Carolina. If he can win all three he'll have the momentum he needs to go toe to toe with Clinton on Super Tuesday.

h/t to Memeorandum

Obama Vs Hillary - The Musical

Funny though, I would have thought that Clinton's singing voice would have been shriller somehow.

H/T The Daily Dish

Obama: Don't stay in Iraq over genocide

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

"Well, look, if that's the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now — where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife — which we haven't done," Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"We would be deploying unilaterally and occupying the Sudan, which we haven't done. Those of us who care about Darfur don't think it would be a good idea," he said.
(snip)
"We have not lost a military battle in Iraq. So when people say if we leave, we will lose, they're asking the wrong question," he said. "We cannot achieve a stable Iraq with a military. We could be fighting there for the next decade."

Obama said the answer to Iraq — and other civil conflicts — lies in diplomacy.

"When you have civil conflict like this, military efforts and protective forces can play an important role, especially if they're under an international mandate as opposed to simply a U.S. mandate. But you can't solve the underlying problem at the end of a barrel of a gun," he said. "There's got to be a deliberate and constant diplomatic effort to get the various factions to recognize that they are better off arriving at a peaceful resolution of their conflicts." full article

He's almost has a point there but it skips the fact that we didn't directly cause the problems in Chad and Sudan. However provided he (or anyone) were to start the aforementioned diplomatic process months prior to any withdrawal, that would be a plan I could get behind. Mr. Obama's plan, while sparse on details, at least sounds more like a plan than a talking point.

Risqué YouTube Song Takes Obama Campaign by Surprise

From ABC News:

June 13, 2007 —

An amusing, risqué music video, featuring a nubile young woman breathlessly singing her love for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., appeared on the Web this week. Titled "I Got a Crush on Obama," the song and video took the Obama campaign by surprise and further demonstrated how the democratic nature of the Internet  specifically Internet video on sites such as YouTube is affecting politics in unpredictable ways.

"Hey, 'B,' it's me," a woman who calls herself "Obama girl" murmurs amorously into a phone at the beginning of the slow jam. "If you're there, pick up. I was just watching you on C-SPAN."

The song and video goes on to poke racy fun at the way some voters have responded viscerally to both Obama's charisma and the personal nature of his political appeal. more

You'll note the absence of the "My name is Barack Obama and I approve of this message." at the end of this one.

Obama Requests Secret Service Detail

Hey, If I were the only candidate of color to ever stand a snowball's chance of being the president I'd be requesting a security detail too.