Some March Madness history for you: On this day in 1939 Oregon defeats Ohio State in the first NCAA championship. At the time, only eight teams were invited to the tournament. On to today's top stories:
"Democrats Are Tied in New Poll" (Jackie Calmes, Wall Street Journal) Lots of stuff to mull over in this one. Not only does it seem as if Barack Obama has weathered the Wright scandal (at least among Democrats), but Hillary Clinton's favorability rating has dropped to its lowest point in the WSJ poll (37%).
"Democrats' Party Divide Runs Deep" (Christina Bellantoni, Washington Times) A new Gallup poll finds that 28% of Clinton supporters and 19% of Obama supporters would not vote for the other candidate in the general election. If those numbers hold by November, McCain could take the rest of the year off. They won't hold, but that doesn't mean the Democrats have nothing to worry about.
"Clinton Donors Warn on Superdelegate Fight" (Jeff Zeleny, New York Times) Now Clinton donors are threatening the House Speaker? The letter they sent to Nancy Pelosi in many ways confirms the worst fears of the party bigwigs -- that Clinton will fight on until the bitter end, without regard for the party's prospects.
"McCain Outlines Foreign Policy" (Michael Shear, Washington Post) Calling himself a "realist idealist," John McCain attempted to square the Iraq war, which he supports without reservation, to a more multilateral foreign-policy. Call it McCain's way to distance himself from the Bush administration.
"Obama Criticizes McCain on Mortgage Crisis" (Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times) Obama took a break from the primary battle with Clinton to go after McCain on the economy. Talking about McCain's economic speech from the day before, Obama said "It's the road George Bush has taken...for the last eight years."
"Federal judge: Michigan's Presidential Primary Law Unconstitutional" (Gordon Trowbridge, Detroit Free Press) Take your pick: One side says this essentially ends all hopes of a re-vote; the other side, the Clinton side, says it makes a re-vote that much more imperative.
"McCain's Senate Record Not Always Conservative" (David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers) We can laugh at the headline and say, "Duh," but the deeper point behind it is that Republicans aren't exactly unified behind McCain's candidacy. It's not as bad as over on the Democratic side, but the goal is the same: McCain still has to unify the party before the fall.
"GOP Looks to ‘McCain Democrats'" (David Paul Kuhn, The Politico) Pitting McCain against his opponents polling finds more cross-over support for McCain than for either Democrat. These then are the "McCain Democrats," whom McCain will need to win. Judging by the Gallup poll mentioned above, McCain would also get a nice boost from the other party should Obama become the nominee.
"Phila. Democrats Might Not Endorse Clinton or Obama" (Marcia Gelbart, Philadelphia Inquirer) So high are tensions between Clinton and Obama supporters that many Philly ward leaders are declining to endorse either one for fear of enraging the other side.
Get today's other election stories at RCP's Politics and Election page.
