Congressional Candidates Eye Obama's Coattails

Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright, left, with the Rev. Joseph Rembert, the Rev. Andrew Young and the Rev. Michael Thurman, may benefit from the Obama factor in his Democratic House bid. (By Regina H. Boone -- Detroit Free Press)

Marshall, whose 8th District went for President Bush with 61 percent of the vote in 2004, is a major Republican target after he won by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2006. Marshall could get a much-needed boost of a percentage point or two from Obama, given the district's 32 percent black population.

Spratt is further down the Republican target list despite the fact that his 5th District gave Bush 57 percent of the vote in 2004. Should a serious challenger emerge, which remains doubtful, Spratt may well enjoy a cushion, thanks to the 32 percent African American population in his district.

Four to None in Pollsters

Modern presidential campaigns typically have pollsters aplenty to handle the scads of survey research conducted in the course of a primary or general election fight.

Obama, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has pollsters from four polling firms on staff: Cornell Belcher of Brilliant Corners, Paul Harstad of Harstad Strategic Research, Joel Benenson of the Benenson Strategy Group and David Binder of David Binder Research.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has none. That's right, the almost-certain Republican presidential nominee has no campaign pollster.

Why not?

It wasn't all that long ago -- six months or so -- that McCain's campaign hit rock bottom. He very nearly ran out of money and watched as his carefully recruited campaign team departed one by one. Bill McInturff, a founding partner of the influential Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies, was one of the casualties.

At the time, McInturff told ABC News that he still felt McCain was "by far the best Republican candidate for president" and cited the campaign's financial problems as the reason for his departure.

With the McCain campaign now far more financially flush and the GOP nomination all but locked up, speculation has surfaced that McInturff will re-up for the general election. McInturff has polled for McCain in three Senate races (1992, 1998 and 2004) and the 2000 presidential contest, and the two men still enjoy a warm relationship.

Contacted late last week about putting the band back together, McInturff said only: "I have not had a specific discussion with the campaign on that topic."

6 days: Wyoming holds its Democratic presidential caucuses. Even if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) wins Ohio and Texas on Tuesday, the Equality State is an almost-certain win for Obama.

176 days: Convention season begins. The Democrats kick off the festivities with four days in Denver; Republicans will gather in Minneapolis-St. Paul in early September.