Obama's Street Cred

"Democratic Party officials and insiders known as superdelegates are jumping to Barack Obama's camp or signaling that's where they are headed, including such prominent figures as former President Jimmy Carter. Some superdelegates who back Clinton have begun laying out scenarios under which they would abandon her for Obama.

" 'My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama,' Carter told a Nigerian newspaper during a visit to Africa. 'As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess.' "

McCain will have something to say about how Obama is perceived, in the opinion of Atlantic's Marc Ambinder:

"The polling, and the developing strategy, hinges on McCain's convincing those Obama-loving independents that McCain is known commodity who embodies change and that Obama's story is just that -- a story and his rhetoric is mere words. Obama may run on his biography, but McCain will run as biography; he is who he says he is; you know him; you trust him; and you're comfortable with him. McCain is an open book; Obama is . . . well, more of a mystery.

"There's a deeper, more holistic messaging attempt at work. McCain often likes to say that the country owes him nothing, but McCain owes the country everything. By contrast, McCain advisers believe that Obama's core message is arrogance: America has problems, and only Obama can fix them; he deserves the presidency."

As for the McCain persona, National Review's Jim Geraghty, citing a report in The Hill that a second McCain son may be fighting in Iraq by fall, says:

"Go ahead, lefty bloggers. Call the man a crazed warmonger . . . Try to tell the American people that he would push for a dangerous policy that he didn't really believe in while his sons are in harm's way. See how that plays with the electorate at large."

David Brody:

"To think that Evangelicals will just head to the polls and choose McCain as the lesser of two evils is not only a foolhardy strategy, it could cost him the election.

"Look, McCain has a bill of goods to sell to social conservatives. I won't list all of that here but campaign finance reform and his support for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research hurt him with Evangelicals but he may also have a perception problem. John McCain doesn't come off as the warmest guy in the world. Plus, throw in the 'agents of intolerance' remark made in 2000 which some have not forgotten and you have a recipe for apathy. It may not hurt him as much if Hillary Clinton is the nominee but running against Barack Obama will be different. Obama is seen as a dynamic, smiling presence that isn't afraid to talk about his faith."

In Round 79, a Clinton associate counters the story that Hillary told Bill Richardson that Obama can't win by counterpunching with Mark Halperin: "Bill Richardson is clearly embarrassed that he broke his promise to them. He should come out and tell the truth and admit that he told both Clintons that Obama wasn't ready and can't win."

The White House plays a little gotcha with the NYT: