Did you get a bet on in the new PMQs market? With the two tabloids that are reckoned to have the most impact on public opinion, the Mail and the Sun, leading on the legal bid by the Speaker to stop MPs expenses being made public could David Cameron be considering this as his first line of attack at PMQs this lunchtime? The Tory leader has never been known to be shy when it comes to issues raised by the…
The story of Hillary’s version of a visit to Bosnia in 1996 and how she has been describing it has developed into the big story in the nomination race over the past couple of days. The CBS report above sums it up well interspersing footage taken at the time with what she said last week. The reference to Bosnia arose as part of her case that she has experience. For the moment this moves the story on from Obama’s Pastor…
Where’s the value in Ladbroke’s new market? Ladbrokes are sticking with the innovative new betting market on what Cameron’s first question will be at PMQs tomorrow. Reproduced above are the latest prices. My favourites are something to do with the London Mayoral election or a follow-up to Brown U-turn on the embryo bill free vote. Mike Smithson
Who’s won the lion’s share of Pennsylvania’s newly registered Dems? Since New Year’s Day 218,000 residents of Pennsylvania have filled in forms like the one reproduced above so that they will be eligible to vote in the crucial primary that takes place there on April 22nd. More than 120,000 of them are new voters while a further 86,000 others were existing voters who filled in Question 9 to register as Democrats. In addition 12,000 switched to become registered Republicans. All…
Creating a measure that puts Hillary ahead With Team Clinton desperately trying to get a foothold to further their argument with the super-delegates an ingenious plan has been put forward by one of Hillary’s key backers, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. His idea is simple – that “the super-delegates consider the electoral votes of the states that each of them has won.” He argued: “So who carried the states with the most Electoral College votes is an important factor to…
Would an independent loss to the Tories be a lot less damaging? Four and a half years ago Tony Blair went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that Labour would have a big result to shout about in what were to be the final national elections before the 2005 general election. He desperately wanted a victory for his party and the London Mayoral winner of four years earlier, Ken Livingstone, was brought back into the fold. In 2000, of course, he…
What could the row mean for his future in the job? The issue that’s dominating the UK political news this Easter is the threatened revolt by Labour MPs, including ministers, over the the Embryo bill that would allow the creation of part-human, part-animal embryos for research. According to the Observer three Cabinet minsters – Ruth Kelly, Des Browne and Paul Murphy – are “struggling to accept” parts of the bill’s provisions while there are some reports suggesting that upto twelve…
The latest Gallup daily tracker showing the trend in the race for the Democratic nomination, just out, has that the front-runner and odds-on favourite, Barack Obama, is back in the lead following a difficult week when the news had been dominated by Pastor Wright. This is important because the key battle in the coming days and weeks is going to be convincing the super-delegates that his relationship with his pastor does not make him an electoral liability. A big development…