And McCain endorses ...

Who should John McCain root for in today's Democratic primary?

On the Weekly Standard blog, Jaime Sneider says McCain should root for Obama because the longer the Democratic race drags on, the less publicity McCain gets. If this is true, then McCain better hope for a decisive victory. A recent ABC poll found that most Democrats (67%) want Clinton to stay in the race if she loses either Texas or Ohio.

But Rush Limbaugh says McCain should want the Democratic fight to continue. The longer Clinton and Obama spend squabbling with each other, the less time they'll devote to attacking John McCain, says Limbaugh. This is why he urges Texas Republicans to vote for Clinton: "Cross over, pimp yourselves for a day, vote for Hillary to keep this campaign going, this uncivil war."

A month ago, Nicholas Kristof named Obama the stronger Democratic candidate because he appeals more to evangelicals, Republicans, Independents and swing voters. Both Republicans and Democrats agree that Obama will be harder to defeat. In a race between Clinton and McCain, Real Clear Politics finds a tie in most polls, but in a race against Obama, McCain might not fare so well. Obama is 4.6 points ahead of McCain on average, and a CBS/New York Times poll gave Obama a full 12-point lead.

But the general election isn't held today, and this election has seen its share of rises, falls and comebacks. In the beginning of 2007, Clinton was polling 34% to Obama's 17%. Now Obama leads and Clinton has counted eleven consecutive primary defeats. Giuliani, once favored as a frontrunner, dropped out without a delegate to his name. Kristof points out that in 1988, Michael Dukakis boasted a 17-point lead over George H.W. Bush --- four months before he lost the election.

Also, Obama is going down in the polls for the first time. Thanks perhaps in part to SNL ribbing and Slate.com mocking, the media seems to be breaking off its love affair with Obama. New York Daily News says Obama underwent "the toughest news conference of his campaign" yesterday. If Clinton can convince voters that Obama criticized NAFTA only for political gain, she'll hit Obama where it hurts the most, tarnishing his bright and shiny image as the candidate for hope.