If you delve into the internals of the new Quinnipiac poll (the one which shows a 7% Obama lead for the GE), there's an interesting tidbit...

Last weekend, I read the fascinating book The Political Brain, by Drew Westen.  Drew is a trained psychologist, and believes the "theory of mind" political professionals who work for Democrats have developed is totally, utterly wrong.  To simplify his thesis, no voters(not even well-educated ones) make voting decisions by rationally weighing where the candidates stand on the issues.  Instead, people begin with their emotional feelings towards a candidate, and then rationalize reasons why they support a given candidate.

I think it tells us a lot about what has gone on during this primary fight...  

On the Front Page right now, Jerome is suggesting, that Obama is systematically losing the white vote.  The problem is there is no data to back this up.  Let's take a look at the CNN exits...

Jerome, quite rightly, mentioned on the front page that Obama over-performed among many groups in Indiana, including liberals, white voters, and white democrats.  However, he misses the most obvious shift, Clinton's dramatic drop in support among women.  

Over the past day or two, there have been a number of different diaries pleading for civility on MyDD.  While I think it's important that there is a "walk back" from the precipice, I think it's even more important for everyone, regardless of who they support, to question their underlying assumptions.  So I offer these questions to the crowd.    

I wrote a draft of this post yesterday, before the NYT story broke, only to have it lost.  But I wanted to engage with the MyDD community on this question regardless.  Why are so many people scared of McCain?  He seems to me to be an astonishingly weak candidate, for the following reasons.  Some of these are predicated on a McCain versus Obama race, but all but two I think apply equally if Clinton manages to turn things around.  

I realize this site has become a Hillary Clinton leaning site, and I realize that a lot of you are feeling pessimistic now, but please, think of the ultimate goal - not having a McCain as president in 2009.  

I'm totally pulling some of this out of my ass, based upon what I know about the states involved and the demographics.  But my two cents...