Meanwhile both Democratic candidates raised tens of millions more than Bush has…in fact Hillary claims (and we’ll have to take her word for it since you don’t report on a daily basis) she brought in over $10 million on the Internet in 48 hours.
Democratic candidates raise massive war chests

Generally it’s a phrase brought up to suggest the worst sort of pandering and demogoguery – and a willful avoidance of the hard economic issues facing the country.

Bush is on pace to raise significantly more money in 2008 for the Republican campaign committees than he did in 2007, according to Republican officials. Through the first four months of 2008, Bush has already raised more than half of what he took in last year for GOP candidates.

Since 2007 was not an election year, it’s not surprising Bush would raise more money in a year in which Americans will pick his successor. Still, the early 2008 totals show Bush could be a fundraising force for the GOP this summer and fall, even if polls show a minority of Americans approve of his presidency.

In 2007, Bush raised a total of $66.6 million for the Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the National Republican Congresssional Committee (NRCC) and individual Republican candidates.

Through April of this year, Bush has already attended events that have brought in $36.6 million for those committees and unnamed candidates.

The fundraising has some negatives, as it fuels attacks by Democrats on GOP candidates. For example, Democrats and liberal tax-exempt 527 organizations targeted Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) with ads last month after Bush attended a fundraiser for Connecticut Republicans.

Bush acknowledged the potential pitfall in a March press conference with presumptive Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). At the time, he said that there are parts of the country where his approval ratings and his presence might hurt a Republican candidate.

Still, the Democratic attacks haven’t kept Bush from being very much in demand.

Business

May 7, 2008, 7:49PM
Some oil companies reportedly settling MTBE suits

By DAVID GLOVIN
Bloomberg News

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ConocoPhillips, Shell, Marathon, Chevron and BP are among about a dozen oil companies that will pay $423 million to settle lawsuits brought by water suppliers in 17 states over contamination from the gasoline additive MTBE.

The suits claim the oil companies contaminated wells and underground aquifers across the country by adding methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. They claim the oil companies hid information showing MTBE would cause “massive” contamination.

The settlement was filed Wednesday with U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York, who is presiding over the 153 settled lawsuits brought by municipalities. The six oil companies and refineries that didn’t settle include Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company, according to Robert Gordon, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

My understanding is that probably today, but certainly within 48 hours, about 30 super-delegates will endorse Mr Obama. That should give him further momentum.

Very High Turnout in NC and Indiana

Extract ALL the Republican crossover from these two Democratic Primaries and the number of votes cast are much higher than the number Kerry got in the 2004 Presidential Election.

I’d like to point out another little item missed. TRUE 20-25% of Clinton voters said that they wouldn’t support Obama in the General election in the exit polls. But if many of these were the Republican Crossovers then these individuals may have voted for McCain in any case….and this is true whether or not they were part of “Operation Chaos”. They could genuinely believe that since McCain had won the nomination they’d vote for preference #2 (Clinton) in the Democratic race.

So let’s do some math. 10% of those voting in the Democratic race identified as “Republican”. Almost all voted for Clinton. Clinton won by 50% (which means she had 40% Dem and “true” independents+10% Rep). Thus 20% of her support were Republicans.

Now lemme see ~ 20-25% of her supporters say that they will defect to McCain , or not vote if Obama gets the nomination. Hmmm! So almost all Democrats and Independants will either vote for, or consider Obama (or if some of that group defects it’s balanced by an equal number of defecting Republicans from McCain’s side that actually voted in the primary).

Now re-read the article above…and think if the Republicans have a big problem on their hands!