As many are aware Senator Obama raised $52 million in June.  While that is the number being used in the media and in some of the diaries/stories on this site, actually the most important number to watch is Senator Obama's cash on hand.  Why you may ask, I well explain below.

Rasmussen has released a poll today for North Carolina showing the state is still very much in play.

Rasmussen 7/17/08 (6/12 numbers in parenthesis)

McCain  45 (45)
Obama   42 (43)

Rasmussen also then asked those still undecided which way they leaned, with leaners the numbers are

McCain 48
Obama  45

I'm sure this has been diaried already but PPP came out with a poll yesterday for South Carolina showing McCain leading Obama by 6 points:  45 to 39.

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/...

That, however, is not the interesting part as the cross-tabs reveal something much more interesting.

This is the second part in my continuing series collecting together the lastest voter registration numbers in various key states for this fall's coming Presidential election. I gained all the information listed below from government databases available for the public.  As you will notice when reviewing the numbers, some states do not provide breakdown of voter registration by party.  Some do, however, breakdown registration by race.  Given the wide gap in support (as exhibited by polls) of support for Senator Obama by African-Americans, I have used this measure as a proxy for new Democratic party registration in those states that do not give partisan breakdown.  Some states, however, do not even give this type of breakdown, leaving me to simply report the raw numbers without any indication who these newly registered voters are (Dems, Reps., Independents, etc.,).  Even more problematic some states (Ohio being the most glaring example) do not even give out voter registration numbers that are more current than the 2006 mid-term elections.  With that said, here are the numbers:

Remember earlier when kos said that Obama's initial ad buy was in artillery terms a "spot" round and would be followed up by him "firing for effect" (meaning more ad buys) in those states where reports came back showing whether the initial "spot" round was having an effect.  Looks like the McCain camp has beaten Obama to it and has admitted that Obama's VA ad buy is having an effect.  How do I know:  McCain is going up on the air in VA!

I've gotten a lot of grief lately for my prediction back in May that when Obama released his May fundraising totals they would only come in a little over $20 million.  My prediction was based on looking at Obama's fundraising totals for the months of February, March, and April and noticing a disturbing trend of him raising approximately $10 million less each month.  Applying that trend forward I came up with my May prediction.  Having said all that is there a new trend developing?

Dispite the misleading headline in US News and World Report, they released a national poll today that should make Obama supporters very pleased.  More after the jump.

Rasmussen released a poll this evening for Georgia showing only a slight uptick in Obama's numbers.

As you may have read in the New York Times yesterday Senator Obama's campaign is making an effort to run essentially a 26-state strategy of "battleground states" for the general election.  I use the term battleground not in the sense that there are 26 toss up states, but counting all the states that lean to one candidate or the other plus the ones where things right now are neck and neck there are approximately 26 states in play this election cycle (at least at this point in the general election, things do whittle themselves down as the campaign progresses).  One of the key elements to moving these states into the blue column this year will be voter registration drives.  More after the jump.

Superdelegate Yvonne Gates endorsed Senator Obama today (well okay during the wee hours of Sunday, June 1, 2008).

Just a quick diary, but today it was announced that the United Mine Workers have endorsed Senator Obama.  More after the jump.

Looks like one of McSame's campaign staffers was also working for an anti-Obama 527.  The staffer has been asked to resign his post, but the fact that the McSame campaign links with anti-Obama 527s is so express and explicit certainly calls into question McSame's sincerity in running a "clean and substantive campaign" by not resorting to "negative" attacks.  His campaign staff may be filled to the rafters with people who are moonlighting (I'm being charitable, as I suspect it is done with a nod and wink from the campaign itself) for 527s.  It also calls into question any future statement from the campaign that it does not have control over a 527 ad that may come up in the future.

http://www.politico.com/...

There has been a lot of talk, most notably from Clinton supporters, that the DNC Rules Committee meeting on May 31st will be crucial in deciding whose the nominee.  But according to my calculations the question of who the nominee is may be a moot point by then.  More after the jump.

The Washington Post is reporting tonight that a Maryland pledged delegate, Jack Johnson, has switched from being a pledged delegate for Sen Clinton to one supporting Sen Obama.  I'm sure this will be intersting news for the morning news cycle.  

A new poll out today by Rasmussen shows McCain with only a 3 point lead over Senator Obama (48 to 45).  By any measure this shows that North Carolina is more than just a state "on the bubble" but is a real swing state this year.  The link is provided below:

http://news.yahoo.com/...

A good bellweather of Senator Obama's chances will be the US Senate race between Dole and Hagan.  If Hagan makes it really close or wins I think this will bode well for Senator Obama's chances of winning North Carolina in the fall.

Similarly, Rasmussen has a poll out today showing Senator Obama within three points of McCain in Virginia (47 McCain to 44 Obama).  The link to that poll is provided below:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...

Just a quick diary.

It is being reported that Congressman Donald Payne of New Jersey has switched his endorsement from Clinton to Obama.

The link to the news story is below:

http://www.nj.com/...

I have a sneaking suspicion that there may be a large number of supers coming out tomorrow.  Friday annoucements are the best way to frame the discussion for the Sunday talk shows.

I'm busy at work, but I ran across this information and noticed it had not been diaried yet so I decided to put it up and pass it along.

Rasmussen has released a poll today for North Carolina showing Senator Obama with a 23 point lead over Senator Clinton.  Last month, Rasmussen showed Senator Obama with only a 7 point lead (47 to 40).  

The reason --- Senator Clinton is losing support among white voters (last month she had a 20 point advantage, today it is only a 9 point advantage) and Senator Obama is further consolidating his lead among African American voters (last month he enjoyed a fifty-five point advantage, today it is a whopping seventy point advantage -- 81 to 9).

The link is below

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...