Barack Obama told reporters today in Pennsylvania that he was not involved in yesterday's call by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a big supporter of his, that Hillary Clinton drop out of the race. "My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants. She is a fierce and formidable opponent, and she obviously believes she would make the best nominee and the best president."

Obama might be trying to dial back on the Hillary-should-drop notion that's been going around — such as in his own line yesterday that the Dem race is like a good movie that's gone on too long — perhaps because it could end up alienating voters in the remaining states.

Today is a big day in Texas: The Democratic district conventions, the second step in the caucus process. The district conventions will elect delegates to the state Democratic convention, which will in turn select the federal delegates.

The conventional wisdom going in is that Barack Obama will get enough projected delegates today to more than beat Hillary's four-delegate advantage from the state primary, thus crowning him the overall winner of the "prima-caucus" system. A clearer picture should emerge tonight, and we'll be updating when that happens.

Late Update: The latest numbers, with 31% of total delegates counted by Burnt Orange Report, stand at Obama 55%, Clinton 45%.

Late Late Update: With just under 40% of the delegate numbers in, it's Obama 58% to Clinton 42%.

Even Later Update: The Obama campaign has declared victory.

Today's Gallup tracking poll shows Obama maintaining a statistically significant lead over Hillary Clinton. Here are the numbers, compared to yesterday:

Obama 50% (+0)
Clinton 43% (+1)

And here are the general election match-ups, unchanged since yesterday:

McCain (R) 46%, Obama (D) 44%
McCain (R) 48%, Clinton (D) 44%

Barack Obama publicly alluded to the various calls for the Democratic race to be over soon, telling a Pittsburgh crowd today that the Democratic race was like "a good movie that lasted about a half an hour too long."

This has got to be a dicey subject for the Obama camp. On the one hand, they presumably want their surrogates to keep attention focused on the notion that she should drop out. But on the other hand, if they get a little too loud about it then they risk alienating voters in those states that have yet to vote, especially Pennsylvania.

Late Update: Hillary has responded by declaring simply, "I like long movies."

The push-back against calls for Hillary to drop out begins in earnest from the Hillary side with this statement just out from Hillary supporter Ed Rendell:

“I respect Senator Leahy and like him very much but as the governor of one of America’s largest states, I am disappointed in his comments. By virtually every measure, this race is neck and neck with less than 1% of the more than 27 million votes cast forming the difference between the two candidates. To call for an end to this race before the people of Pennsylvania have had a chance to make their views known is wrong and a disservice to millions of Democrats.”

Casting calls for her to drop out as a slight to Pennsylvania voters, obviously. Clearly, the Obama campaign has to take care not to associate itself with any calls for her to get out because it would galvanize Hillary's core supporters and give Camp Hillary an opening to claim that the Obama camp is dissing Pennsylvania.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has put out a statement clarifying his comments that Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race.

Leahy lays out his case that Barack Obama's delegate lead "appears to be insurmountable," and that dragging out the race is not good for the party, but acknowledges that she has every right to stay in...

"Senator Clinton has every right, but not a very good reason, to remain a candidate for as long as she wants to. As far as the delegate count and the interests of a Democratic victory in November go, there is not a very good reason for drawing this out. But as I have said before, that is a decision that only she can make."

Separately, here's what Hillary herself had to say on the trail today about the calls for her to drop out:

“There was a poll the other day that said 22 percent of Democrats wanted me to drop out and 22 percent wanted Senator Obama to drop out,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And 62 percent said let people vote until we finally know what the outcome is!”

The poll Hillary is referring to is here.

Asked on MSNBC moments ago about the calls coming from Obama supporters for Hillary to drop out of the race, Obama campaign national co-chair Bill Daley said...

"I don't think people should be calling on a candidate to drop out. The Clintons are smart people. I think it's very hard to see the numbers for them to pull this off..."

He added that eventually the Clintons would realize the game is over.

The Obama campaign doesn't want to be directly associated with demands that she leave the race right now, something that would politicize the calls for her to drop out and minimize the degree to which they're seen as being all about what's good for the party. Instead, the Obama campaign will hover above the fray while his surrogates -- and neutral parties -- do it for them.

Late Update: Here's video. Watching it again, I see that Daley does basically say that she'll be dropping out before the convention, which is as far as I've heard any Obama official go...

Barack Obama has a new ad in Indiana, a state widely believed to be an even bet between himself and Hillary Clinton. In the ad, Obama talks about how he'll work to fight plant closures and protect American jobs — a pitch clearly aimed at working-class white voters:

Obama is also on the air in North Carolina, which will vote along with Indiana on May 6, and where he's expected to come out on top:

Obama victories in both these two states would go a long way in forcing Hillary out, especially with Indiana not being viewed as automatic territory for either one of them — but the fact that he's already running these ads means he expects the contest to keep dragging on after Pennsylvania, where Hillary is expected to win on April 22.

This is intriguing -- the Hillary campaign is trying to fundraise off calls for her to get out of the race. In her latest fundraising email, Hillary writes:

Have you noticed the pattern?

Every time our campaign demonstrates its strength and resilience, people start to suggest we should end our pursuit of the Democratic nomination.

Those anxious to force us to the sidelines aren't doing it because they think we're going to lose the upcoming primaries. The fact is, they're reading the same polls we are, and they know we are in a position to win.

While snowballing calls for her to exit are the last thing Camp Hillary would want, her campaign will have to hope that they'll at least be able to use them to energize her most loyal supporters.

Today's Gallup tracking poll shows Barack Obama taking an eight-point lead over Hillary Clinton, beyond Gallup's three-point margin of error. Here are the numbers, compared to yesterday:

Obama 50% (+2)
Clinton 42% (-2)

Late Update: From Gallup's analysis:

Obama clearly has weathered the Wright storm, while the dark clouds have shifted to Clinton over whether she has exaggerated her foreign policy credentials. This week she has had to defend her repeated claim that she came under sniper fire while visiting Bosnia as first lady, which news video clearly disputed.

Time magazine has an interesting look at precisely what Hillary is thinking right now, as she ponders the very difficult decision as to whether to continue the race in the face of very daunting odds:

Clinton is well aware of the long odds she faces in the battle against Barack Obama for delegates. She knows that as the Democratic National Convention gets closer, the increasingly bitter back and forth between the two campaigns hurts Obama's chances of winning a general election and reinforces the image of the Clintons as a power-hungry couple who will do anything to win, even if they damage the Democratic Party.

But for the Clintons, quitting isn't an option...When Clinton closes her eyes, she sees John McCain triumphing in November against Obama in a contest she believes she would win. Like all competitive candidates, Clinton is certain she would be a better leader than her rivals, and she feels an obligation to her supporters to fight on.

Clinton believes Obama's support is largely a mirage -- a bunch of true believers whose passion might help him cinch the nomination, but that may prove an insufficient bedrock for winning a general election when the spell might be broken by tough questions about national-security credentials, economic-policy plans and rich experience. She can't stop from shaking her head in disbelief when longtime friends who are elected officials inform her that they are going to endorse Obama and were chiefly convinced by their children's enthusiasm for his candidacy...

According to those close to her, she is hoping that as spring becomes summer, the potential for finding another skeleton or two in Obama's closet will prove him ultimately unelectable in the fall...

Said a confidant who has talked to her regularly throughout the campaign: "This woman never quits. Neither she nor her husband." So don't expect this race to end anytime soon.

In other words, "saddle up."

Senator Patrick Leahy becomes the first prominent supporter of Obama to explicitly call on Hillary to get out of the race in an interview with Vermont Public Radio:

"There is no way that Senator Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination. She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama. Now, obviously that's a decision that only she can make. Frankly I feel that she would have a tremendous career in the Senate."

Just yesterday, Chris Dodd, also an Obama backer, said something similar, suggesting that party leaders should come together in April and force an end to this.

So the big question now is whether we're about to see the calls for Hillary to leave the race start snowballing -- and whether that will make any difference.

For the first time, Howard Dean has publicly called on the Dem candidates to make sure that the race doesn't last all the way to the convention.

"There is no point in waiting," Dean said, adding that despite the newly-found superiority in Democratic organization over the Republicans, "that all doesn't make any difference if people are really disenchanted or demoralized by a convention that's really ugly and nasty."

Dean also said he has privately spoken to the candidates and their supporters when the attacks have gotten too rough: "The supporters should keep their mouths shut about this stuff on both sides because that is harmful to the potential victory of a Democrat."

Late Update: Dean is now calling upon super-delegates to make their decisions between now and July 1:

(Via Ben Smith)

Speaking last night to volunteers in the Texas district conventions, Bill Clinton used perhaps the most blunt dismissal of caucus losses that we've yet seen — and seemingly setting up a scenario in which the Clinton campaign could lose even the aggregate popular vote, but justify battling on by way of only looking at the popular votes from primary states.

"Right now, among all the primary states, believe it or not, Hillary's only 16 votes behind in pledged delegates," said Bill, "and she's gonna wind up with the lead in the popular vote in the primary states. She's gonna wind up with the lead in the delegates."

John McCain is out with the first general-election ad for the season, putting this introductory spot up with an ad buy in New Mexico:

The announcer ends the ad with this new, ultra-patriotic slogan: "John McCain: The American president Americans have been waiting for."

Could the slogan be meant as a contrast against Barack Obama, with his foreign name and background?

During an appearance on The View set to air today, Barack Obama distanced himself from Jeremiah Wright in more explicit terms than he has until now, specifically saying that he would have left the church if not for Wright's retirement.

"Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying at the church," Obama said.

Late Update: Here's a YouTube of Obama's appearance:

Barack Obama is set to pick up a big endorsement today in Pennsylvania, that of Senator Bob Casey. With Hillary Clinton backed by almost the whole Democratic establishment in the state, Casey's support could potentially give Obama a decent leg up for the April 22 primary.

Also worth keeping in mind is that Casey had previously said he thought the best thing to do was remain publicly neutral — so his endorsement of Obama could potentially reflect a desire to end the primary race as soon as possible.

Here are the horse-race numbers from today's Pew Poll, as compared to the last poll from a month ago:

Obama 49% (+0)
Clinton 39% (-1)

The top-line results are something of an outlier compared to other polls that are out there — they mostly have the race essentially tied — but it's interesting to see that Pew has no significant movement since Hillary Clinton's March 4 comeback, not after the hits Obama took from the Jeremiah Wright controversy.

Also bear in mind, this poll was conducted after Obama's speech on race relations, which was intended to repair much of the Wright damage — but before Hillary's recent Bosnia controversies.

One question that the Wright controversy has raised is this: Did Obama see it coming?

Was the Obama campaign aware, or prepared for the eventuality, that such incendiary comments would be surfacing? Should it have been?

In an interview to air tomorrow on ABC, Obama addressed this in a strikingly straightforward way:

"I'm not vetting my pastor," Obama told "The View." "I didn't have a research team during the course of 20 years to go pull every sermon he's given and see if there's something offensive that he's said."

Obama may not be willing to do this, but you can bet that the Republicans are already doing it quite diligently, thank you very much.

To be clear, that's not a criticism of Obama. Presuming this is true, it's another sign that he's just not willing to approach this problem in a conventional political fashion, and is willing to accept the liabilities that accompany this decision -- or is perhaps confident that he can talk his way out of them.

A new InsiderAdvantage poll of North Carolina gives Barack Obama a sizable lead here of 49%-34% over Hillary Clinton for the May 6 primary — a bad sign for Hillary, since she would basically need to run the table in the remaining contests in order to seriously narrow Obama's advantage in pledged delegates.

From the internals: Obama leads 79%-16% among black voters, while Hillary is ahead 47%-33% among whites.

Yesterday I flagged a new Gallup poll showing that 28% of Hillary supporters say they'll flip to McCain if Obama is the Dem nominee, while only 19% of Obama supporters would do so if Hillary won.

Today, Pew has some new numbers out with different findings -- while sizable numbers would desert either candidate for McCain, there's no real imbalance between the two sides:

Among Clinton's backers, 32% say they would vote for McCain if Obama is the Democratic nominee, and among Obama's backers, 28% say the same if Clinton wins the primary race.

Pew qualifies...

Many of these "defections" come from independent voters who only lean Democratic. When the analysis is limited to those who identify themselves as Democrats, just 20% of Obama supporters say they would not vote for Clinton in the fall, and 25% of Clinton supporters would not vote for Obama.

Yesterday a number of readers wrote in to say that it's far too early to worry about such numbers. There's no question that they are partly a product of temporary circumstances -- lack of aggressive coverage of McCain; intense media scrutiny of both Dems; and the white-hot acrimony between the two Dem campaigns and some of their supporters.

Still, anyone who wants to see a Dem in the Oval Office in 2008 would be remiss for not viewing these figures with some concern.

Separately, the poll has tons of other interesting stuff -- it finds that Obama has basically weathered the Wright storm, though it also finds that persistently large numbers still wrongly believe he's a Muslim. Have at it.

After reviewing some of the comments the Clinton team made about the Pelosi letter on the conference call today, I realize I was remiss in not flagging another part of it: While Hillary advisers did say they didn't know what was in the letter until it was made public, they also declined to disavow the threatening aspect of it.

Asked on the call by The Huffington Post's Sam Stein whether the suggestion that the donors might withhold funds from the DCCC was "appropriate," Hillary spokesperson Phil Singer said:

"I think the letter speaks for itself. There's clearly a broad feeling among many Democrats, many people who are active in the party, that the role of superdelegates is to exercise independent judgment and make a decision based on what is best for the party and best for the country."

Singer seemed to be addressing the substance of the letter's argument about super-dels here, but nonetheless, he was directly asked whether the tacit threat was "appropriate," and didn't use the occasion to condemn it or disagree with it.

A bit later on the call, Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson said that folks with questions about this should pose them directly to the donors themselves and didn't directly disavow that aspect of the letter. He did add, however, that people at "every level" of the campaign "are absolutely committed" to "doing what we can to help create large Democratic majorities in 2008."

That letter to Nancy Pelosi from 20 Hillary fundraisers contained a veiled threat: Change your public posture on the role of the super-dels or you might see our money stop flowing into DCCC coffers.

The question now is: Did Hillary or any of her campaign officials participate in the writing of the letter or sign off on its content? Did she or the campaign approve a message tacitly threatening to dial back a commitment to building a lasting Democratic majority?

The Hillary campaign -- and one fundraiser who signed the letter -- say that the answer is an emphatic No.

"We got a heads up that it was being sent, and that was it," Hillary spokesperson Phil Singer said on a conference call with reporters moments ago. He also said: "We didn't know what was in it. Our supporters let us know that they were sending something."

Separately, one of the signatories of the letter -- someone I trust -- tells me that the letter was not written in consultation with the campaign. You all will make of this what you will, but that's what the person said.

As Josh noted last night, many of you readers have been writing in to say that the new NBC/WSJ poll oversampled African Americans in measuring voter reaction to the Wright controversy.

Now the pollster who did the poll has produced a new memo discussing the question and clarifying why it is that African Americans are not over-represented in their national sample.

Read it here.

Late Update: I've changed the headline above because the initial one was inaccurate.

Here, buried in this week's NBC/Wall Street Journal poll of registered, are some interesting numbers on the question of how Democrats would react if the super-delegates delivered the nomination to the candidate that isn't leading in the pledged-del count:

If One of the candidates loses among delegates selected by voters but still wins the nomination by winning among superdelegates, would you consider that nominee legitimate, would you consider that nominee NOT legitmate, or do you not have an opinion either way?

Would consider nominee legitimate 29%

Would consider nominee NOT legitimate 38%

No opinion either way 28%

My bet is that these numbers would shift dramatically, probably more towards Obama, if this were to suddenly loom as a real possibility and focus public attention on the argument over it.

This is a bit late, but here's the response from a Pelosi spokesperson to the letter from Clinton fundraisers demanding that she back off her position that the super-dels should support the winner if the pledged del count:

“Speaker Pelosi is confident that superdelegates will choose between Senators Clinton or Obama -- our two strong candidates -- before the convention in August. That choice will be based on many considerations, including respecting the decisions of millions of Americans who have voted in primaries and participated in caucuses. The Speaker believes it would do great harm to the Democratic Party if superdelegates are perceived to overturn the will of the voters. This has been her position throughout this primary season, regardless of who was ahead at any particular point in delegates or votes.”

This is close to Obama's position, but not identical to it. On the one hand, she's agreeing with Obama's assertion that going against the voters would damage the party.

But at the same time, she is also allowing for super-dels to base their choice on "many considerations," which is a departure from the Obama position that ultimately the only thing guiding their choice should be the pledged del count. In short, this reflects what appear to be Pelosi's efforts to appear neutral while tacitly supporting the Obama position.

In Obama's favor, also note that she's basically calling for the race to end before the convention.

We have the full text of Obama's big speech on the economy, after the jump.

In the speech, Obama criticizes the deregulation of the 1990s and the status quo of this decade as a poor alternative to what he says should have been done, replacing obsolete regulatory orders with modernized approaches. In the end, Obama stresses that government institutions that offer a safety net for the finance sector, such as the Federal Reserve, have to be balanced by businesses being accountable to the government that is ready to bail them out if something goes wrong.

Obama also takes aim at John McCain, a clear indication that he's ready to shift gears and take on McCain for the general election:

After months of inaction, the President spoke here in New York and warned against doing too much. His main proposal – extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans – is completely divorced from the reality that people are facing around the country. John McCain recently announced his own plan, and it amounts to little more than watching this crisis happen. While this is consistent with Senator McCain’s determination to run for George Bush’s third term, it won’t help families who are suffering, and it won’t help lift our economy out of recession.

The word "Clinton" does not occur once in the prepared remarks.

Full speech available after the jump.

Read more »

Barack Obama said last night that it would be better for the potential Democratic nominee to be able to shift into the general election, instead of letting a divisive primary last for months longer.

"I think giving whoever the nominee is two or three months to pivot into the general election would be extremely helpful, instead of having this drag up to the convention," Obama told reporters on board his plane.

It's possibly the closest he has come to openly wishing Hillary Clinton would drop out of the race, and perhaps even a nod-and-wink appeal to uncommitted super-delegates who might prefer that the race be over sooner rather than later.

Some cracks are starting to show in the dedication of Hillary Clinton super-delegates in Washington State, with some fearing that the drawn-out contest would damage the party for the general election.

"I don't think that people want a divisive, explosive convention," said King County Executive Ron Sims, a super-delegate supporting Hillary. "It will radiate defeat."

Another Hillary supporter, Sen. Maria Cantwell, declared earlier this week that "I definitely don’t want the super-delegates to be the deciding factor," and that the party should eventually come together around the candidate who has won the most delegates and most states.

Hillary Clinton said in a Fox News interview shown last night that the flap over her trip to Bosnia, and previous statements that she had come under sniper fire, are not what voters want to be talking about.

"I'm a human being. I made a mistake and owned up to it," Hillary told Greta Van Susteren. "But that's not what people talk to me about. When I'm out campaigning ... people want to talk about the economy and health care, and they want to know what are you going to do to get fix our country and get it back on track, and help my family and me.

"And that what I'm really engaged in. Because, you know, when you've been on a campaign for 14 months there's all kinds of other distractions, but at the end of the day this is a hiring decision."

Barack Obama is scheduled to give a big speech on the economy at 9:15 a.m. ET today, a push by his campaign to compete effectively on some of the bread-and-butter issues where Hillary Clinton has been shown to be ahead of him in many polls.

And here's a detail that should get a lot of attention: Obama will be introduced by none other than New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. It could get a lot of people asking if Bloomberg will be supporting Obama, now that he's completely ruled out any presidential aspirations of his own.

A new Quinnipiac poll of Connecticut gives Barack Obama a much firmer grip on the state than Hillary Clinton for the general election:

Clinton (D) 45%, McCain (R) 42%
Obama (D) 52%, McCain (R) 35%

From the internals: Obama wins independents 45%-38% over McCain, while McCain wins independents 48%-36% against Hillary.

Obama narrowly won the Connecticut primary on Super Tuesday, and has since picked up the endorsement of Sen. Chris Dodd — while John McCain is of course supported by the state's other Senator, Joe Lieberman.

The new NBC/WSJ survey has some interesting new polling of registered voters on the Wright controversy, finding that it's been a mixed bag for Obama:

On that issue specifically, 32% of folks said he "sufficiently addressed the issue," while 26% of those folks believe he needs to address the Wright controversy further; 31% of voters surveyed did not see the speech or had no opinion. Interestingly, of those voters who said they saw the speech, 47% said Obama sufficiently addressed the Wright issue while 37% said he needs to address it further. Among whites, 45% were satisfied with Obama's explanation, 38% were not; Among blacks, 67% said the speech was sufficient while 25% want him to address it further.

But...

Overall, 55% of voters told us that they were "disturbed" by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright videos that circulated so widely on cable TV and the Internet.

Obama's numbers did fall slightly among Republicans, but he remains considerably more competitive among independents than Hillary does.

And while his positive rating fell only slightly in the past two weeks, to 49%, Hillary's fell further, dropping down to 37%, its lowest in this poll since March of 2001.

Meanwhile, in the national match-up, the two are tied at 45%.

Obama gets another one: Congressman Dan Lipinski of Illinois.

That means the only remaining member of the Congressional delegation in Obama's state not backing him is Rahm Emanuel.

Obama spokesperson Bill Burton responds to the letter from top Clinton fundraisers demanding that Nancy Pelosi say publicly that super-dels shouldn't feel bound to support the pledged del count leader...

“This letter is inappropriate and we hope the Clinton campaign will reject the insinuation contained in it. Regardless of the outcome of the nomination fight, Senator Obama will continue to urge his supporters to assist Speaker Pelosi in her efforts to maintain and build a working majority in the House of Representatives.”

The "insinuation" Burton refers to here is the following line from the letter, which links the donors' reference to their own financial support of the DCCC to their demand that Pelosi publicly declare that the super-dels should feel free to be "independent" in their choice:

We have been strong supporters of the DCCC. We therefore urge you to clarify your position on super-delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August.

That's what Burton's responding to by saying that Obama, for his part, "will continue to urge his supporters to assist Speaker Pelosi in her efforts to maintain and build a working majority in the House of Representatives."

Meanwhile, Joe Sudbay of Americablog has a very good catch: He points out that in the above line, the fundraisers appear to be urging her to declare that the delegates in general should feel free to make an independent choice -- meaning not just the supers but the pledged dels, too.

Yet another turn in the Michigan voting saga.

The Hillary campaign, which has seen its hopes for a state-run revote effectively dashed by opposition from Obama and local officials, has just called for a party-run primary -- or "firehouse primary" -- and challenged the Obama camp to climb aboard.

The Hillary camp's call for the new vote comes in the wake of a decision by a Federal judge in Detroit today ruling the state's presidential primary law unconstitutional.

The Clinton camp is basing the release of its proposal on the argument that the ruling throws into question the constitutionality of Michigan's entire election code and therefore the validity of the primary results, although the court specifically ruled it's decision did not go that far.

From Hillary campaign manager Maggie Williams...

In the wake of today's court ruling regarding Michigan’s January 15th primary, we urge Senator Obama to join our call for a party-run primary and demonstrate his commitment to counting Michigan's votes.

The Hillary camp's full statement after the jump. We'll bring you Obama's answer when we get it.

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Meet the GOP candidates for Senate in New Jersey. They're quite a colorful bunch.

One of the most frustrating Senate races for the Republicans this cycle has to be New Jersey, where the GOP has been struggling to recruit a candidate who isn't unhealthy, a boozer, a crank, or an out-and-out loon.

A recent Quinnipiac poll gave Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) only a 39% approval rating to 31% disapproval, with only 32% saying he deserves to be re-elected, and a solid 58% saying he is too old. On paper, he would seem to be vulnerable.

The problem is, New Jersey is very much a Democratic state, and the state GOP is a mess. With unpopular Democrats routinely getting re-elected over lackluster or even decent Republican nominees, the Republicans need a very good candidate to win.

And they don't appear to have one — far from it, in fact. Meet the GOP candidates, after the jump.

Read more »

Twenty top Hillary fundraisers and donors have sent a scathing private letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, chastising her for publicly saying that the super-delegates should support the winner of the pledged delegate count and demanding that she say that they should make an "independent" choice.

I've obtained a copy of the letter, which comes from some of the most influential fundraisers in the Democratic Party, including Hassan Nemazee, Steven Rattner, Maureen White, Stan Shuman, and Alan Patricof.

Here's a key excerpt:

Several states and millions of Democratic voters have not yet had a chance to cast their votes.

We respect those voters and believe that they, like the voters in the states that have already participated, have a right to be heard. None of us should make declarative statements that diminish the importance of their voices and their votes. We are writing to say we believe your remarks on ABC News This Week on March 16th did just that.

During your appearance, you suggested super-delegates have an obligation to support the candidate who leads in the pledged delegate count as of June 3rd , whether that lead be by 500 delegates or 2. This is an untenable position that runs counter to the party’s intent in establishing super-delegates in 1984 as well as your own comments recorded in The Hill ten days earlier...

The letter also contains an explicit reference to the fact that these donors have contributed heavily to Democratic causes, and demands that Pelosi clarify that the role of the super-dels is to make an "independent" choice between the candidates:

We have been strong supporters of the DCCC. We therefore urge you to clarify your position on super-delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August. We appreciate your activities in support of the Democratic Party and your leadership role in the Party and hope you will be responsive to some of your major enthusiastic supporters.

The letter represents a significant ratcheting up of pressure from Hillary's big money people on a Democratic leader in a position to influence how the super-delegates make up their minds at the end of the primary.

Full letter after the jump.

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An interesting moment from Bill Clinton on the trail today -- he openly mocks all the calls for resignations of staff aides that are flying back and forth between the two campaigns:

"I don't think any of these people oughta be asked to resign," he said. "All these guys that say bad things about any other campaign, they say, 'Should they resign?' My answer is no; they're repeating party line. They oughta stay right where they are. Let's just saddle up and have an argument. What's the matter with that? That's what America's about, right?"

Presumably that includes Samantha Power, right?

Either way, this isn't all that easy a call, when it comes down to it. On the one hand, you can't have aides out there saying anything they want; you expect a campaign to take action against certain offenses, such as the spreading of the false Obama Muslim smear email.

On the other hand, of course, the campaigns often absolutely love it when someone on the other side says something that allegedly offends them and gives them an excuse to shift into high dudgeon. This unspoken truth drives much of our campaign news -- yet everyone has agreed to pretend it isn't the case.

Here's the full text of John McCain's big speech on foreign policy today.

While he advocates hawkish stances on both Iraq and Iran, in many other ways the speech is an attempt by McCain to distance himself from President Bush's unilateral approach to foreign policy — a political imperative for McCain, as he heads into a general election at a time when Bush's approval numbers are in the toilet and the Iraq War remains extremely unpopular.

Here's one key quote:

Recall the words of our founders in the Declaration of Independence, that we pay "decent respect to the opinions of mankind." Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed. We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. When we believe international action is necessary, whether military, economic, or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. But we, in return, must be willing to be persuaded by them.

It's a very difficult balancing act that McCain will apparently be trying to accomplish: Simultaneously campaigning for many of President Bush's policies, and against much of Bush's overall approach and leadership style.

Full speech after the jump.

Late Update: The Huffington Post's Sam Stein points out that McCain's speech lifts a chunk almost verbatim from an op-ed he wrote back in 2001, drumming up support for the Afghanistan War.

Read more »

This, from Gallup, is the first polling I've seen on this question -- it finds that Hillary supporters say they're more likely to bolt to McCain if their choice doesn't end up as the nominee:

Clinton supporters appear to be somewhat more reactive than Obama supporters. Twenty-eight percent of the former indicate that if Clinton is not the nominee -- and Obama is -- they would support McCain. That compares to 19% of Obama supporters who would support McCain if Obama is not the nominee -- and Clinton is.

You hear lots more media attention being paid to the idea that Obama's supporters would bolt to McCain than to the possibility that Hillary's would. It's worth keeping in mind that you can't take it for granted, as some pundits seem to, that Hillary backers will all support Obama.

On the other hand, one problem with this poll is it doesn't account for how Hillary might win. If Obama won the pledged delegate count and popular vote, and the super dels put Hillary over the top, you could easily see the number of Obama supporters not willing to back Hillary spiking.

Another interesting tidbit from Mark Halperin's interview with Hillary: Asked what her most likely path to victory is, she said...

CLINTON: Well, first I think that it's important to point out that the premise of the whole discussion that some people are engaged in is off base because this is a very close race...

I've won states that Democrats need to win in the general election in order to win the White House and obviously the strategy on the other side is to try to shut this race down, but I don't think voters want that. You know, there was a big surge in registration here in Pennsylvania. That seems to be happening in other states that are in the upcoming contests. Millions of people still remain to vote and to have their votes counted, so I think it's exciting and I find it very positive for our party. We're going to bring a lot of people into this race.

It is true that Obama campaign manager David Plouffe has repeatedly suggested to reporters that she can't catch him and that there should be a "sober" (his word) evaluation of her chances. But to my knowledge, no one in the Obama camp has ever publicly said the race should end.

Either way, it's interesting that Hillary went so far and is readying herself for a debate over whether the race should continue.

Also, Hillary's assertion that continuing the contest could be good for the party could prove a tough sell, at least to party insiders, some of whom are worried that a drawn-out and increasingly bitter contest could could do far more harm to the party than good.