Al Franken has successfully weathered a series of personal controversies, at least for now, with Minnesota Democrats officially endorsing him as their candidate at today's state party convention.

Franken entered the convention as the frontrunner, and then benefitted from a unanimous show of support after his only remaining opponent dropped out of the race and endorsed him at the last minute.

In the tradition of Minnesota politics, the official party endorsement will effectively end much of the criticism Franken has received from within Democratic ranks. Recent controversies have involved sexually-explicit humor in an essay he wrote years ago for Playboy, as well as accounting problems in his businesses that led to him paying back taxes to all the states where he was active.

Franken narrowly trails incumbent Republican Norm Coleman in the polls, and could potentially score a pick-up in this blue state.

Here's Hillary Clinton's concession speech:

Obama watched the speech on the Internet and put in a call to her after it concluded, we're told. He was informed by her assistant that she was, understandably, speaking with supporters at the time.

And here's Obama statement...

"Obviously, I am thrilled and honored to have Senator Clinton's support. But more than that, I honor her today for the valiant and historic campaign she has run. She shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women everywhere, who now know that there are no limits to their dreams. And she inspired millions with her strength, courage and unyielding commitment to the cause of working Americans. Our party and our country are stronger because of the work she has done throughout her life, and I'm a better candidate for having had the privilege of competing with her in this campaign. No one knows better than Senator Clinton how desperately America and the American people need change, and I know she will continue to be in the forefront of that battle this fall and for years to come."

As rough as Hillary's tactics may have been at times, does anyone doubt that Obama is right to say that he's a better candidate -- a far better one -- for having gone up against her for so long? His people definitely know this.

Meanwhile, Obama thanks Hillary online over on his Website....

Aside from her passionate insistence that her supporters get behind Barack Obama, I think this might be the most important line in her speech:

"Our lives, our freedom, our happiness, are best enjoyed, best protected and best advanced when we do work together. That is what we will do now, as we join forces with Sen. Obama and his campaign. We will make history together as we write the next chapter in America's story."

In saying that it's time to "write the next chapter in America's story," Hillary was using Obama's own language, words he's repeatedly used to describe his own historic Presidential bid.

In a sense, this was perhaps the ultimate concession: Presuming Obama wins the White House, she acknowledged, the next chapter in America's story will not be the one she intended to write, but the one Obama is writing.

And she's now going to help him write that next chapter. It's really the most powerful message she could have sent to her supporters: It's not our time; it's theirs; and as difficult as it may be to accept, we're going to help them make it happen.

Late Update: Come to think of it, that might be the real significance of this line from her speech:

"I am standing with Barack Obama to say, `Yes, we can!'"

"We," according to Hillary, now comprises Obama's supporters and hers.

It needs to be said that Hillary struck an extraordinarily difficult balancing act with real grace and eloquence. On the one hand, she needed to signal that she has built a movement of her own and to reinforce the idea that she is the undisputed leader of American women -- both as a genuine point of pride and as proof of her undiminishing influence. Hence the repeated references to the 18 million votes she earned.

Yet she needed to do this while signaling unequivocally to her supporters that all the energy and passion she's unleashed now has to be channeled towards delivering the prize she and her supporters coveted with such intensity to someone who has been her bitter rival for nearly 18 months.

And she pulled it off. Really an extraordinary performance.

Late Late Update: The front page of Hillary's Web site now features the Obama line I flagged above...

Late Update: Obama responds.

Late Update: I wrote above that Hillary was trying to "reinforce the idea that she is the undisputed leader of American women." I didn't mean to imply that she does in fact occupy this role; merely that she is trying to advance the idea that she does.

Nonetheless, I should have written this differently. What I meant was that she is trying to reinforce the idea that she is the undisputed leading woman in American politics.

An interesting line from Hillary during the speech:

And although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

Hillary's claim that she won the popular vote has been widely ridiculed and disputed, of course. But what's been missing from the discussion is that her popular vote total really was a genuine point of pride for her, something she saw -- and sees -- as a genuine achievement to cling to even as a dream she's harbored for God knows how long lies in ruins.

Hillary endorses Obama, leaving no room whatsoever for anyone to argue that she doesn't want her supporters to get behind him with every bit of energy and zeal they showed in backing her own candidacy.

"The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand, is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States," she says.

"Today as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won, and the extraordinary race he has run," she continues. "I endorse him and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me."

"I am standing with Barack Obama to say, `Yes, we can!'"

Her speech in Washington, where she will concede defeat and endorse Obama, starts in moments. Watch it streamed live here.

What today's speech really represents is the kick-off of the grueling battle that will unfold over her supporters. John McCain's campaign advisers say they plan to compete aggressively for them, and indeed they are already conducting focus groups among Hillary supporters in key battleground states:

Republicans plan to describe Obama as an elitist from the Hyde Park section of Chicago, where liberal professors mingle in an academic world that is alien to most working-class voters. They plan to make sure Clinton's voters do not forget about Obama's comments that working-class people are bitter and cling to their guns and religion as a way of dealing with the economic uncertainty they face....

In recent days, the Republican campaign has held focus groups in the Rust Belt and Appalachian states where Obama's messages of hope and change failed to translate into votes, including one session in Pittsburgh -- Obama lost in Pennsylvania to Clinton, and it will almost surely be a critical swing state in the fall. McCain advisers said they found a palpable unease with Obama among those groups.

So today Hillary's speech will be closely watched for signs of how ardently -- and how effectively -- she makes Obama's case. Now that the McCain team has signaled that they are going to aggressively compete for her supporters, Hillary's actions today and in coming weeks could end up having a palpable impact, whether she effectively rallies her supporters behind Obama, or alternatively, whether she fails to this.

We'll be blogging Hillary's speech here.

As may know, Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ), who just lost a long-shot primary bid for the Senate against incumbent Frank Lautenberg, has made a serious accusation against the Hillary Clinton campaign -- and he doesn't appear to want to elaborate on the subject beyond that.

Andrews, a centrist who had been supporting Hillary in the primaries, told the Newark Star-Ledger that a high-ranking member of the Clinton camp approached him in the run-up to the Pennsylvania primary about using a strategy to exploit divisions between Jews and blacks, as a way of increasing Hillary's share of the Jewish vote in that big primary.

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Is it possible that the bogus Michelle Obama rumor you've all heard by now is actually based on a work of fiction?

The rumor in question is one that's been circulating in recent weeks to the effect that there's video out there of Michelle Obama saying something derogatory about white people.

Not a single shred of evidence has surfaced to support this claim. Nobody has actually said they've personally seen it. It hasn't been posted to YouTube as you'd expect on something this juicy. Even Republican operatives we've spoken to say they don't believe it exists.

Despite the tenuousness of this rumor, Obama was actually asked about this non-existent video in front of the national press by a reporter the other day. Understandably, he pushed back hard on the notion that he should have to answer such a question.

Now Jim Geraghty of National Review has claimed that the rumor may be based on...fiction. A political thriller called The Power Broker, published in 2006 by Stephen Frey, features the presidential campaign of Dem candidate Jesse Wood, who's aspiring to be the country's first African-American president.

We went out and got the book. And sure enough, in the novel, Wood's opponents discover video of the candidate himself -- not his wife -- discussing with a radical black minister how he will "f--- whitey" when he gets into office, despite all his public rhetoric about racial reconciliation. Here's what he says on the fictional tape:

He said, "You know, I had to put up with so much crap from Whitey when I was playing tennis back in the day, it was ridiculous. Real b****** stuff, too. Tennis racquets busted while I was in the shower, no towels, the worst locker, called n***** all the time, even by the help." He looked over at Osgood. "I'm telling you, Clarence, if I get elected president, I'm gonna act the way I'm supposed to act in front of the camera. Smile and dance like a good black man, do what I'm expected to do like a good boy. But behind the scenes, I'll f*** Whitey, and I'll f*** him good, I really will."

If this was the basis for the rumor, Obama was forced to respond not just to a rumor, but to one that was consciously based on a published work of fiction. Welcome to General Election 2008, everyone!

CNN releases more numbers from today's poll:

The general election season opens with a neck-and-neck race between Barack Obama and John McCain, with more than one in five voters admitting that they might change their minds between now and November.

In the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted entirely after Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee, he leads his Republican counterpart 49 to 46 percent among registered voters -- a statistical tie, given the question's 3 point margin of error.

The numbers are the first taken entirely since Obama clinched the nomination.

We've already been through a 500-day Democratic Primary with more twists and turns than a Slinky. Now get ready for a five month battle with the Republicans over at least a fifth of the national electorate.

With some polls showing that Obama holds a sizable advantage over McCain on the economy, the Obama campaign is moving to get the upper hand on the issue by announcing a two-week economic swing beginning Monday called the "Change that works for you" tour.

Today's CNN poll showed that the economy dwarfs even Iraq as a concern in this election, finding that 42% of registered voters cited the economy as the thing that will be the most important in their choice for president, versus only 24% who cited Iraq.

The first stop is in Raleigh, North Carolina. More details when we get them.

The team tasked to find Obama the right veep swings into action:

Congressional sources tell NBC News that Obama's vice presidential vetting team of Jim Johnson, Caroline Kennedy, and Eric Holder will be on Capitol Hill Monday and Tuesday interviewing senators and members of Congress about their recommendations. Those being visited are NOT potential choices.

The point, according to Senate offices, is to collect information about a potential field.

One interesting dimension to this: The question of how senators or Members of Congress will navigate pressure from their own constituents to advocate for making Hillary Veep, should there be any.

A CNN poll released today found that 54% of registered Dems think Obama should name her as Veep, while 43% opposed it. Sixty percent of Democratic women favored it.

Has the Obama campaign flip-flopped on the "surge"? Did Obama wrongly predict last year that the "surge" would fail, only to see his advisers argue today that people always knew it would be a success?

The McCain campaign is trying to turn this allegation into a central campaign issue as a way to sow doubts about Obama's judgment and fitness to be commander in chief. But a quick look at the charge shows it to be a stretch.

The McCain campaign today blasted out to reporters this quote from Obama senior adviser Robert Gibbs on MSNBC this morning...

"[W]ell, there's no doubt that the security situation has improved, much as everybody admitted it would if we put more troops on the ground."

The McCain camp is arguing that this is a re-write of history by the Obama camp, and is pointing to this quote from Obama back in January 2007, when the surge was first being debated...

"I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

The only conceivable problem for Obama here is his prediction that the surge would "do the reverse." But Obama, very clearly, was making a broader point that isn't contradicted by what Gibbs said today, at least not in any meaningful sense. The key is that Obama said that the surge would not "solve the sectarian violence" -- emphasis on the word "solve" -- which is tantamount to saying that the surge won't solve the political problem in Iraq.

Indeed, here's the rest of what Obama said in 2007 (that the McCain camp cut from his quote):

"I think it takes pressure off the Iraqis to arrive at the sort of political accommodation that every observer believes is the ultimate solution to the problems we face there."

So Obama's larger point was a prediction that the surge wouldn't solve the need for political accommodation, not a military prediction.

In the latest bit of trouble in Al Franken's quest to pick up a blue-state Senate seat for the Democrats, Franken has apologized for offending anybody with his 2000 comedy essay in Playboy.

The essay, entitled "Porn-O-Rama," was hammered by state Republicans, who charged that Franken had no respect for women or family values in light of the piece's series of dirty jokes. Their condemnations were then followed by Democrats, starting with Rep. Betty McCollum and then Sen. Amy Klobuchar and the state Planned Parenthood, many of whom saw it as a political liability that Franken would have to address.

"I'm proud of my career as a satirist, which doesn't mean every joke I've ever told was funny, or, indeed, appropriate," Franken said in a statement sent to us by his campaign. "I understand and regret that people have been legitimately offended by some of the things I've written."

Franken has weathered a downturn in the polls in his quest to win this crucial Senate seat, but recently started closing in on GOP incumbent Norm Coleman again.

Full statement after the jump.

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Hillary will endorse Obama tomorrow at noon, at the National Building Museum, in Washington, D.C. It will almost certainly receive wall-to-wall coverage.

The moment will come exactly one year and 137 days since she released this YouTube on January 22, 2007, announcing her candidacy...

It will have taken Obama 502 days to defeat Hillary and her formidable political operation and get her concession.

But defeat her he did.

Adam Parkhomenko, the head of the Obama-Hillary-ticket-supporting group VoteBoth, tells me that on Monday, he'll announce via press release that his group has collected over 25,000 signatures in support of the idea.

He'll also announce that VoteBoth's petition has been signed by supporters in every one of all 50 states, and that it's picked up 15,000 new signatures in the last three days.

"Every day, we're getting thousands of these signatures," he says. "Maybe when we get to 100,000 we'll present it. We're building it every day."

Parkhomenko also claims the VoteBoth Web site is getting between 30,000 and 40,000 unique visits a day now. The group yesterday announced that former Hillary adviser Lanny Davis had joined the effort.

The question for the group now is whether it can attract high-profile neutral parties, or, even more ideally, high-profile Obama supporters, to speak officially for the group and its goals. It also remains to be seen whether the group can raise real money, perhaps to finance an ad campaign of some kind.

Late Update: I just checked with an online activism guru I trust, Tim Tagaris, who was Ned Lamont's Internet director and did the same for Chris Dodd's Presidential camapign, and he had this to say about the numbers:

For all the attention, free media, and direct links VoteBoth has received in the past few days, 25,000 signatures on a petition is really not that impressive.

You're talking about campaigns that have millions of people on their email lists. I've been a part of plenty of online campaigns, a lot lower profile than this election, like FISA for example, that have received many times the signatures in less time.

Late Late Update: Parkhomenko responds to Tagaris by saying that they'd only emailed a few thousand to solicit signatures. "Twenty thousand have never gotten an email," he says, adding that this "shows how much potential there is."

"I don't think anyone would say that the first 25,000 that lined up behind Senator Obama didn't translate into a movement," he adds. "We are excited to see our support continue to grow at the rate it is."

The McCain campaign is touting an email that Joe Lieberman sent out to McCain's list announcing a new effort that Lieberman is chairing called "Citizens for McCain," whose chief mission is to reach out to Independents and moderate Dems.

Never mind all the narcissistic boilerplate in the email about how independent Lieberman is, and focus instead on this key line...

As you know, I caucus with the Democrats as a United States Senator and was the Democrat Party's nominee for Vice-President of the United States against President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

What's so amusing is this is that it's a kind of double-slur. It's simultaneously a reminder that the Democratic Party bestowed on Lieberman the high honor of nominating him as Veep and a reminder that despite this Lieberman cheerfully continues to echo the most inane and childish of GOP attacks on that same party.

As Steve Benen cracked: "Maybe Obama needs to back him up against another wall."

Or, maybe, you know, perhaps the fellow who is the head of the Senate Dems and who is responsible for maintaining Lieberman's plum committee slots might consider dealing with this one day? Naah.

Hendrik Hertzberg's valuable rundown on why "Democrat Party" is a slur is here. Full email after the jump.

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Yesterday I linked to a new poll finding that 45% of African Americans would support Hillary on the ticket -- something which, I suggested, could mean that African Americans aren't perhaps all that embittered about the racial tactics Hillary was accused of using.

Well, today brings a new Gallup poll that suggests the opposite in striking terms, finding that Hillary's favorability rating has dropped an astonishing 26 points since June of last year...

Her fave rating dropped from 84% in June of 2007 to 58% today. Meanwhile, her unfavorable rating jumped from 10% to 36%, which is more than a third.

This is subtle. Take a look at John McCain's first ad of the general election:

"Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war," McCain tells the camera. "I was shot down over Vietnam and spent five years as a POW. Some of the friends I served with never came home. I hate war. And I know how terrible its costs are."

The key to understanding this, I think, is that McCain is using his bio to achieve separation from George W. Bush. He's suggesting -- without saying directly -- that even if he's continuing Bush's war policies, he's different from Dubya in that he understands the costs in a way that Bush never did.

The subtext: "Even if that reckless chicken-hawk took us to war, someone who actually understands and has experienced the costs of war -- someone you can actually believe -- is here to tell you that we must continue it."

Tellingly, there's no mention of Iraq in this particular spot. The McCain campaign claims it's a significant buy, with the ad airing on cable and in key swing states. Details to follow later today.

Money is expected to have a key place in the peace-making process between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, with Clinton advisers telling the Associated Press that Hillary will likely seek Obama's help in retiring her campaign's $30 million in debt.

For the sake of clarity, it's worth pointing out that the Obama campaign cannot directly give money from its own treasury to the Clinton camp. Instead, Obama would ask his top fundraisers to help bring in the money, and likely send out e-mails to his much-praised list of small donors asking them to give Hillary a hand.

John McCain is stepping up the rhetoric in his effort to pitch himself as the candidate of substance against Barack Obama's empty style, making an interesting historical reference in an interview with USA Today.

"I believe that people are interested very much in substance," McCain said, contrasting himself against Barack Obama's charismatic style. "If it was simply style, William Jennings Bryan would have been president."

It's unclear just how relevant this comparison will be to the average American. No voters alive today can remember Bryan's campaigns for president, which occurred in 1896, 1900 and 1908.

One key Democratic name has already taken himself out of the race to be Barack Obama's running mate: Former rival John Edwards. "I already had the privilege of running for vice president in 2004, and I won't do it again," Edwards said, according to Spanish-language newspaper El Mundo.

Regarding a certain other person who has been mentioned as a possibility, Edwards made sure to stay neutral. "Hillary Clinton is a great force in the Democratic Party and in the United States, whether she aspires to the vice-presidency or to another position," he said. "She is an extraordinary woman, and the role she will play depends only on her and Sen. Obama."

The efforts at post-primary reconciliation have reached another step tonight, with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton reportedly having met at the Clintons' Washington home.

At this point one can only guess what subjects came up. Reasonable guesses would include, among other things: VP talk, finding roles for her supporters/staffers within his general election campaign, and getting help from his vast fundraising resources in retiring her campaign debts.

Late Update: Here are some late details from the meeting. It turns out the meeting wasn't at the Clintons' Washington home, but instead at the home of California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who had been a staunch Hillary backer. The two candidates met alone, without Feinstein in the room, and only water was served.

"Just them. No staff," Feinstein said. "There were no press, no staff. They had one person from each campaign that was in my study separately and I guess the security people outside. They got along very well."

And here's the joint statement from the two candidate:

"Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met tonight and had a productive discussion about the important work that needs to be done to succeed in November."

The race for the House seat of Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY), whose personal scandals spurred his sudden retirement, just got a whole lot wackier as GOP candidate Francis "Frank" Powers Sr. is getting a new challenger: Libertarian candidate Francis "Fran" Powers Jr., his very own son.

The Staten Island Advance reports that the younger Powers, age 47, announced he is running as a Libertarian in order to stop his father from getting elected and being able to help further Republican policies. "I'm not going to say that my dad treated me bad when I was a kid," Fran Powers said. "I know his policies. I'm running against someone I know."

Powers Sr., needless to say, is taken aback by this development. "I've tried very hard for many years to help my son," he said in a statement. "Unfortunately, he's rejected everyone's help to live a healthy lifestyle."

More Dem elected officials continue to coalesce behind Obama: A bloc of four Members of Congress from Florida who previously backed Hillary -- including one of Hillary's most loyal supporters -- is coming out for Obama, one of their spokespeople confirms to me.

The four are Alcee L. Hastings, Corrine Brown, Kendrick B. Meek, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a very committed Hillary loyalist.

While its hardly surprising that Dem elected officials are coming out for Obama right now -- the entire New York Congressional delegation endorsed him today -- the support of these Florida Reps. is key, because they might be able to help soothe voters in this crucial state that are still upset about the failure to seat the full Florida delegation. The Obama camp advocated for a half-seating.

"It is with enthusiasm and excitement that we endorse Barack Obama for President," the four will say in a statement soon to go out to reporters that will also ask Obama to "do everything in his power" to seat the full delegations at the convention.

"All of us standing on one stage, hand-in-hand will send a clear message to Florida voters that regardless of who we previously supported, we stand united and as one from this day forward," the statement says.

This is really something. We already knew that House Dems are expected to rack up major victories this fall, but this latest development is really eye-opening.

The Cook Political Report, whose ratings of Congressional races are well-respected by political pros, has just changed its ratings on ten House races -- and has changed them all in favor of the Dems.

It's very rare that Cook flips so many ratings at once -- much less flipping them all in favor of the same political party.

Check out the list of races, right after the jump.

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The Hillary camp -- perhaps sensing that all the calls from Hillary supporters for her to be made Veep are now hurting more than helping -- moves to distance itself from all such efforts by sending out this statement from Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson...

"While Senator Clinton has made clear throughout this process that she will do whatever she can to elect a Democrat to the White House, she is not seeking the vice presidency, and no one speaks for her but her. The choice here is Senator Obama's and his alone."

This was probably made necessary by the fact that VoteBoth, a group devoted to bringing about an Obama-Hillary ticket, announced today that senior adviser Lanny Davis had joined its effort.

Of course, it's perfectly likely that figures like Davis -- and many other Clinton supporters calling for her to be made Veep -- are acting independently here. The problem, however, is that it doesn't look like this is the case. And that's the rub, since any perception that Hillary is trying to force Obama's hand through whatever channels only makes the possibility that he'll offer the slot to her more remote.

Inquiring minds want to know if there is anything at all that Joe Lieberman could say about the Democratic presidential nominee that would get Harry Reid to tap the Connecticut Senator on the shoulder and say, "Psst -- hey bud, you enjoy your senior committee slots at my pleasure, so watch it."

It's a question that many Democrats are asking right now, in the wake of Lieberman's aggressive foreign policy attacks on Barack Obama yesterday. Even Obama himself took Lieberman aside and privately rebuked him yesterday.

Now Reid himself has been asked about this, and he told reporters that, yes, he has given Lieberman a talking-to of sorts...

"I've had conversations with Lieberman at some length. I'm not going to discuss the conversations here. But I think the discussions he had with Obama yesterday and the discussions he had with me yesterday were fruitful. We'll let the future decide what it's going to be, but I'm not about to threaten anybody."

"Fruitful," huh? Anyone who thinks Reid will put any kind of pressure on Lieberman behind the scenes is just kidding himself. It isn't going to happen, and Lieberman will continue to attack Obama -- and soon enough will start portraying him as too weak to defend the country -- secure in the knowledge that the only thing that will happen to him is that he'll get more press attention for it.

A quick note to readers: With the general election beginning, we're hoping that you guys will help us with our coverage by tipping us off to what's going on in the presidential race -- and in the Congressional races -- in your states.

We want to know what you are seeing on the ground from the state operations of both presidential campaigns -- Republican and Democratic. Mailers, ads, surrogate action, weird or revealing coverage in the local papers or on the local TV channels, materials being spread by independent groups -- we want to hear about it all.

If you see anything you think is interesting, shoot us an email at talk@talkingpointsmemo.com.

You can help us make the site more useful, more informative, more fun -- in short, better. And thanks in advance for your help.

Signaling a very aggressive effort to outflank John McCain on the question of who's the genuine reformer in the race, the Obama camp is already trumpeting the DNC's decision to nix lobbyist and PAC contributions as proof of his superiority on campaign finance reform.

The Obama camp sends out this strongly worded statement from Obama himself...

"I've sent a strong signal in this campaign by refusing the contributions of registered federal lobbyists and PACs," Senator Obama said. "And today, I'm announcing that going forward, the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard and won't take another dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. They do not fund my campaign. They will not fund our party. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I'm President of the United States."

Obama is openly asserting that the DNC's decision was made at his behest, an effort to project a sense that he's forcefully grabbing the party's levers of power and remaking it in his own reformist image. "John McCain has not adopted any such standards," the Obama campaign statement adds.

In an indication that Dems perhaps can't count on John McCain to be all that underfunded for the general election, McCain was able to raise $22 million in May, his best month yet, and up from $18.5 million raised in April.

Barack Obama's May numbers aren't in yet, but it seems likely that he'll have outdone McCain's numbers when one consider he raised $30.7 million in April.

On the other hand, while Obama is still quite likely to out-raise McCain over the whole cycle, at this point it's by no means a safe bet that it'll be a truly overwhelming advantage.

Late Update: The latest numbers show that McCain has $31.5 million total cash on hand. In short, money will probably not be a huge problem for him this Fall.

Here's the statement, sent over by Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton:

"Senator Obama appreciates the hard work that Chairman Dean has done to grow our party at the grassroots level and looks forward to working with him as the chairman of the Democratic Party as we go forward."

Historically, a DNC chair's tenure is uncertain once a nominee is chosen, since said nominee might want to install his own guy there, but as Ben Smith notes, Dean has a power base built up among state party chairs across the country who love his 50-state strategy of investing in them.

The DNC earlier today confirmed that Obama had installed his man Paul Tewes to serve as his eyes and ears at the organization, a sign that Obama is moving quickly to re-shape the party in his own image. Obama's party, it turns out, will include Dean at the top of the DNC.

Democratic National Committee spokesperson Stacie Paxton confirms to us that Obama strategist Paul Tewes will be joining the DNC, a sign that Obama is rapidly moving to re-shape the party apparatus in his own image.

Tewes -- who is in the DNC building right now and whose hiring was expected -- is being brought in to help manage the transition as the DNC swings into action on behalf of Obama's general election candidacy, and to help oversee fundraising and other political matters.

Separately, the DNC let it be known this morning that it will no longer be taking donations from federal lobbyists or PACs -- another sign that Obama is rapidly putting his stamp on what will be effectively be his party until November and perhaps beyond.

Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) seemingly gave up a safe House seat to make his failed primary challenge against Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Or did he actually give it up, and do the inner workings of New Jersey machine politics give him a potential way back if he wants it?

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Jim Webb takes a crack at proving that he can be an effective high-profile surrogate for Obama in an interview with The Huffington Post.

The key takeway from the interview is that Webb is clearly trying to showcase two ways he can act as an effective messenger for Obama. First, his military cred enables him to effectively take on McCain with Obama's foreign policy message about negotiating with hostile foreign powers...

"Under the right circumstances, you have to [talk to your enemies]," he said. "My model for Iran is China in 1971. China was a nuclear power, it was a rogue state, it had American war on its border with Vietnam, it was spouting the same kind of hostile rhetoric. We took none of our military options off the table, we abandoned none of our alliances, but we reached out in a aggressive way diplomatically to bring China into the world community."

Second, Webb tries to demonstrate that he would be able to effectively make Obama's case to Appalacia and rural Americans, arguing that affirmative action, rather than entrenched racism, is the problem. "If you can get the rural whites in this country at the same table as African Americans, it would be good for American politics. I think Barack Obama has the potential to do this," Webb concludes.

The rest here.

Yesterday the news broke that Hillary's Congressional supporters, led by Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, were planning to write a joint letter asking Obama to make Hillary his Veep, a story first reported by The Politico.

Now, however, the plan's been called off. Schultz's office sends me this statement from her:

"Several Members of Congress considered a letter written to both Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton, underscoring the need for their partnership and the unity it would bring to the party. It was felt that the letter was being misconstrued as a demand on Senator Obama and we've decided to communicate our views informally."

This underscores, of course, the delicacy of the task at hand: Urging Obama to appoint her as Veep without pressuring him to do so and hence making it impossible for him to actually accept, lest he appear to have caved.

This interesting number buried in a new Rasmussen Reports poll should perhaps make us question whether African American voters are really all that upset with Hillary over the racially-charged tactics she was accused of using during the campaign...

Forty-five percent (45%) of African-Americans support Mrs. Clinton for vice president, with 35% opposed and 19% undecided. Among white voters, 47% oppose her being on the ticket; 32% think it's a good idea, and 21% are unsure.

By a double-digit margin, more African American Dems than white Dems -- nearly half of them -- want her on the ticket. Barely more than a third of African Americans oppose it.

One other interesting number in the poll that reminds us again of the upper-lower income divide among Dems: "Most Democrats (58%) who earn less than $60,000 a year believe Clinton should be Obama's running mate. Just 43% of upper income Democrats agree."

Overall, the poll, which was taken the night after Obama clinched it, finds that a majority of Dems -- 51% -- want her as veep.

So now that the general election's under way (it really is!), how does the electoral map look for Obama and McCain?

Chuck Todd and the rest of the MSNBC political brain trust give us a useful overview of which states are leaning towards whom, and which states are the toss ups:

Base Obama: CA, CT, DE, DC, HI, IL, MD, MA, NY, RI, VT (153 electoral votes)

Lean Obama: ME, NJ, MN, OR, WA (47 votes)

Toss-up: CO, FL, IA, MI, NV, NM, NH, OH, PA, VA, WI (138 votes)

Lean McCain: AR, GA, IN, LA, MS, MO, MT, NE, NC, ND (84 votes)

Base McCain: AL, AK, AZ, ID, KS, KY, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, WV, WY (116 votes)

My immediate question about this is whether Florida belongs in the toss-up category, rather than the "lean McCain" one. That said, by this reading, the map clearly favors Obama. He starts with a sizable lead in base electoral votes, and he puts Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Virginia in the toss-up category.

MSNBC's conclusion: "His reach right now seems much longer than McCain's."

In yet another sign that the Republicans will almost certainly lose their open Senate seat in Virginia, retiring GOP Sen. John Warner doesn't appear to be willing to endorse former Gov. Jim Gilmore, who only narrowly won the nomination at this past weekend's state party convention.

"I'm not going to keep answering this question about Gilmore," Warner told The Hill. "I'll get my press office to send you a statement."

Gilmore trails his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Mark Warner -- no relation to John -- by a wide margin in all the polls.