An astute Politico reader notes that Barack Obama almost certainly has a positive news story that he can throw the media any time he wants--such as, say, after suffering a wide defeat in West Virginia:
It's the middle of May, and we have yet to hear a peep out of the Obama
campaign on its April fundraising. Last month, we had rough March
fundraising numbers by April 3rd. Any reason to think that they'll
announce their numbers within the next 24 hours, in order to trump
Clinton's West Virginia results? Announcing before the polls close
tonight would be very timely (if not a bit cruel). Or does the steady
stream of superdelegate endorsements give him all the good news that he
needs now, in which he waits until Oregon ...
I imagine it was another good month - nearly another 200,000 new donors
and a bigger base of existing contributors that had several incentives
to give again (the Pennsylvania loss, the ABC debate debacle, Rev
Wright's mouth, anobamaminute, end of month fundraising drives, etc.,
all got Kossacks into a very giving mood last month).
--Christopher Orr