Trail Mix

by TED S. McGREGOR JR. & r & & r & Mating Calls, Part Two & r & & r & Over on the Huffington Post, Lawrence O'Donnell just reconfirmed his prediction of June 2007 that Barack Obama will pick Gen. Wesley Clark as his running mate. "Obama needs military experience on the ticket to counter McCain and, as a strong Hillary supporter, Clark provides something of a unity ticket for the Democrats," O'Donnell writes. O'Donnell, however, also predicted that if Hillary Clinton should win, the general would top her short list, too.





What Ever Happened to... ?


Mike Gravel, the former senator from Alaska, is still campaigning for president, just not as a Democrat. He's now running as a Libertarian, but the switch hasn't done much to grab a bigger share of the spotlight. For that, he's turned to the Internet and YouTube, reports Politico.com. His latest video is a psychedelic, rockin' version of the Beatles' 1968 hit "Helter Skelter," which plays over herky-jerky footage of Vietnam, Iraq, Bush, Nixon and the assassination of JFK. Over all this, a larger-than-life figure of Gravel appears -- singing, if you can call it that. "Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me the answer!" he croons. "You may be a lover, but you ain't no dancer."





Race Card


It's not exactly clear how race would play into a contest between John McCain and Barack Obama -- should Obama ultimately get the Democratic nomination -- but a new AP-Yahoo poll suggests it will definitely be a factor. The poll found "about 8 percent of whites would be uncomfortable voting for a black for president" -- and that's only the 8 percent willing to admit it to someone taking a poll. The same poll also found 15 percent of voters believe Obama is a Muslim. He's actually a Christian.





Deny, Deny, Deny


Speaking of race, Bill Clinton this week accused the Obama campaign of playing the "race card on me" during the South Carolina primary. His comments came during a radio interview in which he was asked about a Philadelphia official who said she switched to Obama after race became an issue in the Carolina contest. Asked about his remarks on Tuesday, Bill Clinton said: "No, no, no. That's not what I said. You always follow me around and play these little games, and I'm not going to play your games today. This is a day about election day."