Inside Politics

Overall, 61 percent of voters say they trust voters more than judges or elected officials to decide important decisions facing the country; among Republicans, the number was 64 percent, among Democrats 54 percent.

The survey of 800 voters was conducted May 19-20 with a margin of error of four percentage points.

The Bob factor

And what of Bob Barr’s quest for the presidency?

“Barr is famous enough, especially among the conservative talk-radio set, and his resume of red-meat Republicanism in the 1990s and harder-line libertarianism in recent years may help him put together an unlikely coalition of Ron Paul Republicans and Rush Limbaugh Republicans,” wrote James Antle at AmericanSpectator.com yesterday.

“The more of the latter group he brings in, the more he can serve as a Ralph Nader of the right than a Pat Buchanan. Some of this depends on how much Barr wants to risk being seen as responsible for John McCain’s defeat … Most of all, however, it depends on his ability to win the Libertarian nomination, period.”

Snore factor

Even the press has election fatigue, according to Megan Garber of the Columbia Journalism Review yesterday.

“Tim Russert’s grin is just slightly less broad. The mischievous twinkle in Pat Buchanan’s eye is fading. John King’s fingers, when they work the Wonder Wall, are slightly less agile. Brit Hume seems even more lethargic than usual. Chants of ‘Yes! We! Can!’ and ‘Yes! We! Will!’ have given way to shouts of ‘Make! It! End!’

“No longer is every little thing the remaining Democratic candidates do exciting and worthy of report. We’ve heard their stories — over and over and over. We know all too well their mannerisms and their quirks, their physical tics and their habits of mind. We’re in the Long Haul. The honeymoon’s over.”

“So when … Obama won the majority of pledged delegates in the Democratic nominating contest — a feat that would have made for a Big Night Out in any other context — we were, as a whole, kinda bored.”

The subplot

What? The real race for president hasn’t even started yet? Well, no matter. The wrangle between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton makes an engaging dress rehearsal with a cast of thousands.

“Certain groups that were already highly supportive of Obama for the nomination — men, 18- to 29-year-olds, postgrads, and upper-income Democrats — are now overwhelmingly in his camp. Obama is currently favored among these groups by a 2-to-1 margin, or better, over Clinton,” writes Gallup Poll analyst Lydia Saad.

“Support for Clinton among some of her traditionally stalwart support groups — women, Easterners, whites, adults with no college education, and Hispanics — has fallen below 50 percent. The only major demographic group still supporting Clinton to the tune of 51 percent is women aged 50 and older. This group’s preferences have changed little during May, at the same time that Clinton’s support among younger men (those 18 to 49) has declined by nearly 10 points.”

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