KEY POINTS:
Today we met with the chairman of the Californian Democrat Party, former Senator Art Torres. He thinks the endorsement by Caroline Kennedy of Barack Obama will help him. Torres said the Kennedys' are still very much loved in the US, and the fact that the daughter of JFK likened Obama to JFK will affect some senior citizen voters who remember the late President, as well as potentially some Latino voters. Senator Ted Kennedy is heading to California tonight to campaign with Obama in coming days, further emphasising the image.
Torres thinks the Democrats' nomination will not be settled by Super Tuesday, and the contest will go on longer. But he is confident the party will be able to re-unite after the slugfest between Obama and Hillary Clinton finally comes to an end. As he said, the overall prize of the White House is just too big not to come together.
Though Torres didn't talk about any of the Republican candidates, it is becoming clear now that John McCain poses the biggest threat to the Democrats winning the White House. This morning I talked to the director of the LA Times' polling, Susan Pinkus, and she was saying that in match-up polls she has done, both Clinton and Obama beat all the Republican candidates comfortably - except McCain. Clinton beat McCain in the polling by just four points, a number around the margin of error. Obama and McCain were tied. As she put it, "McCain is the scary one for the Democrats".
Yesterday we talked with the chairman of the Californian Republican Party, Ron Nehring, and he was very critical of both Clinton and Obama. It was remarkable that he spent so much time talking about the Democrat candidates, and not much about why the Republicans can win. But that said, he did make a strong case for why the Republicans can win the White House again. Among his arguments were that the issues arising - like the economy - are traditionally Republican strengths. He also pointed to national security as a Republican strength, and emphasised that President Bush will not be on the ballot paper come November. Indeed.
I'm off now to go to the Kodak Theatre for the Democrats' televised debate. It's the place where the Oscars are held, so that'll be interesting to see. Get set for fireworks between Clinton and Obama. Polling won't have captured the potential impact of the Kennedy endorsement on Obama yet, so it's going to be a tight race on Tuesday.
