Today’s the Pennsylvania primary, which means that it’s time for another very special Tuesday edition of White House Bureau Chief Jim Downie’s Political Weekly

April 22nd, 2008: Known in the rest of the world as the first of two European Champions League semifinals, Americans know it as Super Tuesday 3.0. Unlike its predecessors of March 4 and February 5, April 22 has had the distinction of being declared not-so-definitive weeks before it actually arrived. Barring a shock upset by Senator Barack Obama in Pennsylvania tonight, the contest will continue at least until May 6 (also known as Super Tuesday 4.0). Of course, many other famous products have taken a long time before getting it right, such as Macintosh (22 years until Mac OS X / the iPod), airplanes (several thousand years until the Wright Brothers), and AOL (when pigs fly). All this while John McCain continues to laugh happily in his corner.

And now, the news:



The CBS Fridays at 10: If I were a betting man (and my lawyer has told me to say I’m not), I would not bet on an Obama victory. Going into the voting, Senator Hillary Clinton leads one poll average by 6 points, and most every poll gives her a high single digits victory. What will be far more important is if she can break double digits – if she does, look for the Clinton campaign to trumpet its large popular vote margin. In other words, it’s as if there was a 10 point spread on the Obama victory (and if you want good offshore odds on that spread, my associates may or may not be able to direct you to a guy who may or may not help you…).

Impress Your Junkie Friends: Use CNN’s breakdown to impress your friends and family with cogent analysis of tonight’s events.

It’s The Eye of the Tiger: Obama gets compared to Rocky in the latest viral video hit (though Clinton already was comparing herself to the famous boxer). Of course, in the first movie, Rocky lost…

I’m Touchy, But I’m Also Feely: For those of you curious about how Senator John McCain is keeping busy, he’s been touting his economic policies in a tour of the country.



“AND SHE’S GOING TO THE FOLDING CHAIR!”
: In that same article about McCain, the Boston Globe also details how all three candidates appeared in special messages during WWE’s “Monday Night Raw.” Imagine what this would’ve done when wrestling was still cool…

Mickey Mouse Would’ve Been Better: Last Wednesday, ABC News hosted the gazillionth Democratic debate. It was both the most-watched debate of the year, and one of the worst ever. Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker sums it all up.

She Knows How To Use A Map: The McCain campaign hires Miss South Carolina 2007 as their intern coordinator. Unfortunately, it’s not the Miss Teen South Carolina that made you feel really, really smart.

He Hates Puppies, But He Does It So Effectively!: The New Republic profiles Hillary Clinton’s former chief strategist, Mark Penn.

We Don’t Need No Math!: Like the ridiculously shriveled version of Rudy that he is, Ron Paul does not give up – his campaign is still on the airwaves in Pennsylvania. Your blogger takes full responsibility for any Paul-bot attacks upon this website.