The Plank

A new PPP poll may show Barack Obama leading John McCain, 50 percent to 39 percent, but it’s still underestimating the Democrats support, writes John B. Judis. The poll has Obama winning three-quarters of the African American vote, 90 percent of which Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) won in 2004, Judis notes. The poll also has African Americans making up only a tenth of the electorate, which is less than the 13 percent of the electorate they made up in 2004, Judis writes. Marriage may take a hit in the wake of legalized same-sex marriages in California, but not for the reasons conservatives have warned about, writes Christopher Orr. Conservative county clerks in three counties have said that they won’t issue any marriages licenses at all while same-sex marriage is legal, Orr notes.