MORNING READ

Is Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama more electable? Blogging big feet on both the left and right are trying to answer this question as the Democratic race heads on into May.

MyDD’s Jerome Armstrong makes the case for Clinton. The New York Senator is stronger because she does well in Ohio and Florida, two of the traditional key swing states. Armstrong, known as “The Blogfather,” also agrees with The New Republic’s John Judis that Obama’s coalition of young voters, black voters and “secular warriors” may not be enough in the general election. Both Lanny Davis, blogging at the Huffington Post, and The Corner’s Rich Lowry also find Clinton to be the Democrats’ safer bet.

kos looks at the electoral map and finds Obama fares better than Clinton in a race against John McCain, according to several swing state polls. Obama, the candidate who has raised more money and has won more contests, also shows greater “coattail potential,” as he polls well in states like Minnesota, Colorado and Oregon that are holding big Senate elections this year, kos writes. Jonathan Chait on The Plank surmises that Obama’s general election base will look different than the one he has now, when he’s running against a candidate with a similar platform. Chait writes that Obama will have an easier time picking up working-class voters when he’s running against McCain, who has “tethered himself” to President Bush’s economic policies. And Josh Marshall tries to debunk the argument made by Clinton and her backers that her strength in “big states” during the primaries equates with strength in the general election, when voters decide between a Democrat and a Republican.

McCain gets criticism from the left for helping his party block a pay discrimination bill from being called up on the Senate floor. MyDD’s Jonathan Singer notes that McCain isn’t ingratiating himself with women voters by opposing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. After the Republicans stalled the bill Wednesday, mcjoan claims that Republicans are more focused on money than helping the American worker. The blogger notes that the handful of Republicans who did back the measure are in tight re-election races this year.

McCain receives plaudits from Brian Faughnan at The Weekly Standard, who notes that the Arizona Senator condemned an ad by the North Carolina Republican Party that features Obama and his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. While Obama talks about a new kind of campaign, Faughnan sees McCain as actually running one.

McCain, however, still hasn’t completely shored up his party’s base. Yeas & Nays reports that First Daughter Jenna Bush may not support her father’s former rival in November.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Electability: For Obama – kos, Daily Kos
Electability Mentality: For Clinton – Jerome Armstrong, MyDD
Getting Real – Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
On Obama’s Electability – Jonathan Chait, The Plank
Clinton is Democrats’ Safest Bet – Rich Lowry, The Corner
Axelrod: Forgotten Man is Republican Now – D. McLaughlin, RedState
Running a Different Kind of Campaign? – B. Faughnan, Wkly Standard
Rove Dissects Obama, Finds the Waffle – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
Clinton Won Pa., But Lost Nomination – R. Creamer, HuffPo
Republicans Defeat Fair Pay Act – mcjoan, Daily Kos
McCain and The Women’s Vote – Jonathan Singer, MyDD
Jenna Bush: I May Not Support McCain – Yeas & Nays, Examiner

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Clinton Win Stirs Doubts on Obama – Wall Street Journal
Assessing Strengths of Contenders in Swing States – New York Times
Democratic Superdelegates Divided Over Prolonged Race – LA Times
The Next McGovern? – The New Republic