TRAILMIX: Newspaper Blogs Consider Debate and McCain Fallout

By: Emily Vaughan John McCain's current lobbyist controversy isn't all bad so far. A new email message from the campaign urges supporters to contribute to McCain to help combat the "hit-and-run smear campaign" in the Times' article and help fight the "liberal establishment and their allies at the New York Times," says Mary Ann Akers at washingtonpost.com's The Sleuth.

The Change to Win unions, comprising seven unions representing six million workers, endorsed Barack Obama today, says Jill Lawrence at USA Today's On Politics. Chairman Anna Burger went a step further, and urged Hillary Clinton to withdraw from the race after the March 4 primaries.

The Obama campaign raised concerns about a new pro-Clinton 527 group, which was launched to help the New York senator's staggering campaign, says John McCormick at the Chicago Tribune's The Swamp. The group, the American Leadership Project has already launched ads for Clinton that subtly attack Obama, though he is never mentioned by name.

The GOP has responded to last night's Democratic debate, but this time they are after Obama says Don Frederick at the L.A. Times' Top of the Ticket. As it becomes increasingly certain that Obama will get the nomination, he's become the subject of attack emails, including these sent out by the RNC after the debate: "Obama's Stance On Cuba Is Completely Inconsistent & Incoherent" and "Obama's Reckless Economic Policies Would Hurt The Economy."

Texas early voting in on pace to hit new records, especially among Democrats, says Sarah Wheaton at The New York Times' The Caucus. Obama and Clinton both urged voters to get out as soon as possible, and already the votes counted in two days equal two-thirds of total votes in two weeks of early voting in the 2004 election.

The Democratic candidates sounded remarkably similar during last night's debate in Austin, Texas, but one position they differed on was the handling of Cuba post-Castro. While Obama advocates meeting with the new leader, albeit with an agenda for democratic reform, Clinton said she wouldn't meet with the leader until there is proof that reform is already underway, says
Susan Davis at The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire.

Obama picked up another less-publicized win yesterday. With 65 percent of the vote, he won the Democrats Abroad global primary says Foon Rhee at the
Boston Globe's Political Intelligence. The primary includes more than 20,000 Americans living in 30 countries and allocated 4.5 delegates. With this win, Obama has extended his winning streak to 11 primaries and caucuses.