Quick Takes On Pres. Items

I'll be on BNN tonight, talking Presidential politics on Talk of the Town at 7:00. In the meantime, a quick look at some of recent developments:

--Obama has laid out his positions on science (short version: he believes in it!) at some length in this Q&A he filled out for ScienceDebate2008. John McCain has said he will also answer the questions, but has not done so yet. I imagine it will take a while to figure out how to explain his positions on global warming, stem-cell research, and other topics without infuriating his conservative base.

--In that Q&A, Obama strongly argues for funding stem-cell research. And today, Joe Biden stuck it to Sarah Palin for claiming to be an advocate for special-needs children while opposing such research. The McCain campaign quickly cried foul, calling the comments offensive and arguing that "playing politics with this issue is disturbing and indicative of a desperate campaign." I'm having a tough time figuring out why the Biden comments are supposed to be out-of-bounds, but I'm just a liberal coastal elite.

--Speaking of which, don't you hate those damn liberal elite coastal media suck-ups who can't stop fawning over Barack Obama.... like Bill O'Reilly?

--Personally, I don't see anything wrong with reimbursing a big-state governor for the trouble of commuting to the capital. But then, I didn't have a problem with Jane Swift or Deval Patrick taking helicopter rides home, so it's hard for me to say whether this revelation will bother people.

--Ron Paul is expected to urge people to vote third-party at a press conference tomorrow. More importantly, will he urge his followers to give money to Nader, Barr, Baldwin, and McKinney, and will his followers oblige?