Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)

Compiled by Jonathan Helman
CNN Washington Bureau

Washington Post:  Obama Is Victorious in Mississippi
Sen. Barack Obama won the Mississippi Democratic presidential primary decisively last night, adding to his overall lead in delegates as he and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton plunged into a six-week battle ahead of a showdown in Pennsylvania.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102259.html

Washington Post:  McCain's Role in Plane Pact Spotlights Ties to Lobbyists
A $35 billion contract has been awarded to Europe's Airbus consortium to build the latest generation of tanker planes. The decision has sparked anger from Boeing's congressional supporters and critics of outsourcing. It has also focused attention on McCain's reliance on lobbyists in his campaign for president because his finance chairman and several other top advisers lobbied for Airbus last year when it was in fierce competition with Boeing for the Air Force contract.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031103134.html

NY Times:  Ferraro’s Obama Remarks Become Talk of Campaign
The Democratic presidential contest was jolted Tuesday by accusations surrounding race and sex, set off by remarks from Geraldine A. Ferraro that Senator Barack Obama had received preferential treatment because he is a black man.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/us/politics/12campaign.html

WSJ:  If Spitzer Quits, Clinton Would Lose One of Her Superdelegates
If New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigns, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton will be down one
superdelegate. The scandal-tainted governor and his lieutenant governor, David Paterson, who is a Democratic National Committee member, are among the roughly 800 superdelegates who will also cast ballots at the August nominating convention. Both support Sen. Clinton. The DNC confirmed yesterday that New York would lose Mr. Spitzer's superdelegate slot if he resigns.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120529440587429789.html

Washington Post:  The Democrats, Wrestling To Negotiate An Endgame
Now what? Barack Obama, as expected, won the Mississippi Democratic primary yesterday, his second straight victory in four days, his 29th overall, another tiny notch in his delegate lead over rival Hillary Clinton. But Mississippi clarified nothing. That's because the Democratic presidential race is in a byzantine state beyond clarification.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031103125.html

NY Times:  Democrats Fight Over Defining ‘Winner’
With the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination likely to go on for weeks or months, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are battling to define what it means to be winning — and, in some instances, they are overstating their own advantage and understating the gains of the other.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/us/politics/12dems.html

AP:  Pa. And Beyond: Democrats Do The Math
Facing a revived Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat Barack Obama has dropped a tenet of his early strategy that seemed vital to his January successes: the conviction that he can win almost anywhere if he has enough time to engage voters.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=213&sid=1363254

NY Times:  Democrats in Florida Are Near Plan for New Vote
Democratic Party officials here are close to completing a draft plan for a new mail-in primary that would take place by early June, a proposal that seeks to give Florida delegates a role in the party’s presidential contest, several people involved in the discussions said Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/us/politics/12delegates.html

Washington Post:  Spitzer's Troubles May Hurt Clinton
New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer’s apparent involvement with a prostitution ring has not only distracted attention from
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s efforts to take down the front-runner, Sen. Barack Obama, it has also brought back
unhelpful memories of her own husband's dalliances in office. There on cable television again were pictures of Bill
Clinton hugging Monica S. Lewinsky. And the image of Spitzer's wife standing painfully by his side while he
acknowledged unspecified wrongdoing could not help but remind some of Hillary Clinton's own stand-by-her-man moment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102833.html

WSJ:  Clinton's Pennsylvania Plan
In the six weeks leading up to the Pennsylvania primary, the Clinton campaign will blanket the commonwealth with
events, recruit thousands of volunteers and throw strategic attacks at rival Sen. Barack Obama.  What it will not do is
mimic the tactics it used in Iowa — flying the candidate around on a "Hill-A-Copter" that costs several thousand
dollars a day to charter; spending more than $95,000 on sandwich platters for caucus-night parties; or paying an
estimated $3,000 for 600 snow shovels and thousands of pounds of rock salt to clear sidewalks for caucus goers when the
forecast didn't call for snow. Such expenses left the Clinton campaign hobbling into New Hampshire and led to Sen.
Hillary Clinton's $5 million loan to her campaign in January.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120527716957628571.html

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On the Trail
Compiled by Jonathan Helman
CNN Washington Bureau

*Hillary Clinton addresses the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and attends the National Newspaper Publishers Association
Presidential Forum in Washington, DC

*John McCain holds a town hall meeting and a media availability in Exeter, New Hampshire.

*Barack Obama holds a media availability in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.