Noted with interest…

How about Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) endorsing Barack Obama? How about Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) endorsing John McCain? I want to know what you all think.

Also, I am beginning to wonder if this should be a weekly or daily feature: My New Favorite Mitt Quote. Today’s winner: “I’m not looking for gold stars on my forehead like I’m in first grade.” Those ridiculous primaries are just stickers, he doesn’t need first-places in every state, he is just looking to collect the majority of delegates, all right? And who thinks Mitt’s Michigan victory will go anywhere? More on that in my column from this week.

Next favorite item is the one Klaus Marre reported in our paper today, that Hillary Clinton’s campaign announced an endorsement from California NAACP President Alice Huffman on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, even though the endorsement was nine months old. Don’t you love that? If you want to know how the big boys operate, the greatest political machine of our generation, now you know! They had posted it in a list on a campaign blog in April but had to (re)”announce” it anyway when everything hit the fan. Huffman was reached by The Hill and said of the campaign’s decision: “part of it is strategy.” Yes, that would be strategic, all right. Good information to release when a Rasmussen poll has black voters choosing Obama over Clinton 66-16. And of those 40 percent of “uncommitted” voters who drove to the polls Tuesday in Michigan to oppose Clinton, a strong majority of black voters opposed her.

What strategy does the Clinton campaign have in mind if the black vote hands Obama a victory in South Carolina?

***
Send last-minute South Carolina and Nevada questions to askab@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com to join me on the next ASK A.B., Friday, Jan. 18!