There has been a lot of talk, most notably from Clinton supporters, that the DNC Rules Committee meeting on May 31st will be crucial in deciding whose the nominee.  But according to my calculations the question of who the nominee is may be a moot point by then.  More after the jump.

The Washington Post is reporting tonight that a Maryland pledged delegate, Jack Johnson, has switched from being a pledged delegate for Sen Clinton to one supporting Sen Obama.  I'm sure this will be intersting news for the morning news cycle.  

A new poll out today by Rasmussen shows McCain with only a 3 point lead over Senator Obama (48 to 45).  By any measure this shows that North Carolina is more than just a state "on the bubble" but is a real swing state this year.  The link is provided below:

http://news.yahoo.com/...

A good bellweather of Senator Obama's chances will be the US Senate race between Dole and Hagan.  If Hagan makes it really close or wins I think this will bode well for Senator Obama's chances of winning North Carolina in the fall.

Similarly, Rasmussen has a poll out today showing Senator Obama within three points of McCain in Virginia (47 McCain to 44 Obama).  The link to that poll is provided below:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...

Just a quick diary.

It is being reported that Congressman Donald Payne of New Jersey has switched his endorsement from Clinton to Obama.

The link to the news story is below:

http://www.nj.com/...

I have a sneaking suspicion that there may be a large number of supers coming out tomorrow.  Friday annoucements are the best way to frame the discussion for the Sunday talk shows.

I'm busy at work, but I ran across this information and noticed it had not been diaried yet so I decided to put it up and pass it along.

Rasmussen has released a poll today for North Carolina showing Senator Obama with a 23 point lead over Senator Clinton.  Last month, Rasmussen showed Senator Obama with only a 7 point lead (47 to 40).  

The reason --- Senator Clinton is losing support among white voters (last month she had a 20 point advantage, today it is only a 9 point advantage) and Senator Obama is further consolidating his lead among African American voters (last month he enjoyed a fifty-five point advantage, today it is a whopping seventy point advantage -- 81 to 9).

The link is below

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...