ON THE TRAIL

May 1, 2008

Barack Obama's presidential campaign wants federal regulators to investigate fellow Democrats who are backing Hillary Clinton's candidacy, taking intraparty discord to a new level. Obama's campaign lawyer, Robert Bauer, filed a complaint yesterday with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the pro-Clinton American Leadership Project of violating campaign finance laws by running ads against Obama. The group is largely financed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and is run by Democratic operatives, many of them based in California and who have past connections to Clinton or her husband. Its organizers say they are abiding by the law and a 2007 Supreme Court ruling.

In the race for superdelegates, Obama continued to close in yesterday on Clinton's advantage. Obama won endorsements from three Democratic lawmakers while Clinton picked up two more superdelegates.

Fewer Democratic primary voters expect Barack Obama to get the party nod than did a month ago, though they still prefer him over Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, according to the latest CBS/New York Times poll.

Liberal group MoveOn.org began airing ads against Republican candidate John McCain yesterday, citing his claim that the American military presence in Iraq could extend to 100 years or more. Echoing a commercial from the national Democratic Party, the MoveOn ad represented an expanded attack on McCain. MoveOn, which has endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama, said it is spending $160,000 on the new ad in Iowa and New Mexico. It said it plans a monthlong, $1 million ad campaign against McCain. Meanwhile, the GOP candidate himself said yesterday the Minnesota bridge collapse that killed 13 last year would not have happened if Congress had not wasted so much money on pork-barrel spending.