Midday Open Thread

• No surprise that Edwards supporters are flocking to Obama:

  Since Edwards dropped out of the presidential race, Obama’s campaign has received contributions of $200 or more from 1,089  donors who had supported Edwards, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.

  Only 393 Edwards donors have given to Clinton since the primary became a two-candidate race. Since Edwards withdrew on Jan. 30, Obama has raised nearly $1 million from Edwards donors, compared to the $427,000 that has flowed to Clinton.

• In a feat of deflection that would make the White House Press Secretary proud, John McCain tap-danced around questions about his votes against Katrina aid on the Today show.
• Michael Connery breaks down the youth vote in Pennsylvannia.
• For a guy who's already sealed up his party's nomination, John McCain is sure missing a lot of votes in the Senate while he chooses to campaign instead:

  As of today, Obama has missed slightly fewer than 40 percent of his Senate votes since the beginning of 2007, while Clinton’s absentee rate is just under 30 percent.

  But McCain has topped both candidates, missing a staggering 58 percent of his votes during the 110th Congress, according to the Washington Post’s congressional votes database.

  To put this in perspective, McCain has now missed more votes than Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who suffered a brain hemorrhage in December 2006 and was unable to return to the Senate until fall of last year. McCain has now missed nine votes more than Johnson.

• The death rate in Iraq for American soldiers is now the highest it's been since September of 2007 (1.6 per day).