The Gadfly On The Wall

Murphy's Move: Democrat Bob Murphy may be a smart guy, but reapplying for the job he just resigned in the middle of his campaign for the Oklahoma Senate is about the dumbest perceptual thing he could have done. Gives the impression he's throwing in the towel before the votes are counted in his race with Republican Jim Halligan.

Endorsers: One of the first lessons I learned in campaigns 40+ years ago was to make certain anyone endorsing your candidate is registered to vote. Democrat Senate candidate Andrew Rice's folks apparently overlooked that when they trotted out "Republican" Monty Collings of Noble in Rice's new television spot because Cleveland County registration records did not reflect a registration for him earlier this week. Insiders say that when that was reported here, Collings registered.

Working Oklahomans Alliance: The silence of top Democrats about The Oklahoman's revelations of workers' comp clients "donating" to the trial lawyers PAC is not surprising, given that Democrats have been the prime recipients of the PAC's donations. This, and the pouring of cash into campaigns (as some did for Rep. Randy Terrill's primary opponent) by business owners who give the max and then their PACs, to which they donated the max, also give the max cries out for ethics law reform. Siphoning money from the settlements of unemployed and disabled workers (and there are lots of examples of that with the Working Oklahomans Alliance) is worse, my opinion, than the wealthy manipulating the system to effectively donate double the maximum allowed, but both are unseemly.

Inept Justice? This week, we learn that former Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher's trial is being delayed again, and that Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart's trial is being delayed again. We're to be forgiven if our confidence in the legal system is shaky.

Summer Olympics: Forty-eight years ago this month, I was in Rome, Italy, for the Summer Olympics and the feats of track stars Wilma Rudolph and Rafer Johnson. Memorable experience.

Obama Today: If the presidential election occurred today, my opinion, we'd be faced with President Barack Obama. Thankfully, the election is yet months away and, as we've seen in the past, those summer blooms Democrats seem to enjoy fade in the fall. John McCain's done little to inspire the masses, but Obama's inability to dominate McCain in the polls shows the race isn't over yet. Obama does have a substantial Electoral College lead at this time, but in the battleground states, local polls show he and McCain are just one to four percentage points apart. That means anything can happen.

Smart Move: Following our report about Barack Obama's Oklahoma supporters putting voter registration forms in high schools, several Republicans emailed to ask if that's legal. Yep. Perfectly legal, so long as there's no Obama campaign material attached. And a smart move, even if it is a bit like rolling the dice. It is their theory that 83 percent (polls say) of those under 35 will vote for Obama if they are registered and get to the polls. Ergo, if they register 100, 83 of them will vote for Obama. They hope. ~ Mike McCarville

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