I just chatted with a local organizer for the Clinton campaign who told me that he constantly hears committed Democrats say that they'd like to vote for Obama but worry about a "Muslim" nominee. A couple other thoughts he had:
--He has dubbed his job "The Great Granny Getout." A major headaches is the number of committed Hillary caucusers who report last-minute hip injuries, missing walkers, and other mishaps and maladies.
--Noting that Obama did so well in the Des Moines Register poll because it assumed a very high (40 percent) turnout of independents, he wondered if the fact that indies have to register as Democrats before they caucus might raise any complications on that front. (Although this can be done quickly at the caucus sites tomorrow night.)
P.S. The DMR's off-lead story today is on Democratic skepticism about the paper's latest poll. Longtime party fixture and Biden pollster Celinda Lake calls the assumption about independent turnout "impossible," and that it would be a "revolution." Although as one (deeply skeptical) aide to one rival candidate put it to me yesterday, "If Obama can really turn out that many independents, he's going to win in a blowout, and I hope he's the nominee, because he'll kill the Republican, too."
--Michael Crowley