The Note: Solidarity Salsa

June 25, 2008 -- It's unity week for the Democrats -- and watch this tense tango: Hillary Clinton two-steps toward togetherness, Barack Obama congas for comity (with a fandango of a phone call) -- and Bill Clinton manages to shimmy out a statement.

While we ponder Sen. Obama's star choices (Samuel L. Jackson or Don Cheadle? Heidi Klum or Cindy Crawford?) and taste preferences (fruitcakes or martinis? -- combine them both and you have a drink worthy of "Sex and the City," female outreach settled) . . . a few questions to frame the day:

How many more polls like this before there's real panic in the GOP? (Answer: One.) How many more panel discussions can turn into debates before there's a real-shakeup inside the McCain operation? (Answer: None -- and two more foreign trips next week? Is he seeing an electoral map we're not?)

Is this one of those weeks where it's good to be a candidate/senator or bad to be a candidate/senator? (Answer: Depends on the senator.)

How many more ads like this before Obama's upside is formally declared to outweigh his downside in down-ballot races? (Answer: Three.)

Is Ralph Nader trying to say things politicians just don't say? (Answer: Yes.) How carefully will Bill Clinton have to choose his words when he puts his endorsement into action? (Answer: Very.) How many of those words will be unscripted? (Answer: None.)

What will it take to complete step one of the Great Reconciliation? (Answer: $10 million -- and remember, that's only step one.)

There's nothing like a second-straight big polling lead to help Democrats feel good about themselves in what's supposed to be a feel-good week. It's Obama 49, McCain 37 in the Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll, and the margin expands to 15 if Ralph Nader and Bob Barr are in the polling mix.

"Democrat Barack Obama has opened a 15-point lead in the presidential race, and most of the political trends -- voter enthusiasm, views of President George W. Bush, the Republicans, the economy and the direction of the country -- point to even greater trouble for rival John McCain," Bloomberg's Heidi Przybyla writes.

Przybyla: "Obama is unifying the traditional Democratic base after the divisive Democratic nomination battle with New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Women, who were Clinton's most loyal backers, now favor Obama by a 54-to-29 percent margin and Democrats give him more than 80 percent support."

"Obama's lead -- bigger in this poll than in most other national surveys -- appears to stem largely from his positions on domestic issues," Doyle McManus writes in the Los Angeles Times. "Both Democrats and independent voters said Obama would do a better job than McCain at handling the nation's economic problems, the public's top concern. . . . But voters considered McCain better equipped to protect the country from terrorism, 49% to 32%."

And Obama took his first big move toward party healing on Tuesday -- seeking to answer the Clintons' big lingering question: money.

"On a conference call with his national finance team this afternoon, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, asked his top contributors to help Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, retire her more than $10 million in outstanding vendor debt," ABC's Jake Tapper reports. "He did not specify an amount. Clinton's debt has been a major point of contention as the two former rivals attempt to reconcile."

Clinton moves next, on Wednesday: "Sen. Hillary Clinton will urge her former supporters to back Sen. Barack Obama and will tout 'Democratic unity' in a closed-door meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill today," per ABC's Jennifer Parker. "It is the first of several orchestrated events this week designed to show Democrats that the once-bitter primary rivals are reconciling."

Bill Clinton took a (baby) step in that direction Tuesday. The AP's Nedra Pickler: "Bill Clinton extended his support to Obama for the first time Tuesday in a one-sentence statement from spokesman Matt McKenna. 'President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States,' McKenna said."

Newsday's Glenn Thrush found it be "a less-than-thunderous endorsement" -- released through an aide.

"Hillary Clinton speaks for the Clinton family now, and aside from her campaign debt, she has no real difficulty supporting Barack Obama privately and publicly," The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder reports. "But Bill Clinton has a beef. . . . Why should Clinton embrace a guy who spent the past twelve months bashing him and his accomplishments?"

Place the marker: "Bill Clinton's campaign debut on Obama's behalf is in the planning stages as both camps first aim to heal wounds opened during the bruising primary," Michael McAuliff and Ken Bazinet write in the New York Daily News. "Team Obama expects a ballyhooed rollout event, rivaling the Hillary-Obama unity rally set for Friday in New Hampshire."

Bill won't be at the Mayflower event Thursday or the Unity-unity event in New Hampshire Friday -- but Hillary will. "[Sen.] Clinton will have a chance to return Obama's favor Thursday night, when she introduces Obama to her most generous supporters at the Mayflower Hotel," per The Washington Post's Shailagh Murray.

But first -- a grand return for a candidate who came so close. (There's a ping-pong table set up in Clinton's Senate office now -- metaphor alert! -- and this is the Senate doing what it can on behalf of party comity).

"As she returned in defeat to her old home in the Senate yesterday, she was received as if in triumph," Dana Milbank writes in The Washington Post. "And, in a sense, her stature had increased during the failed primary battle: She left as a legislator but returned as the leader of an 18 million-strong movement of women and working-class voters -- a group whose support Clinton's Democratic colleagues fervently desire."

"The United States Senate -- the well-paid, perk-laden consolation prize of a day job -- also doubles as perhaps the world's pre-eminent support group for also-ran presidential candidates," Mark Leibovich writes in The New York Times.

"But few returnees were greeted with as much fuss and anticipation as Mrs. Clinton, of New York, received on Tuesday. This is due in part to the fanfare that accompanies all things Hillary, but also to the fact that some onlookers were watching for signs of discord between Mrs. Clinton and colleagues who had endorsed Mr. Obama, of Illinois, in the Democratic presidential primary."

What awaits Obama?

For starters -- a map that looks in reach: "Barack Obama could make major gains in at least nine states the Democratic ticket lost in 2004 if he can achieve a relatively modest increase in turnout among young and African-American voters, a Tribune analysis of voting data suggests," per Mike Dorning of the Chicago Tribune.

Dorning: "If Obama could inspire just 10 percent more Democratic voters under 30 to go to the polls than did four years ago, that alone could be enough to switch Iowa and New Mexico from red to blue, the analysis suggests. Just a 10 percent increase in turnout among blacks would make up more than 40 percent of George W. Bush's 2004 victory margin in Ohio and more than 20 percent of the Republicans' 2004 victory margin in Florida."

Assuming the money is there, the map is his oyster: "Barack Obama will focus his resources largely in 14 states George W. Bush won in 2004, his chief field operative said Tuesday, hoping to score upsets in places like Virginia, Indiana, and Georgia," Politico's Ben Smith reports. "But winning the White House won't be his only goal, deputy campaign manager [Steve] Hildebrand told Politico: In an unusual move, Obama's campaign will also devote some resources to states it's unlikely to win, with the goal of influencing specific local contests in places like Texas and Wyoming."

Talking energy in Las Vegas only makes sense when you remember that Las Vegas has a real geographical place: "Obama's visit is part of a strategy to score upset victories in the traditionally Republican but independent-minded region that lies between California and the Rocky Mountains," Kathy Kiely writes in USA Today.