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GUESTS: Paul Waldman, co-author with David Brock of Free Ride: John McCain And the Media, Cliff Schechter, author of The Real McCain

With Special Guest Co-host Maria Armoudian, host of The Insighters, heard Thursday at 4 pm on KPFK

Yesterday’s state-wide elections resulted in a loss for Proposition 98 and a win for Proposition 99, leading rent control and affordable housing advocates across the nation to celebrate a major victory. The local race for County Supervisor between Bernard Parks and Mark Ridley-Thomas has resulted in a run-off.

Nationally, Illinois Senator Barack Obama has claimed the Democratic Party nomination for President, making history as the nation’s first black presidential candidate for a major party. Yesterday’s final elections in one of the longest Democratic primary races in history, yielded a win for Barack Obama in Montana and Hillary Clinton in South Dakota. Clinton has said she is open to an invitation to join Obama as running mate.

Meanwhile, a new voter opinion survey shows Obama pulling ahead of McCain in the Presidential race, 47-44%. The Gallup/USA Today poll results are a reversal of last month’s findings which saw McCain beating Obama 47-45%. The presumptive Republican nominee gave a speech in New Orleans that centered on an apparent co-optation of Obama’s message of “change.” He plans to argue that his opponent offers the wrong kind of change, while he, McCain, offers the “right” kind. Earlier in the week, McCain gave a speech to the influential pro-Israeli lobby group, AIPAC, mocking Obama’s positions on Iraq and Iran.

Cliff Schecter is Knight-Ridder columnist, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, and a frequent guest on NPR, CNN, MSNBC, and many other national media outlets that cover politics.

Paul Waldman is the author or coauthor of three books on politics and media, including The Press Effect: Politicians, Journalists, and the Stories That Shape the Political World. His last book was Being Right Is Not Enough: What Progressives Must Learn From Conservative Success. He is also a columnist for The American Prospect.