It didn't look like anyone else noticed this, so given the bloodlust of poll diaries (myself included) that we often see here on MyDD, I thought I'd be the first to break the exciting news!

In the fun spirit of poll diaries today, here's mine.  This is a bit off topic for the Presidential Race, but you don't see too many state-level polls on approval ratings for Senators or Governors who aren't on the ballot next year.  Dick Durbin is up for reelection in 2008, so perhaps we'll see some more polling along these lines.

Anyway, wondering how Obama's approval ratings are doing in Illinois now that he's in the thick of the Presidental race?  New polling has the answer.

(Cross posted at DailyKos)

The New York Times yesterday had an editorial decrying "the silence of politicians" concerning the lack of discussion in the wake of Virginia Tech about the current state of gun laws and how a mentally deraged person legally acquired two weapons and killed 32 people.

An excerpt:

Politicians should at least have the guts to tell the nation that retrogression is the state of gun control in America. But Congress's new Democratic majority is a study in caginess, its leaders obviously mindful of the warning -- issued by Terry McAuliffe, the former party chairman who is now a principal in Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign -- to avoid the subject as a third-rail loser. The question in the '08 campaign is whether major candidates will dare to speak of Virginia Tech as anything more than an occasion to express grief.

I saw this on Politico today and wondered if there's additional confirmation.

Ben Smith's keeping a running tab on support for Reid-Feingold and mentioned this:

Feingold aide Zach Lowe emails the current list of supporters, including only Dodd among the candidates: Feingold, Reid, Dodd, Kerry, Leahy, Boxer.

EDWARDS: Spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield emails, "I wouldn't say he supports Reid-Feingold. He supports defunding as a policy and applauds Reid and Feingold for putting it on the table, but the plan he supports is his own -- which would force a drawdown of 40-50,000 immediately and have all combat troops out in 12-18 months."

OBAMA: Spokesman Bill Burton: "Still looking at it."

UPDATE: That is to say, says Bedingfield, his only quarrel with the bill is it doesn't go far enough, but he has no problem with the methods.