I THINK THE FENCES ARE PRETTY MUCH MENDED

The New York Times tells us that Hillary Clinton's camp is concerned about her level of support among black voters:

... Since Mrs. Clinton left the secretary of state post in February, she and her husband have sought to soothe and strengthen their relationship with African-Americans, the constituency that was most scarred during her first bid for the presidency. Five years after remarks by Mr. Clinton about Barack Obama deeply strained the Clintons' bond with African-Americans, the former first family is setting out to ensure that there is no replay of such trouble in 2016....

"I think that this is an effort to repair whatever damage they felt may have been done in '08," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. Mr. and Mrs. Clinton "know that there are some who have lingering questions, if not antipathy, towards them," Mr. Sharpton said....

Antipathy? Here's the level of antipathy I'm seeing in the polls: In a Quinnipiac poll taken a couple of weeks ago, Clinton beat Paul Ryan among black voters 87%-7%; she beat Ted Cruz 88%-6% and Rand Paul 83%-10%. She even beat Chris Christie, supposedly the Republican most able to make inroads among non-white voters, 77%-12%. When black voters are asked whthr she'd make a good president, 86% say yes. (Only 51% say the same about Joe Biden, and 35% about Chris Christie.)

A survey conducted by Public Policy Polling about a month ago has similar numbers (PDF), although there are more undecideds: Clinton beats Paul 76%-8%, beats Cruz 78%-10%, beats Jeb Bush 77%-6%, and beats Christie 74%-8%. And that would be after primaries in which Clinton beats Biden 66%-17% among black voters (Elizabeth Warren gets 4%).

Do these match Barack Obama's stratospheric numbers among black voters? No, but they're pretty close to Bill Clinton's numbers: he beat George H.W. Bush 83%-10% in 1992 (Ross Perot got 7%), then beat Bob Dole 84%-12% (with Perot at 4%) in 1996.

Yes, yes, yes: this is all premature, the campaign hasn't started, and we don't know how it's going to play out. But if the argument is that there's still a large amount of bad blood after the 2008 primaries, I don't think it's borne out by the evidence.

Who Is Israel Backing For President… Of The United States?

Hillary and her Israeli controller, Haim

Israel covers its bases. Two dual citizens, both billionaires, GOP mobster Sheldon Adelson and Democratic media magnate Haim Saban help finance both party establishments. Whoever wins, Israel has a friend in the Washington-- or, more appropriately, many, many friends. Adelson and Saban and their wives have shelled out tens of millions of dollars of dollars each for their "teams." This kind of undue influence over national security from a foreign state should be strictly illegal and Adelson and Saban should be-- but will certainly never be-- investigated for bribery (for starters).

Friday, Israel's biggest daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which generally publishes a moderate perspective and does not follow Netanyahu's far right line, announced that Saban is all-in for Hillary Clinton. That's not exactly news, since Saban has helped finance the Clinton machine for years and has been uncomfortable with Obama and his slightly less subservient posture towards Israel. He put up the dough for the controversial Hillary movie that features international figures including Netanyahu singing her praises.

“I hope she will run. She would be a wonderful president,” said Saban, who gave $1 million last year to a super PAC that raised money for Priorities USA and other groups. Priorities backed Obama in 2012 and is in the process of morphing into a pro-Clinton endeavor.

“If it happens, we will of course pitch in with full might,” Saban added. “Seeing her in the White House is a big dream of mine.”

Saban’s comments about Vice President Joe Biden were also noteworthy.

“I think that if Vice President Biden decides to run, Obama will stay neutral, but if Biden does not run and she does, he will support her,” Saban said. “The general feeling is that Hillary is Obama’s natural successor.”

Biden has made clear he wants to be taken seriously as a potential 2016 hopeful, but he was was depicted in the 2012 retrospective Double Down as a nuisance to Obama’s aides, who engaged in loose talk about replacing him on the ticket with Clinton.

The early signal from Saban is a reminder that Clinton will have plenty of outside cash to help her in a potential campaign. And unlike Obama, who had an uncomfortable relationship with Priorities USA that kept a number of donors at bay, the Clintons have historically had no such worry. Bill Clinton provided a major boost to Priorities in mid-2012 at a time when it was struggling.

As for Biden, the question of whether Obama campaign manager Jim Messina will join Priorities USA has been delayed, according to multiple sources, because of the dust-up over Double Down. The central figure in that episode was former White House chief of staff William Daley, and Obama has said he himself never considered such a thing, but the information in the book has left a bad taste in the mouths of Biden allies.

Presumably we'll find out which Republican the Israeli right is supporting from Adelson's trashy giveaway, Israel HaYom. So far this year, Adelson hasn't announced which GOP candidate he'll be supporting. He's been demanding tough statements that favor bombing Iran-- the basic Israeli position, as usual-- and he and the wife have handed out around $200,000, mostly to the local congressman he owns, Joe Heck, and to the NRCC (around $65,000) and the RNC (around $100,000).

Best bet: Chris Christie