Electability? Republican Poll Shows McCain with Bigger Edge Over Clinton

The Hotline [HERE] reports the following: The Republican National Committee preemptively released its internal survey of 800 voters, conducted from March 25 to 27 ... Not surprisingly, the survey is v. favorable to the GOP nom-to-be John McCain, showing advantages against both Dems, a strong crossover appeal and that voters give McCain props for his foreign policy credentials.

-- McCain leads Barack Obama, 48% - 42%. He has a bigger edge over Hillary Clinton, 51% to 40%.

-- McCain takes 16% of Dems against Clinton and 20% against Obama.

-- 77% of voters believe McCain has the experience to be commander in chief, compared with 40% for Obama

--68% of voters said Clinton will say or do anything to get elected while 44% said she is honest and trustworthy.

McCain gets ousted from board of Project Vote Smart for lack of straight talk

Sen. John McCain, a long-time board member of Project Vote Smart, was kicked off yesterday for failing to provide information about where he stands on key issues. Project Vote Smart, which aims to try to get past the sound bites to find out where candidates stand on issues, administers the Political Courage Test to pin folks down on exactly where they stand. McCain, who's been a member of the organization's board for years, had always been good about filling out the survey — until this year, when his presidential campaign has failed to respond to repeated overtures over nearly a year. Richard Kimball, the president of PVS who considers himself a friend of McCain's, and, incidentally, was the man who McCain defeated in his first run for the U.S. Senate in 1986, said the board voted weeks ago to give McCain one last chance to respond and, if he didn't, he would automatically be kicked off. That deadline passed yesterday, with no response from McCain. [MORE]