Pure Horserace: Sticking With Gonzales

Despite President Bush's low approval ratings, the top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination haven't turned on him yet — Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney have all been generally supportive of the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

That loyalty now appears to have spread to Alberto Gonzales as well. Giuliani said today that the embattled attorney general should get "the benefit of the doubt" over his role in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, according to The Associated Press. His sentiments are similar to those expressed by McCain and Romney.

Their support of Bush & Co., not surprisingly, puts them in line with Republican primary voters. Recent polls show that nearly all of President Bush's support comes from self-identified Republicans, who also make up a majority of GOP primary voters and still overwhelmingly back the president.

When will the top Republican candidates start "running away" from the unpopular president? Probably not until their voters do, too. But some of the lesser-known candidates, who have nothing to lose, are trying to get ahead of the pack: Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo has already called for the attorney general's resignation.

It's Not Up To You, New York: As predicted yesterday, both houses of the New York state legislature have passed a bill moving the 2008 presidential primary to Feb. 5, Super-Duper Tuesday. Gov. Eliot Spitzer is expected is sign the measure.

The list of potential or definite Feb. 5 contests is now so large — 25 states by the latest count — that even a large state like New York or California may not have a singular impact on the race.

However, unlike California, an early New York contest is of clear benefit to two candidates: Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, and Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton. But it's conceivable that all the front-runners will have at least one state they can count on winning on Feb. 5: Illinois (Barack Obama), North Carolina (John Edwards), heavily Mormon Utah (Mitt Romney), and Arizona (John McCain) are all holding Feb. 5 contests or considering doing so.

That's probably not much comfort though. Even if all those states swing as expected, as many as 20 others could still be up for grabs. But at least they'll all have a place to hold the rally.

It's Not An Obama Ad… Sort Of: After two days of speculation, the creator of the anti-Hillary/pro-Obama "1984" ad spoof finally came forward. While Philip de Vellis was not an employee of the Obama campaign, he was (note the past tense) an employee of Blue State Digital, an online consulting firm that had been contracted by Obama's campaign to create his Web site, known for its social-networking features. De Vellis claims he did the ad on his own, in his spare time.

While YouTube is new, this type of explanation isn't: Campaigns often have to work with organizations that might not maintain as tight a shop as they would hope. Democrats have winced more than a few times after seeing an inflammatory MoveOn.org ad, only to gladly accept its assistance later.

But while Obama's campaign wants to avoid any association with anything that smacks of a lack of discipline or experience, this incident probably won't have much impact on his presidential bid. The ad was more clever than caustic, and the connection between Obama and de Vellis is too "inside baseball" for anyone outside of Washington to take much notice.

Speak Loudly, Carry a Big Gavel: If the past two days have been any indication, Senate Democrats seem to have become quite comfortable wielding committee gavels. Former Vice President Al Gore was supposed to be the main attraction at Wednesday's Environment and Public Works hearing, but chairwoman Barbara Boxer of California stole the show when she gave former chairman — and global warming skeptic — James Inhofe of Oklahoma a none-too-subtle reminder of who's in charge. If you can't view the video, here's the exchange:

Boxer: Would you agree to let the vice president answer your questions, and then if you want a few extra minutes at the end, I'm happy to give it to you. But we're not going to get anywhere …

Inhofe: Why don't we do this? Why don't we do this — at the end you can have as much time as you want. …

Boxer: No, that isn't the rule. You're not making the rules. [holds up gavel] You used to when you did this. You don't do this anymore. Elections have consequences.

Back in the day, the Senate was known for its "clubby" atmosphere. It appears those days have long since passed.

Editor's Note: Pure Horserace is a daily update of political news as interpreted by the political observers at CBSNews.com. Click here to sign up for the e-mail version, coming soon to an in-box near you.

By David Miller