Real Clear Politics cites from the new Pew poll a couple figures: “69% of Hillary supporters back Obama; 17% say they will vote for McCain; and 12% are undecided.” And “55% of Democratic (and leaning) voters want to see Hillary as Obama's VP."

Digging deeper into the numbers...

**Only 38% said they DON'T want Hillary as VP. You mean the Cheeto doesn't speak for us all?? It’s especially significant that when asked “Would she make you more/less likely to vote” for Barack, it’s a bit of a wash for Republicans at 23/26, but makes a huge difference to capturing Democratic votes, by 34/9. Other factoids:

**48% of voters plan to vote for Barack; 40% for McCain, 12% undecided. Of those who did not specific McCain, when further asked if they still might vote for McCain or whether they were definitely decided against it, only 41% said they were definitely decided. 12% said they might still swing to McCain and 7% were undecided.

**34% say they are possibly or very likely to vote “no confidence” in either candidate if that option were on the ballot.

*56% want to see a third party, a number that’s been climbing since 1997.

**Candidate dissatisfaction is significantly higher this year at 38% than in previous election years -- June 2004 (33%) and June 2000 (31%). 31% of voters say they’ll have a hard time making up their minds as neither would make a good president.

**Voter cynicism is up a bit from previous years; the hope/change thing seems to be making little dent against political paralysis in the real world. Only 63% say it really matters who wins the 2008 presidential election, down from 67% in 2004.

**In mid-June, 30% viewed Barack as a “typical politician;” (before his position shifts were complete), but 50% had the The Maverick pegged as one. It will be interesting to watch Barack’s number on this next go-round. Voters prefer McCain’s judgment to Barack’s in a crisis 47 to 38%. You don’t want to know the experience numbers. But Barack will never run out of drinking buddies, with 64% finding him likable; McCain bowls alone with 18% likability. Who’d want to be near this guy with a bowling ball?

**The percent of voters leaning toward their Democratic candidates for Congress is up significantly, with 37 leaning Republican and 52 Democrat, over earlier years: 41 Rep./48 Dem. in 2004 and 43 Rep./47 Dem. in 2000.

**On issues voters most want to hear candidates discuss (they could list several), the economy remained the steady leader since April by far at 44%. But on other issues, the landscape has changed significantly since April. “Energy & gas” is up from 7 to 17% . Concern for gas prices appears to have displaced concern for “Iraq/The war,” down from 24 to 19%, and “health care/health care reform,” down from 14 to 9%. The environment, education, terrorism, immigration, taxes, the deficit, and all else are each 5% or under. Whatever you may think about the gas tax holiday, it’s blindingly obvious why Hillary felt it crucial to signal to voters that she heard their worries.

**A startling 34% say “We have gone too far in pushing equal rights in this country.” The poll did not specify rights for women or minorities. However, an impressive 81% say “I think it’s OK for blacks and whites to date each other,” and a heartening 70% say “the growing variety of ethnic and racial groups in the U.S.” is good for the country.

**The single most striking statistic of all in the entire poll was the number of voters contributing to campaigns -- only 13%. This completely discredits Barack’s disingenuous claim that private funding is more democratic than public. Despite all the talk of millions of small contributions, this is a very tiny group of people giving one candidate an enormous amount of money. That can’t be good for democracy.