Michelle to Montana: People Lie

Yesterday in Montana Michelle Obama sounded very big tent, very reach out in a local TV interview, but sang a different tune in the local paper's coverage of her remarks to her supporters:

Long after the general election is over, Americans are going to have to stay engaged if the country's political environment is to change, Michelle Obama told a Billings crowd Monday.

The wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told a few hundred supporters gathered at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center they had to remain active in their communities and do their own research on issues in order the change the country's political path.

"The way this campaign has been run is the way we need to be forever," Obama said. "Don't trust bloggers or someone else's opinion, because people lie."

Michelle has an intemperate tongue. Breakdown on Montana, which votes today, along with South Dakota. Time:

Clinton polls well statewide among older white women, and among a majority of Democrats in the conservative eastern half of the state, while Obama rated highest in the traditionally liberal, organized-labor towns of the western half.

There was a pretty bland question from the TV reporter which wiped the smile off Michelle's face, about TUCC. Another key voting group is in play in Montana, as well as in South Dakota, which could provide the margin of victory:

Perhaps with November in mind, both campaigns have focused attention on the state's seven Indian reservations, a crucial bloc that helped narrowly defeat incumbent GOP Sen. Conrad Burns in 2006. Both expressed support for improved federal-tribal relations and medical care. Clinton visited the Flathead Reservation, and daughter Chelsea met Thursday with a group of state tribal leaders. Obama was adopted into the Crow Tribe by the Black Eagle family just before he spoke to 3,000 supporters at the reservation's Veterans Park a few miles from the site of Custer's Last Stand.

The odds are Barack Black Eagle will prevail, but maybe Hillary will have the last laugh. (Is Michelle an asset to Barack's campaign? I have to say, she makes Hillary look like a real charmer.)

P.S. Can Obama clinch tonight? Tribune story here.

UPDATE: Pew poll shows Obama loses, McCain gains support among women, indies. NRO's the Campaign Spot picks it up:

Recent declines in Obama's image have been pronounced among whites - especially white women. Currently, just 43% of white women express a positive opinion of Obama, down from 56% in late February.

Favorable opinions of Obama among independent voters, who have provided him strong support in several of his primary election victories, also have declined over the course of the campaign. Obama's favorable ratings among this pivotal group have fallen from 62% in late February to just 49% in the current poll...

Will this be reflected today's primary results? RCP McCain-Obama average here.

Related posts: The Rezko-Obama Roll, Hillary Hagiography, Barack the Empty Suit, Acorn Fells Obama Tree?, Barack, Sweetie, Throws Sweetie Under the Bus

--crossposted at UNCoRRELATED