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Agence France-Presse:

Never mind the radiation: British contingency planners worried there would be a dramatic shortage of tea in the aftermath of a nuclear attack, recently declassified documents showed Monday.

The shortfall of the staple British beverage would be “very serious” if the country were to come under attack with atomic and hydrogen bombs, said according to a memo drafted between 1954 and 1956.

“The tea position would be very serious with a loss of 75 percent of stocks and substantial delays in imports and with no system of rationing it would be wrong to consider that even one ounce (28 grams) per head per week could be ensured,” it said…

Which proves, as the wife (who loves her tea) points out, that the current one certainly isn’t the first Government to have its priorities all screwed up.

Andrew Sullivan in the Sunday Times, obviously having a moment:

…I’m talking about the possibility — and the powerful logic — of a unity Obama-Clinton ticket for the Democrats…

…The conservative white voters that Clinton has amazingly managed to attract could be combined with the massive infusion of new young votes, internet money, and African-American enthusiasm to create a potential tsunami in the election. Instead of having to pick between the first black president and the first woman president, the Democrats could offer voters both: the first black president and first female vice-president. Worries about Obama’s relative youth and lack of Washington experience would be allayed by the presence of the Clintons. The toxicity of the Clinton baggage could be balanced by the hope Obama has inspired.

The Clintons could be deployed to shore up support in some of the Reagan Democrat states, while Obama wins over enough independents to carry the Mountain West and the upper Midwest. California, Ohio, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania could be secured…

Dreams, dreams, dreams. Mr Sullivan proclaims himself a political scientist. But he writes like a starry-eyed kid, and in doing so is misleading British readers about the American electoral process. (Although, judging by the comments in his net column, the overwhelming majority of people who care to comment are Americans. Brits must not be too fussed.)

A real political scientist deals in evidence. For example, what new polling has Mr Sullivan seen that gives Ohio to Sen Obama?:

Obviously, he’s counting on Sen Clinton to pull Sen Obama’s campaign out of the fire. She may, of course. Or she may not. Only she really knows.

What we do know, now, is that in a state by state head to head between the two, currently Sen McCain appears to have the Electoral College advantage. Indeed, it is quite possible that if it weren’t for Sen McCain, the Republicans would be dead in this presidential election. As the Washington Times notes:

…the Republicans have stumbled into nominating the only man who could win in November, and all the Republicans have to do to preserve an authentic shot at keeping the White House is to save the unpredictable John McCain from John McCain; there’s always the chance that he’ll morph into Mr. Nice Guy in a fit of civility and an effusion of good manners in the middle of the high road…

Still, what about the Obama-Clinton “dream ticket”? The most current polling on that yours truly has seen is referenced by Bill Kristol in today’s NYT, who also reminds us that Sen McCain will eventually have a running mate too:

…in the latest Fox News poll: McCain led Obama in the straight match-up, 46 to 43. Voters were then asked to choose between two tickets, McCain-Romney vs. Obama-Clinton. Obama-Clinton won 47 to 41…

Sorry to be so picky, but even interpreted at its most optimistic, a “tsumani” that ticket pollingly currently seems not. However, if Mr Sullivan has other data pointing to Sen Obama’s sweeping through the Electoral College thanks to Sen Clinton being his running mate, it would have been nice had he at least alluded to it. In the meantime, he can spare us the teenage fawning: we’ve all endured way too much of that already . . . and it’s only May, for heaven’s sake.