BARACK'S BIG ARMY

    Barack Obama is marching into the battle for the White House with an army of campaign staffers and consultants that dwarfs arch rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's camp, federal records show.

    Obama, a Senate rookie who launched his upstart campaign largely from scratch earlier this year, has ballooned his team to 191 people on the payroll, according to his quarterly campaign report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

    That easily outguns the 142 salaried staffers for Clinton, who has been amassing a presidential-sized platoon for the past year under the guise of staffing her easy 2006 Senate re-election run.


    Meanwhile, the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is tightening. A new USA Today-Gallup Poll shows Clinton's lead over Obama down to a 5-point lead, 31 percent to 26. The same poll had Clinton leading by 19 points earlier this month.


Praise Allah.