Fables of the reconstruction

"This is Not Classy and Does Not Help"

Confirmed Hillary-hater Fallows:

She has not had the grace to mention Barack Obama's name, nor his existence or success. Not as "Senator Obama," not even as "my worthy opponent in the contest for our great party's nomination -- for this battle we all believe in to change the course of the nation's future" and so on. This on a night when he has just trounced her fair and square in Virginia and, presumably, will in a few minutes be shown to have done the same in Maryland and D.C.

This is not classy and does not help. Not that the campaign is short of critics at the moment (see my Atlantic colleague Josh Green's excellent inside account), but whoever advised her to take this petty approach made a mistake.

That Josh Green piece is interesting in its own right, of course. Did anyone else know that, in her book Living History, Hillary referred to herself and her staff as Hillaryland? I find that rather creepy.

It's Alive!

In this article on insurers who demand that California doctors report patients with undisclosed pre-existing conditions, there is this:

"We're outraged that they are asking doctors to violate the sacred trust of patients to rat them out for medical information that patients would expect their doctors to handle with the utmost secrecy and confidentiality," said Dr. Richard Frankenstein, president of the California Medical Assn.

The president of the California Medical Association is named Dr. Frankenstein. How cool is that?

Fortunately, he looks like a nice monster:

Rendell: PA Racists Elected a Jewish Governor But Hate Blacks

Tony Norman, quoting Ed Rendell from a Pittsburgh Post Gazette editorial board meeting:

"You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate," he said bluntly. Our eyes only met briefly, perhaps because the governor wanted to spare the only black guy in the room from feeling self-conscious for backing an obvious loser. "I believe, looking at the returns in my election, that had Lynn Swann [2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate] been the identical candidate that he was --well-spoken [note: Mr. Rendell did not call the brother "articulate"], charismatic, good-looking -- but white instead of black, instead of winning by 22 points, I would have won by 17 or so."

So, Ed. The rednecks in the T give a Philadelphia Jew 17+, but they will turn on a "well-spoken" black man? Look, Swann was an empty suit going for his first elected office. The GOP tapped him because they had no one in the pen willing to go up against you. Secondly, rural Pennsylvania conservatives hate gun-grabbers, faggots and illegal immigrants. They would hate black people, too, if they lived near any, but they don't. Mr. Norman adds:

I know I have a habit of sometimes zoning out in these meetings, but it sounded to me like Mr. Rendell had unilaterally declared Pennsylvania to be Alabama circa 1963. Was he suggesting that Pennsylvanians are uniquely racist in ways that folks in the states Mr. Obama has won so far aren't? By the way, Mr. Obama won Alabama on Super Tuesday, thank you very much!

Right. Other things rural conservatives hate more than blacks: women with power and the Clintons.

Republican Quote of the Day

Jack M. at Ace of Spades HQ:

Just consider this your official "CROSS OVER AND VOTE FOR OBAMA" reminder. This way, you can stay home in November and still have the satisfaction of having voted against a Clinton!

How ... revealing. Although I am encouraged by the "stay home in November" part.

(Via Gib.)

Gallup: Clinton and Obama Tied Again Nationally

Gallup:

If he takes the lead soon, expect a huge shout of joy from many quarters, but don't get caught up. Absent a(nother) serious mistake from one side or the other, I don't think an endgame trend takes hold until the March 4 contests, at the earliest.

QOTD

John Cole:

So if all you can do when you come in here, pitching a fit about my refusal to support Hillary in the primaries (knowing full well I will vote for her in the general election should she win the nomination) is to list these three things- “ZOMG Hillary is the victim of sexist attacks” or “ZOMG the media is unfair” or “ZOMG Obama has fanbois,” just please spare us all the time and effort of reading your drivel. If you can give me some reasons why I should choose Hillary over Obama other than the previously listed items (offenses?), have at it. Otherwise, put a sock in it.

What he said. Goes both ways, too."ZOMG Hillary has creepy supporters" is not a reason to vote for Obama.

Ten Thousand Years in Iraq

I like it when the mom covers her kid's eyes:

Having said that, poor John. He tries to be a maverick, and look what happens. He actually tells the truth about the consequences of following his policies - Bush's policies - in Iraq, and mean liberals make fun of him. But as the video says: Good luck with that in November!

(Via Some Dude With Cats.)

Update: James Joyner is completely tone-deaf:

Yet it also obliquely (and unintentionally) gets at the point I’ve been harping on today about the difficulty of running a substantive, policy oriented campaign as juxtaposed with one of vague “hope” for “change.” If your message fits on a bumper sticker — or better yet, works as a song — it’s got a better chance of inspiring. But it’s also almost certainly vapid.

It's also got a better chance of inspiring if, you know, your proposed policies aren't crazy and the people don't hate them. Anyway, Republicans and silly Dems have to tell themselves that Obama is content-free because that's the only way they can justify their actions later on.

"Race Cards and All That"?

Krugman:

It really makes me sad to see so many people get played by the media on this. If you prefer Obama, fine — but the evil, race-card-playing Clinton campaign is no more real than Al Gore’s claim that he invented the Internet.

I posted my thoughts in his comments (pending moderation).

Update: Krugman's updated his post and posted again on the issue, but I'm not going to link. Krugman's original post was Monday morning at 9:35 a.m., and I imagine that mine was just one of hundreds of comments immediately waiting in the queue. But the last comment approved was timestamped 8:04 a.m. Not one since. How many minutes would it take The Times employee responsible to scan his comments for foul language? Minutes, at most. They're clearly censoring. There's no point in calling it a blog if you don't permit comments that disagree with you.

John Cleese

Interviewed by The Onion:

[Onion Audio Video Club]: Speaking of wickedness, when you were shooting Life Of Brian, were you concerned with the fate of your immortal soul?

JC: No. No, because it's not in any way against Christ or Christ's teachings. It's all about criticizing people who make something of Christ's teachings, which I think he himself would not recognize. ... It was like Tom DeLay, who said, with reference to turning the other cheek, that he never understood that bit of theology, which is absolutely the key to everything that Christ says. Here you've got a guy who's made a political career out of being supported by evangelical Christians, and he's totally missed the point of the teaching. So is he a Christian? ...

AVC: Religious traditions as a whole are constantly revised, yet you kind of have to hold onto the fiction that there's an objective truth that stands the test of time. 

JC: ... I think that the real religion is about the understanding that if we can only still our egos for a few seconds, we might have a chance of experiencing something that is divine in nature. ... So real religion is about reducing our egos, whereas all the churches are interested in is egotistical activities, like getting as many members and raising as much money and becoming as important and high-profile and influential as possible. ... So how can you have an egotistical organization trying to teach a non-egotistical ideal? It makes no sense, unless you regard religion as crowd control. What I think most organized religion—simply crowd control.

AVC: Life Of Brian was very controversial. A Fish Called Wanda generated controversy as well. Have you ever reached a point in a project where you thought "Maybe I've gone too far?"

... No, I've always kept my eye on things like that, but I also know that unless your comedy is completely bland, there will always be someone somewhere who's offended by it. You can't really avoid some offense, so the question is not "Will you offend people?" but "What sort of proportions will you offend them in?" I'll give you a good example. The producers of Holy Grail actually wanted to cut the Black Knight scene, where the limbs get cut off, because they thought it would worry people. Of course, 95 percent of the audience thinks it's the funniest scene in the film. Two percent of the audience don't like it, because it seems so violent. So do you cut the scene so that two percent don't object to it, and deprive 95 percent of their favorite scene?

I don't know so much whether if you still your ego, you might experience something divine, but you certainly can experience something healthy. Still, a nice exchange.

(Via TS at Instaputz.)

John McCain: Bush Republican

Washingtonpost.com:

"If John is the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative, and I'll be glad to help him if he is the nominee," Bush said on "Fox News Sunday." "But he is a conservative. Look, he is very strong on national defense. He is tough fiscally. He believes the tax cuts ought to be permanent. He is pro-life. His principles are sound and solid, as far as I'm concerned."

We don't have to tie McCain to Bush. Bush will do it for us.

"I know him well," Bush said. "I know his convictions. I know the principles that drive him and no doubt in my mind, he is a true conservative."

Bush brushed off their high-profile disagreements over the years on issues such as taxes and interrogation policies, depicting them as natural for any senator. "The question I asked myself, and I hope voters ask, [is] what are the principles by which this person will be making decisions?" As for conservatives who doubt McCain, he said, "If you're seeking, looking for perfection, you'll never find that person. I certainly wasn't a perfect candidate for a lot of folks."

You certainly weren't the perfect President, either, Sir.

 

Hillary Picks This News Cycle to Break the Bad News

Blue Texan calls Obama's weekend sweep impressive, and notes of Hillary:

This week, it came out that she'd loaned her campaign $5M, Hillary has fired her campaign manager, and lost 4 more states.

Her campaign decided to do all the "negative" stuff this weekend so they could lump it together with the losses. Next task: Spin the upcoming losses in the Potomac Primary on Tuesday.  Get ready tomorrow for Clinton people to start saying if she doesn't lose too badly, she wins. Immediately after, they need to come up with some tactic to get positive attention back on her. Endorsements? Gin up a controversy?

Hillary Replaces Her Campaign Manager

Clinton changes staff:

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton replaced campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with longtime aide Maggie Williams on Sunday, a staff shake-up coming just hours after presidential rival Barack Obama's weekend sweep of three contests.

Campaign aides said Solis Doyle made the decision to leave on her own and was not urged to do so by the former first lady or any other senior member of the team.

I assume the second paragraph is a lie. If I were a Clinton donor, I'd certainly be telling her she needs to do something new, because what she's been doing isn't working.

Update:  The Caucus makes a point of mentioning this:

The announcement of Ms. Solis Doyle’s replacement came minutes after Mrs. Clinton was grounded by what her campaign said were high winds at Dulles Airport. After arriving at the airport for a charter flight to Roanoke, Mrs. Clinton, her staff and the traveling press corps were not allowed to board the plane.

A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton said high winds at the airport had forced “a number of planes” to be kept on the ground, and that some planes that had taken off today had suffered structural damage. (Other planes at the airport were taking off as Mrs. Clinton’s motorcade drove away, en route to Washington.)

So, the implication is that they were lying about being grounded, and in fact Hillary had to cancel her plans and hurry back to Washington to deal with the crisis. Does this matter?

I've Got Enough to Worry About Already

I just picked up some plums, grown in Chile, from the local store. I love most fresh fruit, and never had this experience before: When I bit into a plum, the flesh gave off a strong chemical smell that reminded me of insecticide. I wash fruit before eating it, so I assume the outside is okay, but if the contamination is in the fruit, what can I do? Besides spit it out.

Fun With Numbers

Fox News shows this delegate count graphic in their sidebar:

Notice anything amiss?

(Via S,N!)

   

Obama Sweeps February 9 Contests

Looks like Obama won Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington today. Good on him. Tomorrow is the Maine caucuses.

Update: Don't forget the United States Virgin Islands Democratic territorial convention! Obama won that, too, with 92% of the vote. They have 9 delegates, just like Guam and American Samoa.

Republican Quote of the Day

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."

-John McCain, speaking at a Republican Senate fundraiser, 1998

All class. I hope they go after Hillary's appearance this time around - and if she's the nominee, you know they will. All we would have to do is publicize the jokes and women will quietly and massively go Dem.

(Via Avedon Carol.)

Someone's Gonna Die

Goddammit. News helicopters returned at dawn (it's still blowed up, alright?) and don't let anyone bullshit you that root canals are no longer a big deal. Does anyone have any fucking codeine? Because my dentist doesn't work Fridays. Goddammit.

Aftermath

Click to embiggen.

Local Programming: Safe as Houses

At 3:50 p.m. I was home recovering from my dentist appointment, when my windows shook in a distinctive way: Concussion wave.

At 4:04, I finally got outside and took a few pictures. To the right, it's the rear of the house that exploded:

Pretty powerful blast. The rear windows flew over the brick building on the extreme right and hit a house three doors down:

One landed in the driveway and the other is behind the fence.

The front of the house collapsed:

Fortunately, no one was home and no one on the street got hurt. More pictures after the jump.

Romney Says Democrats Are Traitors

Washington Post:

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win," he said. "And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

This isn't a minority view. A major Republican Presidential candidate can say right out that voting for the other party's candidate is a betrayal of the nation, and not only do other Republicans not feel the need to disavow his accusation, but the media treats it as uncontroversial: Democrats are traitors; the weather is next.

Remember this moment. It will set the theme of the general election.

(Via Kathy at IIRTHZ.)

Eschacon '08

Come on out and meet Atrios's commenters. And people you'd want to meet.

March 28-30. Registration prices go up on March 1. Sign up now!

"Euros Accepted Here"

You know the era of U.S. economic dominance is over when stores in tourist cities start pricing their goods in Euros at attractive exchange rates:

In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

"We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank," Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, told Reuters television.

The increasingly weak U.S. dollar, once considered the king among currencies, has brought waves of European tourists to New York with money to burn and looking to take advantage of hugely favorable exchange rates.

What people should be doing is holding a portion of their Euros revenue as a hedge against further drops in the dollar.

I Learn a New Word

AJ Ayer:

Ayer believed that religious language was unverifiable and as such literally nonsense. Consequently "There is no God" was for Ayer as meaningless and metaphysical an utterance as "God exists." Though Ayer could not give assent to the declaration "There is no God," he was an atheist in the sense that he withheld assent from affirmation's of God's existence. That stance of a person who believes "God" denotes no verifiable hypothesis is sometimes referred to as igtheism.

Also:

He taught or lectured several times in the United States, including serving as a visiting professor at Bard College in the fall of 1987. At a party that same year held by fashion designer Fernando Sanchez, Ayer, then 77, confronted Mike Tyson harassing the (then little-known) model Naomi Campbell. When Ayer demanded that Tyson stop, the boxer said: "Do you know who the fuck I am? I'm the heavyweight champion of the world," to which Ayer replied: "And I am the former Wykeham Professor of Logic. We are both pre-eminent in our field. I suggest that we talk about this like rational men". Ayer and Tyson then began to talk, while Naomi Campbell slipped out.

Tyson then bit his ear off. But well played, Professor.

Hillary Opens Up 13 Point Lead on Obama Nationwide

Gallup:

Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted Feb. 3-5 now includes three consecutive days in which Clinton has done well, giving her a 13-percentage point lead over Barack Obama, 52% to 39%. ...

Gallup Poll Daily tracking will not begin to reflect the impact of Tuesday's voting on national Democratic preferences until tomorrow.

I am supporting Obama, and I would be very excited to see him win this, but I don't think I have any illusions. Hillary has the machine.

Ow

Root canal is scheduled for 9 a.m. In the meantime, codeine.

How Did Pollsters Do on Tuesday?

California:

• Reuters/CSpan/Zogby, 2/03-2/04, Obama 49, Clinton 36.
• SurveyUSA, 2/03-2/04, Clinton 52, Obama 42.
• Result: Clinton 52, Obama 42.

Missouri:

• Reuters/CSpan/Zogby, 2/02-2/04, Obama 45, Clinton 42.
• SurveyUSA, 2/02-2/04, Clinton 54, Obama 43.
• Result: Obama 49, Clinton 48.

Connecticut:

• SurveyUSA, 2/02-2/03, Obama 48, Clinton 46.
• Result: Obama 51, Clinton 47.

New Jersey:

• Rasmussen, 2/04-2/04, Clinton 49, Obama 43.
• Reuters/CSpan/Zogby, 2/02-2/04, Clinton 46, Obama 41.
• SurveyUSA, 2/02-2/03, Clinton 52, Obama 41.
• Result: Clinton 54, Obama 44.

Oklahoma:

• SurveyUSA, 2/02-2/03, Clinton 54, Obama 27.
• Result: Clinton 55, Obama 31.

New York:

• Quinnipac, 1/30-2/04, Clinton 53, Obama 39.
• SurveyUSA, 2/02-2/03, Clinton 56, Obama 38.
• Result: Clinton 57, Obama 40.

Massachusetts:

• SurveyUSA, 2/02-2/03, Clinton 56, Obama 39.
• Suffolk/WHDH, 2/01-2/03, Clinton 44, Obama 46.
• Result: Clinton 56, Obama 41.

Illinois:

• SurveyUSA, 2/02-2/03, Obama 66, Clinton 30.
• Result: Obama 65, Clinton 33.

Georgia:

• Reuters/CSpan/Zogby, 2/02-2/04, Obama 49, Clinton 29.
• Result: Obama 67, Clinton 31.

I conclude that if SurveyUSA tells you something is so, it's not absolutely guaranteed to be true, but you'd be wise to believe it (within the margin of error). The rest are hit-or-miss.

Also, Bradley effect? What Bradley effect?

Do The Math

As of this morning, the (alleged) delegate count for Obama is 908 and for Clinton is 884.  In addition, Edwards has 16 pledged delegates that he has some say in assigning. It takes 2,025 to win.

On February 9, there are 4 contests with a total of 205 delegates:

• Louisiana primary, 68 delegates.
• Nebraska caucus, 31 delegates.
• Washington caucus, 97 delegates.
• U.S. Virgin Islands primary, 9 delegates.

On February 10, Maine holds its caucus, assigning 9 delegates.

On February 12, there are 3 contests with a total of 239 delegates:

• Maryland primary, 99 delegates.
• Virginia primary, 103 delegates.
• District of Columbia primary, 37 delegates.

On February 19, Wisconsin, with 92 delegates, holds its primary and the Hawaii caucus allocates 29 delegates.

On March 4, there are four contests with a total of 445 delegates:

• Ohio primary, 162 delgates.
• Rhode Island primary, 32 delegates.
• Texas primary/caucus hybrid, 228 delegates.
• Vermont primary, 23 delegates.

On March 8, Wyoming's caucus assigns 18 delegates. And on March 11, Mississippi's primary assigns 36 delegates.

So between now and March 11, a total of 1,073 delegates will be awarded. For the sake of argument, let's say they split 537 Obama/536 Clinton. That would give Obama a total of 1,445 and Clinton 1,420.

Then there is a nearly 6-week gap before the Pennsylvania primary, with 181 delegates, the largest remaining state.

Observations:

1. How lucky are the February 9 states that they are the focus of attention for only two days?
2. I have no idea whether thinking the race will remain even before it gets to Pennsylvania is realistic. I am already tired of polls.
3. Six weeks is a long time for the circus to be in town. If I made money from radio or television ads, I would be salivating.
4. I guess I am going to jump in as a volunteer for Obama's GOTV effort.

Update: Dan McQuaide at Philadelphia Weekly:

Politically-interested area twenty-somethings, however, will be even more unbearable for the duration of the primary season.

I have to say, Obama attracts the most annoying supporters. Snotty punks who largely whine about Hillary more than they talk up their guy. I was about ready to punch this one asshole at DL last night. I am supporting Obama, though, because I think he's got a better shot to beat McCain than Hillary does.

No New Massachusetts Polls

As I suspected, no new polls have been taken in Massachusetts since Saturday, so we have no idea what the race is doing there.

Weird Polls

Super Tuesday! And the polling is strange.

Check out Missouri: Two polls were conducted in the last 3 days that are 14 points apart. Reuters/CSpan/Zogby has Obama 45, Clinton 42. SurveyUSA has Clinton 54, Obama 43.

New Jersey had 3 polls done. Reuters/CSpan/Zogby has Clinton +5. Rasmussen has Clinton +6. SurveyUSA has Clinton +11.

California: Reuters/CSpan/Zogby has Obama 49, Clinton 36. SurveyUSA has Clinton 52, Obama 42. That's a 23 point difference.

My nonexpert analysis is that either Reuters/CSpan/Zogby is oversampling Obama voters, or SurveyUSA is oversampling Clinton voters, or both. The other possibility is that there are timing differences between when the polls were taken with one weighted toward the beginning of the three day period and the other toward the end, and that Democratic preferences changed radically over that time.

Glad That's Over

What an ugly game.  The Pats threw away a whole season to a second-rate opponent.

Dems Tied Nationwide Again; Obama Surging to Lead in California, Even in New Jersey, Stalled in New York

Highlights of the latest numbers:

• Gallup says national Democratic voters prefer Clinton by 46% and Obama by 44%, a statistical tie.
• The latest California poll from Reuters/CSpan/Zogby has Obama at 45, Clinton at 41. Si se peude!
• Same poll has Hillary at 43 and Obama at 42 in New Jersey.
• In New York, on the other hand, nothing seems to be changing.
• Nothing new yet from Massachusetts.

Plugging all the numbers into my crude delegate spreadsheet (which I know is wrong but it's the best I can do), right now Hillary would get 1,060 delegates and Obama 965, with 63 delegates in jurisdictions with no polling yet.

Update heading out to the bar: Of course there's no Massachusetts update. Duh. No one would answer the fucking phone today. And if the Pats win, there may be no poll tomorrow either. Could be we have no clue what's happening in MA before the vote. Weird.

Gallup Has Clinton Up By 7 Points Over Obama

Daily tracking poll:

In the most recent tracking period, Clinton holds a seven-point lead over Obama among Democratic primary voters nationwide, 48% vs. 41%.

I have been applying the state-by-state poll numbers (as they become available) to the number of delegates in each Super Tuesday state, and as of right now I estimate Hillary would take about 1,100 delegates to Obama's 900. (It doesn't sum to the total of 2,088 because we have no polls for some of the states.)  Big caveat: I understand that this is an extremely naive way of determining delegate allocation, and by naive I mean wrong. There are all kinds of funky rules that each state has for awarding delegates, which I have neither the time nor the skill (probably) to grasp, and even if I did, it probably wouldn't help to fine-tune the prediction because the polling data (that I could find) is only on the state level, and you'd probably need county-by-county polls to make an accurate prediction. The purpose of just multiplying out the poll numbers and delegates is to get a ballpark estimate.

One of the oddities is that Connecticut is basically a tie (or favors Obama), while Massachusetts is Clinton by 6-24, depending on who you believe, and New York is Clinton by 16-28. It seems really strange to have such disparate results in neighboring states, but this is the first time I have ever even tried to take a fine-grained look at polls, so maybe that expectation is wrong. The +16 Clinton figure from NY is the most recent, so maybe tomorrow's will be in single digits. But the Massachusetts polls are supremely weird, because one taken on 1/28 has Hillary by 6 and the one on 1/30 has her by 24, not just a whopping disparity but the opposite of the trend you'd expect.

The other oddity is that Tennessee has Hillary by 17-33, while neighboring Georgia has Obama by 16.  Georgia has a far higher percentage black population. Is that the whole story?

One kind of obvious point: How great is it that we don't use winner-take-all, like the Republicans do in their primary? By my rough calculations, that would give Hillary 1,700 delegates and Obama 300, a result wildly unrepresentative of the people's choices. And it would concentrate the campaigning in those states that were close enough to flip, depriving millions of people an opportunity to engage with the issues. This is a much better way.

QOTD

Thers at Whiskey Breath:

Truth and honesty are virtues. Civility is a mechanism that facilitates conversation among individuals or groups who have some sort of commitment to such virtues: if this is not the case, "civility" itself becomes an instrument of viciousness. See as reference the last eight years of American history.

Which is why, morally as well as empirically, "civility" ought only to be seen as referencing a certain set of discursive, cultural, and linguistic protocols that are beneficial in some situations and worse than useless in others.

So feel free to say fuck. If you're moral enough.

Call It The De Menezes Squad

I predict that the first person killed by one of these cops will be a swarthy, innocent, unarmed civilian and that they will never, ever encounter a terrorist:

In the first counterterrorism strategy of its kind in the nation, roving teams of New York City police officers armed with automatic rifles and accompanied by bomb-sniffing dogs will patrol the city’s subway system daily, beginning next month, officials said on Friday.

Under a tactical plan called Operation Torch, the officers will board trains and patrol platforms, focusing on sites like Pennsylvania Station, Herald Square, Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center and Times Square in Manhattan, and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

Right. Helmeted, rifle-toting guys with dogs, in a city of paranoics. One false positive alert from the dog and they'll drop someone who doesn't speak the English so good.  Which, you know, is fairly common in NYC. You give these guys a mission (Operation Torch! 12-hour shifts!) and, because they'll go months and maybe years waiting, waiting, waiting, the first time "something happens" it's no questions asked, BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. Oops, sorry, we regret the error, and our review of the incident shows no wrongdoing on the part of our brave officers, so fuck off.

Clinton and Obama in Statistical Tie Nationwide

Gallup:

Forty-four percent of Democratic voters nationwide support Clinton, while 41% support Obama, within the poll's three-point margin of error. ...

Since [Edwards dropped out], Clinton's support has increased two points and Obama's five. Tomorrow's release will be the first pure post-Edwards three-day rolling average.

In terms of Super Tuesday, of course, the national poll doesn't matter. What matters there, I think, are California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Georgia.