First, off, I want to give a shout out to dansac, who already discussed early voting in Ohio.  I want to add some analysis about WHY EXACTLY early voting is (or might be) a boon to Obama in Ohio. I think this AP NEWS article does a HORRIBLE job of explaining the nuance of the issue.

HOLY SHIT. THIS JUST IN. Obama is a politician.

(apologies, but I have a few things to get off my chest)

Wherein I propose a Democratic Nominee Surrogate (other suggestions for the TITLE are more than welcome)

The Democratic Party is in one heck of a battle...against itself.  And because this battle may not be ending anytime soon, we need someone to represent the party, AND the future nominee (whoever he or she may be) against John McCain in the media.

How to do this? Follow me below.

Clinton pundits are throwing the kitchen sink at Obama this morning, showing just how desperate they are becoming. Expect much much more of this over the coming days. Obama's rise from the ashes of Clinton's aura of inevitability (how is that for messianic imagery?) has been so quick, they seem to have been caught unprepared. Just three excerpts from this morning:

I sent the following email to about 50 friends and family last night, and thought I would share it here as well. The bold section is really the heart of the matter for me. I really do believe that in the long run, cynicism, hopelessness, fear, and overly-pessimistic realism are the Republicans' greatest assets. It is no accident that it was the greatest progressive President in our history who said "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" and then proceeded to change the nation.

Dear friends and family,

Minnesota's Feb. 5th Super Tuesday caucus will help determine the Democratic Nominee for President. With that in mind, this email is about why I support Barack Obama and why I think you should too.

Jerome, treats his readers at MyDD like a bunch of idiots.

I have a huge beef with Maggie North of Claremont, a supposed Obama supporter, who "warned" the Senator Monday:

"you've got to stop -- excuse me for being blunt -- you've got to stop getting involved in the way people are fighting each other, chewing you up a little more."

I realize there are many pressing issues facing the nation and the Democratic Party these days, but today I want to talk about our future. Like global warming and the depletion of our natural resources, this issue will not affect us immediately, nor will it change the way we live our ordinary lives tomorrow. But in the coming decades I predict it will come to dominate the concerns and discussions of all good Democrats. More below...

First Read is reporting that, unlike Biden, Richardson, and Dodd, John Edwards (Update*** and Hillary Clinton) agree with Obama's statements on Pakistan yesterday.

I was watching Neil Cavuto today (yeah, I know) and he was interviewing a gas station owner about high gas prices. This gas station owner was talking about how he had been giving seniors "discounts," purportedly out of the goodness of his heart. Then the owner noted that recently the state regulatory authorities had told him he had to stop giving senior discounts, and thus he was no longer able to offer them. Of course, "man of the people" Neil Cavuto was audibly very upset about this, and made a big fuss about how outrageous and stupid this policy is. Thing is, it MAY make a lot of sense.

What I believe might have been going on is third degree price discrimination.