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Obama claims delegate lead — In a surprise twist after a chaotic Super Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) passed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in network tallies of the number of delegates the candidates racked up last night. — Clinton was portrayed in many news accounts …
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Obama takes The Lead — Last night, after I claimed Obama was the big winner for the Democrats, many of you dismissed me: … No. Obama was the big winner: … Obama won more states, won more delegates, improved his numbers with key groups, widened his lead among minority voters, and over-all, outperformed Hillary.
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New York Times, Open Left, New York Times, The Swamp, The Field, Ben Smith's Blogs, Donklephant and Tom Watson


Five reasons Hillary should be worried — Hillary Clinton survived a Super Tuesday scare. But there are five big reasons the former first lady should be spooked by the current trajectory of the campaign. — Longtime Clinton friends say she recognizes the peril in careening between near …

FIRST THOUGHTS: A DEM SPLIT DECISION
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Washington Post, Taegan Goddard's …, RealClearPolitics, Balkinization, Democratic Strategist and NewsBusters.org

THE DEMOCRATIC RACE FROM HERE. — Now that the dust is settling …

The Repudiation of Rove — John McCain had a surprising but pleasant evening last night — watching Mitt Romney go down to defeat in nearly every contest and encountering a newly victorious but ultimately unnominatable Mike Huckabee all across the Bible Belt.
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ONCE JOHN WINS, HE'LL MAKE A LEFT — RUNNING as a conserva tive, John McCain rolled up huge victories last night in New York, New Jersey and beyond. — But if history is any guide, the McCain we've seen of late on the campaign trail is the most conservative McCain we'll ever see.
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Tapscott's Copy Desk, protein wisdom, The Moderate Voice, Vox Popoli, Pajamas Media, Ross Douthat and Gateway Pundit

One-Legged Stool — I wonder how many of us believe that if John McCain is the nominee, which is looking more likely, whether he will win New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California. This was the Giuliani strategy. He's losing the conservative vote in virtually every state other than New York and New Jersey.

Clinton Weighs A Self-Loan To Finance Campaign — As first floated by The Page, I can confirm that, according to advisers to the campaign, Sen. Hillary Clinton is weighing a self-loan in order to finance a competitive race against Barack Obama over the next few weeks.
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Ben Smith's Blogs, The New Republic, TownHall Blog, The Caucus, Open Left, politburo diktat 2.0 and Donklephant

Seven Reasons To Support The GOP's Nominee — As of this morning, McCain has earned 615 delegates and 4,220,296 votes; Romney 268 delegates and 3,497,341 votes, and Huckabee 169 delegates and 2,232,530 votes. — Senator McCain has a clear path to the nomination, Romney a very uphill battle …
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Riehl World View, Shakespeare's Sister, Salon, Wizbang, Commentary, Right Wing Nut House, Fraters Libertas, Hot Air and Daimnation!

Super Tuesday Fallout: Where The Race Goes From Here — Hillary Clinton's strength among core Democratic constituencies — women, Latinos and working class whites — pushed her to victory in the mega-state primaries of California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts on Tuesday, slowing …
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TalkLeft, New York Times, The New Republic, Tennessee Guerilla Women and Anne Schroeder's Blogs
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Obama Directly Attacks Bill's Presidency, Blames It For Massive Dem Losses — In what may be Obama's most direct and aggressive criticism of Bill Clinton's presidency yet, the Obama campaign dropped a new mailer just before Super Tuesday that blasts “the Clintons” for wreaking massive losses …


Buchanan: John McCain ‘Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi’ — On the NBC Today Show, liberal radio host Rachel Maddow, conservative pundit Pat Buchanan, and Democratic strategist Paul Begala discussed the importance of “change” in the upcoming election. Voters want a “clean break from Bush,” argued Maddow.

SUPERDELEGATES. — I really, really hope the Democratic primary doesn't come down to superdelegates — the privileged class of delegate that gets to vote however they want, and were created to ensure that party elites didn't lose too much control over the process.
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Intelligence Chief Cites Qaeda Threat to U.S. — WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda is gaining in strength from its refuge in Pakistan and is steadily improving its ability to recruit, train and position operatives capable of carrying out attacks inside the United States, the director of national intelligence told a Senate panel on Tuesday.
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FOR THE REPUBLICANS, MOSTLY HAZARDS — In the post below, I suggested that, because they are deadlocked, the Dems may be able to produce a dream Clinton-Obama ticket. It's unlikely that, left to their own devices, the Clintons would share the spotlight with a rock star.
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More Details on ‘Double Bubble Trouble’ in Los Angeles County — Alright, we've got a bona fide mess here in Los Angeles County. We covered this a bit earlier tonight, but have been speaking with various precinct captains and trying to figure out exactly what's going on.
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NRCC probe scares GOP — Top House Republicans were told in recent days that a former employee of their campaign committee may have forged an official audit during the contentious 2006 election cycle and that they should brace for the possibility that an unfolding investigation …
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The Newshoggers, the albany project, Comments from Left Field, Greatscat! and RealClearPolitics

No One Will Listen To John Harris And Jim VandeHei — Why won't anyone at The Washington Post listen to former Post reporters John Harris and Jim VandeHei? The other day, the duo, who are now at The Politico, made an extraordinarily sane suggestion as to how we can all improve political coverage.

Ted Haggard Quits New Life ‘Restoration Team’ — Technically, it only took three weeks of intensive “restoration” a full year ago to make Ted Haggard a “complete heterosexual.” But on Tuesday night, the new pastor of the Colorado Springs megachurch that Haggard founded has announced …
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Pam's House Blend, The Democratic Daily, PageOneQ.com Latest, Unqualified Offerings and Politics Plus