Senator Hillary Clinton’s responses caressed the CNN real-time reaction meter with consistently higher ratings than Senator Barack Obama all night long. A few other observations, as a result of liveblogging the debate at two blogs at once: -Hillary was “Senator Clinton” while Barack was “Barack” much of the evening – some of the co-bloggers I blogged with didn’t like that and thought it wasn’t respectful of HRC to not call Barack “Senator Obama.” -some...

First, from the San Francisco Chronicle, a little inside view of just how unusual the split within the Kennedy clan is: …Arnold Schwarzenegger] said that the high profile and competing endorsements the Kennedy family – not including his wife Maria Shriver – in the Democratic presidential contest represents a dramatic departure from past years. “What’s interesting is that, within the family, for the first time you have different opinions,” he said. “I’ve...

Hattip to George Nemeth at Brewed Fresh Daily.

Did any of the Republican presidential primary candidates tonight during the final GOP debate before Super Tuesday sound like they really want this job, have dreamed of this job, have desired and thought about what they could accomplish for so many in such a role before, oh, say, they started running for the job (including John McCain)? If they have, it is not coming through. I’ve heard GOP talking heads describe their field as having people who would make “fine presidents,” but...

I just love hearing Sylvia Poggioli say her name – I always have. Doesn’t matter what she’s reporting. But this morning, she helped Frank Deford preview this weekend’s Super Bowl game during Morning Edition. You can read the “play” here or listen to it here. I have a suspicion that this is going to be one of those Deford pieces that gets a lot of “just give us the sports, would ya?” e-mails, and I actually didn’t understand a lot of the references...

Lots of news out of California helping us track the run-up to Super Tuesday there. But what about in a state 3000 miles from California that is multiple times tinier? In Connecticut, we find netroots darling and Democratic primary winner for the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Connecticut, Ned Lamont toiling for Barack Obama. From The Trail: Though Lamont failed to beat Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent, in the general election, after that race ended he used his antiwar cachet to campaign for a handful...

Republican presidential primary candidate and former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani’s concession speech this evening, after a third place finish in the Florida GOP primary, is being called indicative of an imminent withdrawal from the race. From Politics on the Hudson: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani gave a last hurrah speech tonight following his third place showing in today’s Florida primary without officially announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race. Giuliani...

The state has this small set-up but WFTV has this table chart (sample below) that indicates number of votes, the percentage the number represents and a bar that fills in as the number of precincts reporting increases.

I don’t know how you help so many people in this kind of chaos, but watching the video on CNN is frightening. If you’ve ever been frustrated by travel plan delays, you may be able to empathize with what the Chinese are going through. But given the size of the country, the scale seems so much bigger. More than 67 million people have been affected by the weather and economic losses are expected to reach as much as $3 billion, Chinese officials say. Blizzards have snapped power lines and...

Thanks to this “tweet” on Twitter by Jason Calacanis, here’s a 60 second version of President Bush’s State of the Union from last night.

If you peruse this list of policy initiatives provided by The White House in relation to President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address last night (transcript is here; C-SPAN video is here), you may notice that two topics concern science and technology, two topics concern education and no topics concern the arts. [NB: The final topic on that list, about worldwide compassion, stands out to me because I recently read about Compassion, which is a faith-based initiative that will use word...

Time to lighten things up. Hattip to a Twitter from SpiderWebWoman. I hereby present to you the political version of The Love Boat Drinking Game, now known as, The State of the Union Drinking Game. For history buffs, visit this page at C-SPAN for previous years’ SOTUs and responses. You should be able to watch this year’s SOTU live here.

From a JTA News Alert today: Obama listed falsehoods that appeared in an e-mail campaign aimed at Jewish voters. “I never practiced Islam. I was raised by my secular mother. I have been a member of the Christian religion and an active member of a church,” he said. “I was sworn in with my hand on my family Bible and have said the Pledge of Allegiance since I was 3 years old.” Obama, who also answered questions about his Iran and Israel-Palestinian policies, as well as noting...

What’s the ground look like in California right now for the primary candidates? For one thing, it’s a pretty blue state, even if we’re talking about Michael Bloomberg. From the California Progress Report: In a dizzying week of polls on all subjects near and dear to our state’s voters, today’s offering from the California Field Poll showing that only one in four California registered voters would even consider voting for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg if he were to run for...

Get a jump-start on Sunday’s New York Times by reading this op-ed from Caroline Kennedy. I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country...

First, we have a Plain Dealer post on its political blog, Openers, that provides opinion from party people and analysts familiar with the Ohio scene. Many analysts have expected Ohio to matter in the Republican nominating contest, but most assumed the Democratic primaries would wrap up before Ohio. That’s because more than 20 states, from New York to California, will hold primaries on Feb. 5, known as Super Tuesday, when 1,678 Democratic delegates will be won. It was assumed that either Hillary...

Shabbat doesn’t end until 6:25pm tonight (so it just ended) but the polls are only open until 7pm. Sheesh. Jews cannot get any respect! How many voters will this issue affect? According to the Jewish Virtual Library, South Carolina has an overall population of 4,255,083 million people, with 0.3%, or just over 11,225 who are Jewish. Obviously, not all 11,000 Jews are of voting age. (Here’s information on South Carolina’s connection to Israel.) Wouldn’t you think that if...

One of Dennis Kucinich’s most often-cited assets during his run for the Democratic nomination to be president was his wife, Elizabeth. Now, while he works to retain his seat in Ohio’s 10th congressional district (he’ll be going for his seventh term), she may be occupied with the new windmill he’s erecting, IntegrityNow.org. From the Plain Dealer Openers blog: The 61-year-old congressman announced the creation of a national organization, Integrity Now, which will continue...

Of the presidential race. From the Plain Dealer’s blog, Openers: Cleveland Congressman Dennis Kucinich is dropping out of the Democratic race for president. Kucinich will make the announcement Friday at a news conference in Cleveland. In an exclusive interview with Plain Dealer editors and reporters, Kucinich said he will explain his “transitioning” tomorrow. “I want to continue to serve in Congress,” he said. Kucinich said he will not endorse another Democrat in the...

The Medina County Democratic Action Committee (in Ohio)* wants Barack Obama to withstand the Clinton machine, or else be prepared to lose everything. The group’s shout-out derives from this Washington Post article that examines the quality (bitter some say) of recent Clinton campaign moves and their potentially destructive results (losing the nomination, and losing the White House). The article only highlights the tactics employed and the Obama camp responses so far. MCDAC raises the issue...

With the governors of both Ohio and Pennsylvania now behind Hillary Clinton, can either state be kept from swinging to Obama or Edwards? Governor Ed Rendell, may have felt a little pressure: Rendell’s ties to the Clintons include having served in 2000 as general chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a position made possible by then-President Bill Clinton. Sen. Clinton endorsed Rendell’s re-election at a June 2006 “Women for Rendell” event in the Philadelphia suburb...

Do you think Barack Obama’s treatment of Hillary Clinton is snarkier than it should be? Do you think he is as cold and calculating as any candidate can expect to be? Two Ohio blog friends of mine insist that if I’m underwhelmed by Obama, then I must not be paying attention. But not only is that an unfair characterization of my feelings, it’s also untrue. And now, I’ve found support for that fact in this Spiegel Online column by Gabor Steingart. What resonated for me: At...

You can exchange “wife” with “significant other” or any one of many roles a female has in the life of a man if you’d like to universalize this post, because I’m sure what I’m about to describe occurs in long-term relationships as well as father-daughter, sister-brother, son-mother and other connections. What am I talking about? Start here with Swaraaj’s very open post about how men, in their attempts to compensate for being less than perfect when it...

Major hattip to TMV co-blogger, Holly in Cincinnati/Holly Robinson for the heads up that someone’s persuaded Canada that the U.S. and Israel are not countries that might potentially torture or abuse prisoners. The original TMV post on the topic is here. From Ha’aretz: Canada’s foreign ministry, responding to pressure from close allies, said on Saturday it would remove the United States and Israel from a watch list of countries where prisoners risk being tortured. Both nations expressed...

I’ve written before about the federal government’s experimentation with blogging. It’s a “let’s wait and see” thing for me but mostly, I’d have to be convinced that it’s not all about spin. A little over a week ago, Democratic presidential candidate and Senator (D-NY), Hillary Clinton indicated a desire to employ bloggers throughout the federal government. From Wired: “We should even have a government blogging team where people in the agencies...