Sometimes a moment presents itself that perfectly expresses such a wide range of emotions that it leaves you fairly breathless.

I had a moment like this last night while I was watching TV.  I thought to myself, if someone asked me to sum up for them who I was and where I'm coming from, I would point to this.  So I'm pointing now.

More over the fold.

Oh man.  I HATE it when I'm having problems with my Sirius radio.  Hate.  It.  My ONLY backup on regular radio is local station WWWT, which, between 10am-noon EST, carries the Stephanie Miller show (LOVE it).  The problem is, I'll get somewhere at about 11:30ish and turn the car off and go inside to wherever it is I'm going, and then I'll come back out sometime after noon only to find...

BILL-O.  His horrible Radio-factor show is on immediately following Stephanie Miller.  If I'm physically IN the car when this change takes place, I'll switch over to local news radio.  But today, I got back in the car at about 12:10pm and there it was - the Bill-O show.  And what he was saying was so hilarious yet, at the same time, so ridiculous, I couldn't switch off.

Follow me over the fold.

I think we need to give Hillary Clinton a break.  After all - she's only trying to win here, right?  I guess I can understand.  She didn't get into this race to lose the nomination.  She didn't serve as First Lady for eight years or stand by her man or run for the US Senate only to lose the biggest, most historic race of her life.

So I can see how she feels motivated to find a way to win and it casts some of her activities in a different light.

I didn't see anyone post this, and he's about to give his "major" speech.  I'd like to use this as an open comment thread, and I'll update as the speech progresses.

It was with interest that I read BarbinMD's front page post, Super Delegates: "Stewards of the national party?".  

Mere interest, however, turned to incredulity when I read Kos' update to the post, which included the entire text of Steven Grossman's letter to the Democratic Superdelegates.  In that letter, which can be found at the link to the post provided above, I found a compelling argument - but it is MY argument that Grossman is making.  I'm sure that wasn't his intent.  

More over the fold.

I am on business travel this week.  I'm typing this during a brief break I have, and I am in my hotel room.  As a result, I haven't been able to do more than a cursory check of Daily Kos for the past four days.  As a result of THAT, I have missed all of the diarying and commenting and trolling and arguing and hand-wringing that has inevitably taken place since Sunday morning.

I've gone through some of the recommended diaries and have caught up with front page posts for the last 18 hours or so and I do think it's time to add my voice to those who who are caught somewhere between distress and determination.

So go with me.

I'm stunned not to see a diary on this.  I just saw on MSNBC (it is also being reported online) that Hillary Clinton raised $35 million in the month of February.

A few details and an Obama call-to-action over the fold.

There's a fascinating article in The Washington Post today by Dana Milbank, WaPo columnist, Countdown contributor, and author (my favorite by him is Smashmouth).  

The article, Team Clinton: Down and Out of Touch, starts off with a single sentence:

They are in the last throes, if you will.

More over the fold.

Seriously.  Everyone.  Get an effing grip.  You have an opinion, I have an opinion.  In the beauty that is American and with what remains of our free speech, we can each state those opinions and (gasp) they may not even agree!!

I'm seeing some highly uncool things here at Daily Kos and it's being perpetrated by each side in the Candidate Wars.  Stop it, damnit.  I'll give some examples (without attribution - you can search on a text string if you have a burning desire to read the original comment and responses) over the fold and, hopefully, you'll see how ridiculous this is becoming.

CNN loves to do this to me.  They talk about getting in "early exit polling" results.  We all know that, especially after 2000, news organizations won't report how each candidate is doing per the exit polls - they won't do that until the polls actually close (and I agree with this, though it's making me nuts these past few Tuesdays!).

But what they WILL do is give you demographic and "thoughts of the voter" types of information.  And with that, CNN brings us their first early exit polling report (for clarity, this came at 5:28pm EST).  Transcription over the fold.

Listen - I think I've made myself pretty clear here at Daily Kos about the fact that I have chosen a side in the Democratic contest for the Presidential nomination.  That side would be for Barack Obama.  I believe I have also made it clear that, despite any personal reservations I may have, I will support Hillary Clinton should she secure the nomination.  My plan is to go "full immersion" this election cycle, given that John Warner (R-VA) is retiring and Mark Warner will be competing for his open seat.  So canvassing is on my agenda and that will mean avidly talking up the entire ticket in my efforts.

So now that we're clear on where I stand (I'm not going to deal with why - that's not the point of this diary), I'm going to turn my attention to the subject of Michigan and Florida.  More over the flip.

Clinton by 1,709 votes.

Well not me and not HERE, silly.  

At FreeRepublic.  It's hilarious to read the threads.  I'll extract some of the better ones below-the-fold, for a little comic relief on your Thursday and a break from the Candidate wars.

Bang... Zoom!!  Over the fold, Alice!!

Ok.  I would like to think I'm realistic about yesterday's Super Tuesday results.  Among those results were a few surprises of a positive nature, and few that were more disappointing.

Among the surprises that were pleasant was the pickup of the majority of states by Obama, and states that represent a cross-section of America.  Among the unpleasant surprises was the margin in California.  I never realistically expected him to win California, but I had been looking for a smaller margin (my mind was targeting 5%).  Didn't get that.

At the end of the day, CNN has yesterday's delegate count at Clinton, 568 and Obama 550.  A razor-thin 18 delegate advantage to Clinton on Super Duper Fat Tuesday.  

But there's MORE we need to be doing.  Follow me over the flip.

I am very lucky that I work in a field where I am able to talk to a lot of different people with differing backgrounds.  Generally speaking, I try not to conflate work and politics.  Not only is it probably just a bad practice - it's also something particularly tricky in my industry.

I've indicated here that I work in IT and that I furthermore work with the Federal government in my role in the IT industry.  This means that I come into contact with a lot of political appointees, and that kind of climate breeds a certain amount of political caution.

So a conversation that I had at a Walter Reed fundraiser with a former appointed government official was... illuminating.  This isn't a slam diary - there's something here for you whether you support Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.  So press forward.

Goddamnit.  The biggest problem I'm finding with primary season is finding out that people that I truly like - and have always liked - sometimes write or say things that make me sad.  To be fair, I'm sure it's possible that I have elicited the same response from other Kossacks.

I'm going to tread lightly here because I don't want to "call out" another Daily Kos diarist but I can't write this rebuttal diary without at least referencing the salient points of the recommended diary that has prompted me to respond.

So I'll have a go on it over the fold.

I just got an email from my parents, written by my mother.  The email itself was short and deeply gratifying for me personally.  But to understand it, it's imperative to have the context - of my life, of my parents, and of our current political situation.  All of these are intertwined and seek to explain where I come from and why who is nominated matters so greatly to me.

I'll dive in over the fold.  I'm going to caveat - I can't do this without being critical of one Democratic candidate specifically.  I will endeavor to be as civil as possible, but the criticism can't be avoided - it is part and parcel of the email and, frankly, of me.

So if you're interested AND prepared, I'll continue.

I am sick to DEATH of seeing people - individuals who I would have otherwise said I found intelligent, well-read, and thoughtful - knocking Barack Obama for being all hope without substance behind the oratory.  Have you finally sunk so low in your blind advocacy of not-Obama that you can't simply go out and read and recognize that Obama HAS positions on the issues, positions which you can actually read??  Shame on all of you for picking up a Rovian smear and propagating it into this forum.

So I'm going to give you a summary of Obama's POSITIONS vis-a-vis Edwards' POSITIONS so that you can no longer say that you weren't made aware that each actually HAVE THEM.  I'm sorry to leave out Senator Clinton, but this is addressed primarily to the Edwards supporters, since they are so quick to spout the "hope isn't a policy!!" smear.

More over the fold.