In a new development in this years hotly contested primary for the nomination of the Republican Party, Edward Wolfson, a campaign manager for candidate William Seward, Republican Senator of New York, charges that rival Abraham Lincoln plagarized key lines in a recently delivered speech.

Wolfson remarked that a key passage in Lincoln's speech to the Illinois legislature closely resmbled a passage from a speech given some time ago by Jesus Christ, then running for lord and saviour of all humanity.

Here is what Christ said:

"Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand."

Here are the words of Lincoln:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand.  I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free".

"Mr. Lincoln is runnning on the strength of his rhetoric and the strength of his promises and, as we have seen in the last couple of days, he's been breaking his promises and his rhetoric isn't his own", Wolfson said.

More after the jump...

The idea pushed subtly by the Clinton camp (including Bill Clinton's own crass innuendo in South Carolina), namely that of Barack Obama being a candidate that only appealed to African American voters was effectively killed tonight as Obama carried Alaska, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Connecticut, Kansas, North Dakota, and Deleware, none of which are known as states heavily populated with African American voters.

This is the most important development of the night.  We as Americans showed that this election would not be decided along lines of race or gender.  That we CAN be united by a common purpose.  The media has largely sold us short, but we are not accepting their generalizations.  Obama won in some of the most urban and rural areas of the nation.  He won in the south, he won in the west, and he won in the northeast.

This campaign is far from over, but we in the Obama team have alot to take pride in tonight. Sure Hillary won some of the big prizes that are Democratic strongholds, but look at the swing states Obama has won Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, (possibly New Mexico).  We showed we CAN win in November with Barack Obama.

Let's do it.

Ever since Air America went off the air where I live, I occasionally find myself listening to the incoherent babblings of the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity out of sheer morbid curiosity.  I had no idea of the extent to which these guys seem to REALLY hate John McCain.  Limbaugh has said that a McCain nomination would lead to the "destruction of conservatism".  Hannity is clearly a Romney supporter, but also expresses a distaste for McCain.  They aren't alone, many far right pundits generally think of McCain as a sell out, or worse.

At first I thought this was good for us Democrats, because it would indicate a depressed turnout among conservatives in the GE, but then I realized these kinds of attitudes are EXACTLY what John McCain needs to do well in November.  In fact I wonder if this isn't official RNC strategy.

It seems incredibly ridiculous that Fox News, the network that offers the most obviously rightward skewed coverage this side of The 800 Club, would be chosen to host the first Democratic debate.  Surely the Nevada Democratic party knows that Democratic candidates don't benefit at the hands of right-wing attack journalists.  This post is just speculation, but considering her relationship with Rupert Murdoch, and the fact that her Nevada campaign is well connected, I think someone close to the Clinton campaign may have had a hand in deciding that Fox got the coverage scoop for this debate.