I was greatly disturbed by the "news" coverage I heard on both CNN and MSNBC last night following the highly-predictable Clinton win in West Virginia.  What I can see occurring is the media aiding and abetting what I consider a likely Clinton scenario: to further divide the Democratic party by attempting to define it in terms of race while simultaneously positioning for the May 31 Democratic Rules Committee to literally steal this nomination from Barack Obama.

Today, without a hint of sadness, I declare unequivocally that I, a resident of a swing state, will NOT pull the lever for Hillary Clinton if she successfully steals this thing.

More over the fold.

Like many here, I was totally elated by the time I collapsed into bed on Tuesday night (actually, Wednesday morning - about 1am EDT).  I didn't necessarily think Obama would wind up winning Indiana, but I knew it was close enough.

I woke up, tired, without haing had enough sleep, on Wednesday morning and started going about my day.  I work from a home office and had some solid, legitimate office time planned to catch up on work.  I had MSNBC on in the background and they cut to Hillary Clinton giving a speech at a rally in Sherherdstown, WV.  They cut from there to Andrea Mitchell talking about being on the plane with Hillary Clinton after the IN and NC results had been tallied.

Stay with me over the fold.

I didn't write the headline, nor do I particularly read The New York Post - in fact, I don't think I've EVER read it.  But on Morning Joe earlier today, they held up (as they always do) a variety of newspaper front pages and this one summed it all up for me.

Some explanation after the fold, and perhaps not what you'd expect (or maybe so).

I had a very, very interesting conversation recently with a person I would describe as an undecided (and somewhat detached) moderate voter who would describe himself as an independent.  This has been a running conversation over the past two months, I would say, where my friend would ask me, for example, Obama's position on transportation and I would communicate back some specifics (totally incidental - this friend, who works in the transportation industry, thinks the gas tax "holiday" is not only wrong but dangerous, and he's in a position to know).

It finally came to a core question from him, where he sat back and wondered aloud at the passion behind my support.  This led to the question of what bred that passion.  And interestingly enough, to explain my passion, I went back to the beginning, to before I supported Obama (or any candidate).  I realized in articulating this that it was also my case to the superdelegates (not that I count for anything).  My argument in the extended entry.

This diary is going to be brief because honestly, there isn't much to do with it other than to tell you about it.

The YouTube generation includes superdelegates - and they're asking you to help them to decide whom to endorse.

Flip it baby.

I do.  I know what you did.  I know because I literally just took an hour and went through every last comment in my diary of last night.  And I'm going to TELL YOU what you did - each of you.

So go on.  Click the link.

Seriously.  I had been preparing myself for Obama to lose Pennsylvania for the past week.  Yet still this morning, I thought, "I wonder if he can..." - the ending being obvious: Win Pennsylvania.

Looks like he's not going to do that, and the question is going to be one of margin.  But there's something you can do RIGHT NOW that will impact the direction the next contests take.

Pony up.

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.