Watching Countdown just now, Keith Olbermann asked a key question to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, his guest at the top of the hour.

He pointed out that Reid had said in the past that apostate "Independent Democrat" Joe Lieberman is still a valued member of the caucus, because he "is with us on all but a few issues." Olbermann reminded him that now there is a new issue on which Lieberman and the Democratic caucus diverge:

Who should be the next President of the United States??

And...in response, Harry Reid....punted.

Sunday mornings are always a good time for a little levity. Bear witness, and smile a little bit, as you watch the good folks at the NRCC (the GOP House campaign committee) officially go bonkers:

This should come as a warning shot to Democrats," the NRCC said in a post-election press release. "The elitist behavior of the Democratic front-runner and the liberal and extremist positions that he and his fellow Democrats in Congress have staked their claim to, do not appear to be as salient as they once hoped."

Hat tip to CQ and TPMElectionCentral. Now, you know I did not make this up. I could not possibly create something THAT delusional.

The flat and immediate denial of any action against Senator Lieberman is nothing short of appalling, and it calls into great doubt the leadership of the Democratic Party in the Senate (doubt that has been commonly held here since this Congress was installed in January '07).

Senator Durbin, according to the frontpage diary by Kos, made a statement that needs to be closely scrutinized, for it reveals him either to be (a) disingenuous or (b) a complete fool.

Consider the following:

Rasmussen, who seems to be competing with SurveyUSA in the battle to be the most prolific pollster of the 2008 cycle, is out this morning with a pair of Senate polls which paint a very intriguing picture of what might be a painful 2008 cycle for the GOP.

In a diary earlier this week, I looked at the perilous situation for the Republican Party in the House. With these two polls and a host of other recent surveys, it becomes readily apparent that the Senate is an equally target-rich environment for the Democratic Party.

Numbers and analysis past the jump....

The conventional wisdom (which, as Molly Ivins dutifully pointed out, is often wrong) is that the Democrats will pad their respective majorities in the Congress this year, but that said gains are likely to be marginal.

Looking at the landscape, there are signs that (just as in 2006) the Democratic wave might be considerably larger than initially anticipated. I base this on three factors--fundraising, candidate recruitment, and polling data.

Follow me beyond the fold for the information...

I know diaries that poke at the facade that is the Fox News Network are the home territory of the incredibly talented King OneEye around these parts, but I saw this on the TVNewswer blog this morning, and I felt compelled to offer some commentary.

Apparently, Fox News Channel anchor and resident journalist Brit Hume was interviewed by the magazine published by the University of Virginia (an alumni magazine, I am assuming). Aside from offering a vignette about how he became enthralled with journalism, he also offered what has to be now described as the typical FNC arrogant story line when confronted with a question about the perception (er..reality) of Fox News Channel catering to a right wing political point of view.

OK, OK, so most of Kossack Nation now is in a pretty sizeable funk, given that this will almost certainly NOT be the night that the Democratic nomination is effectively decided. And, we have even been graced in recent minutes by a diary with a simple message:

"I Hate Ohio"

Fear not, friends! What the Buckeye State taketh, the Buckeye State giveth as well. While 99% of our attention has been vested in the presidential primary (with good reason), there have been a pair of very happy results for Democrats emanating from the federal primary which ALSO was conducted today.

The Clinton campaign, as has well been documented here and elsewhere, elected to make March 4th their firewall. With one state virtually guaranteed for Clinton (Rhode Island), and one state virtually guaranteed for Obama (Vermont), it was expected that High Noon would happen in two of the largest states in the Union: Texas and Ohio.

A new survey from Zogby (traditional polling, not their often errant interactive stuff), sponsored by Reuters, C-SPAN, and the Houston Chronicle, finds that Barack Obama has not only secured a modest lead of six points in Texas, he has also pulled to within a couple points in Ohio.

Well, aside from a curious SurveyUSA poll out of the state of Florida late last week (one which was rebutted by a Quinnipiac poll released earlier in the week), it appears that the electability argument for the Democrats is now a done deal.

The final nail...while both Democrats presently hold a lead over John McCain in Hillary Clinton's home state of New York, Barack Obama has a lead that is TEN POINTS higher than that of Hillary.

In New York. Plus...look here! CNN has polled Texas for the general with a surprising result. Follow me....

It is the oldest rule in sports.

You get an elbow under the basket, so you throw one back after the rebound. They put a pitch under your slugger's chin, so you throw a brushback pitch the next inning. The receiver gives you a shove on the pass play, so you grab him when he tries to catch the ball.

It is always the guy that retaliates that gets punished for it.

This morning, Rasmussen Reports, which has been in the top half of pollsters in terms of accuracy during the last few cycles, has launched a neat new feature.

Taking a variety of sources, they project the 51 presidential contests, and allocate electoral votes accordingly. If the election were held today, according to Rasmussen, Democrats would claim the White House with 284 electoral votes. Republicans would claim 216 electoral votes if the election were held today, with 38 electoral votes (Colorado, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia) are too close to call.

Rasmussen, as promised earlier today, has released a pair of general election polls pairing the two leading Democratic candidates with presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain. The states selected were the key states of Florida (carried by the GOP in 2004) and Minnesota (carried narrowly by the Dems in 2000 and 2004).

Link here,for those who wish to check for themselves.

So, as has been well documented just about everywhere, John McCain is electing to make a campaign issue out of the fact that Barack Obama might opt out of the federal funding mechanism for the general election.

Yesterday in Wisconsin, McCain told reporters that since the Democratic frontrunner made a statement almost a year ago seeking to negotiate for public financing with the Republican nominee, he ought to stick to his word.

Am I the only one that thinks that the sanctimonious senator from Arizona (God, the more you think about it, he and Lieberman just belong together, don't they?) is not the BEST person to be forwarding this particular argument?

Allow me to briefly interrupt the breathless examination of exit polling data and the latest returns to point one thing out: whether you are a Clinton fan or an Obama supporter, your candidate is contributing to an emerging landslide of political participation.

As of 8:10 PM PST, fourteen states had at least five percent of their precincts reporting in primary elections (sorry, this does not work for the caucus states). Of those fourteen states, ELEVEN of them had higher Democratic turnouts than Republican turnouts. And there is a helluva caveat with a twelfth state.

Follow me for the numbers....

There has been an absolute deluge of polling in the month of January. Alas, virtually all of it is of the primary election variety, which this diary series (for the sake of my own sanity) does not cover.

That said, there were still new numbers this month from a total of 32 general election contests. Some of them have been diaried on DKos over the course of month, while others appear to be exclusive to this diary.

Follow me past the jump for the numbers....

First, the banner headline at this hour: The LA Times blog is reporting that Rudy Giuliani just, in a brief informal gaggle with reporters on his campaign plane, made a statement that might imply that he is on his way out of the door.

This statement (which, as I will explain later, is not what it is cracked up to be, in my opinion) comes on the heels of multiple polls in Florida showing Giuliani to be a distant third in the critical Florida primary, if not fourth.

Follow me past the jump for the details...

Two items on the political/campaign calendar came and went yesterday. I trust that someone has told you about the first event--something about landslides and South Carolina (although, given the amount of rain we have had in SoCal in the past five days, landslides are NOT a punchline around here right now).

The second event was the closing of the filing period for the 2008 elections in West Virginia. WVa Blue informed us yesterday of one piece of very bad news: State Senator John Unger, who had been considered a very viable candidate against Shelley Moore Capito in WV-02, elected to demur from the challenge at the very last second.

However, with filing now closed, we see that there was a last-second entry into the field. We also see a total disaster on the Republican side. Follow me past the jump for all of the info.

Damned Dennis Kucinich.

With Kucinich out of the national spotlight, electing instead to endeavor to keep his job in the Ohio 10th, no one remains to demand what MUST be called for:

A complete recount of the South Carolina Democratic Primary, of course.