I'm a male, and an Obama supporter, I used to be an Edwards supporter, and would have been a Jan Schakowsky supporter if she had run, simply because I felt that each of them represents the best candidate we could have chosen. That said, it's a time when a lot of women and men who fought one hell of a good, sometimes dirty, fight for Hillary are nursing their wounds and it would do each Obama supporter well to offer them a gracious and respectful hand in acknowledgment for their cause and for the race well run.

Sure, there will be a few self-interested sour grapes from folks like Geraldine Ferraro, but why should we expect the ranks of Hillary's female (and male) supporters not to include a few grumbling bigots and sore losers? On the whole, what the Democrats will get out of Hillary's undaunted race is a new model for warriorhood from the many sisters and brothers who will, mostly, wipe their bloodied noses, suck it up and stand shoulder to shoulder with us in the Fall as we all fight to remove the vestiges of the most malignant administration this country has ever known.

According to a great ongoing results thread on Turn Maine Blue, Barack Obama now leads hillary Clinton 15 wins to 7 in Maine causus results reported so far. Also, Obama's victories have often been by very large margins while Clinton's are by smaller margins.

See: http://www.turnmaineblue.com/showDiary.d o?diaryId=779

There is also a very extensive debate thread at DailyKos at:
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/10/ 133322/424/621/453996

Since it will be so much fun to listen to all the frothing Hillary fans spin and wheedle, here's yet another poll that shows just how much more electable Obama is than Hillary. The Time mag poll released today shows that, while Hillary and McCain are tied in a national match up at 46-46, Obama has a statistically significant lead of 48-41 over McCain.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/ 2008/president/national.html

I'll also point out that Hillary leads Obama 48-42 in the same poll--in the interest of fairness, not something that there's been much of on this site in the past few months. (Jeez, I wish Lonette33, aka areyouready, had a day job--unless, shudder, this is it.)

On the other hand, the daily four-day Rasmussen Poll today showed Barack tied for the first time with Hillary at 44-44--a four point increase in the four-day rolling average in just one day. Oh boy, tomorrow should be a day for gnashing of the teeth among the Hillarians.

According to John Zogby, Barack Obama has surged to a huge 49-36 lead in California, up from 46-40 the day before, so Obama's Monday numbers must have been huge. Obama is also up 45 to 42 in Missouri, and 49 to 29% in Georgia. Hillary Clinton apparently stopped the Obamomentum in NJ and is now up 46-41 after being tied 43 to 43 just yesterday. In Missouri, Zogby has Obama up 45-42.

http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=14 46

John Edwards's SC debate success has him surging rapidly in the South Carolina race and continuing to accelerate according to Survey USA's final 1/25/2008 data. This is confirmed by Zogby's Friday polling as well. This is confirmed by Zogby's Friday polling as well.

http://www.surveyusa.com/index.php/2008/ 01/24/what-are-south-carolina-independen ts-trying-to-tell-us/

Edwards Debate Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=OlGlQrqP7PE

Boston Globe 01/25/2008: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/poli ticalintelligence/2008/01/edwards_says_h e_2.html

In just the last week, among likely Saturday voters, Survey USA says Edwards has soared nine percentage points, and the Zogby polls show he's risen six points in the last two days alone.

According to the latest Rasmussen Reports numbers, the anticipated Obama national bounce seems, instead, to be pointing John Edwards's way. The latest Rasmussen Daily Democratic Presidential tracking polls show that as of today, John Edwards has increased his percentage of likely US voters  by 6 percentage points from 14% to 20%. This compares to Hillary Clinton's loss of 5 percentage points in the same time period from 43% to 38% and Barack Obama's 1 point increase during the same time period from 24% to 25%.

Rasmussen Reports Daily Democratic Candidates      (1/5/08)

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_c ontent/politics/election_20082/daily_pre sidential_tracking_polling_history

Date        Clinton        Obama        Edwards

1/5/08        38%        25%        20%
1/4/08        38%        26%        18%
1/3/08        41%        24%        17%
12/31/07-1/2/08        No polling - New Year's Holiday
12/30/07    42%        23%        16%
12/29/07    43%        24%        14%

Veteran Time Magazine and ABC Political Correspondent Mark Halperin says he wouldn't be surprised to see John Edwards win Iowa.

In an article published today on the Time.com blog, The Page, Halperin lists 17 factors that he feels put Edwards in a not-so-surprising postion to win Iowa and he says both Clinton and Obama advisors indicate they wouldn't be too surprised with an Edwards victory in Iowa, either.

http://thepage.time.com/halperins-take-w hat-john-edwards-has-going-for-him-in-io wa

Included in his laundry list of factors that support a possible Edwards victory are:

1. An endorsement by the Governor of Iowa's wife and strong support within the Governor's office.

2. Strong on-the-ground help from Big Labor and a host of well-trained staffers, precinct captains and volunteers all over Iowa--including in smaller caucus areas that are still untouched by either Obama or Clinton's people.

3. A fiery, heavily populist, upbeat seaking style that has historically gotten Iowans out of their chairs and into the caucuses.

4. Halperin also notes Edwards's "great" spouse, Elizabeth, his courage and his unrivaled work ethic as reasons Edwards could well turn an Iowa victory into a larger move into the center of the Democratic Presidential Race.

Halperin concludes by noting Edwards' strong victory in the Iowa Democratic debate (according to both the Fox and CNN focus groups), his position as the strongest general election candidate (with the longest coattails), and his being a very strong second choice for many Iowa caucus goers.

You can read the entire piece at:

http://thepage.time.com/halperins-take-w hat-john-edwards-has-going-for-him-in-io wa

Harry Belafonte, one of the most outspoken, admired and courageous of the campaigners for civil rights and for the poor today endorsed John Edwards.

http://www.abcnews4.com/news/stories/120 7/478529.html

Belafonte, who was famous for the beautiful calypso songs he sang in the fifties and sixties, has crusaded for fifty years to protect children and help the poor, and he said that Edwards is the only candidate whose compassion and concern indicate that he is truly able and willing to effectively deal with these critical issues.

"I've looked at his [Edward's] platform on education, healthcare, poverty, what young people are going through and I have come to believe he's the best candidate," Belafonte said.

"[Belafonte]...says all the other candidates talk about the plight of the middle class, while only Edwards talks about the poor."

Here is video of Belafonte's endorsement:

http://www.abcnews4.com/video.hrb?stat=w civ&a=f&f=n&s=478529&fil e=http://video.wjla.com/wciv/120607_bela fonte.wmv

There is already a very good diary up about Belafonte's endorsement at

http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/6/ 19239/4888/188/418834