Jack Cafferty of all people:

I was in the crowd in Portland today, cheering my heart out for Richardson's endorsement of Obama. This is huge and I just hope that more party leaders and super-d's follow Gov. Richardson's lead.

The Richardson endorsement speech and ceremony was funny and moving and rousing -- and the message could not have been more clear: please, HRC, recognize that the time has come for all of us to unite behind a once-in-a-generation presidential candidate and build our party and our country for the future. To that, many of us who admire Hillary Clinton and wish her a powerful role as a national Senate leader, can only say "amen."

Theda Skocpol, Cambridge, MA

Did anyone see this nonsense? Bill Clinton's comments today on a Hillary/McCain matchup:

"I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country,""

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/21/794670.aspx

I wish I could have been there with you!

love seeing these two on stage together. If Richardson were VP he would get the highly unpredictable Beard Vote.

If Richarson thinks that 14 million versus 14.2 million popular votes can be parlayed into convincing the American people that calling it for Obama at a point when he loses to McCain more surely than does Clinton is decent, let alone correct he has another think coming. This attitude simply inflames matters.

Look, if you want to see a more realistic view on the popular vote issue, and Hillary's chances of winning it, you should start by looking at the chart at realclearpolitics. If you include the pre-existing FL result, Obama's lead is down to 408,000.

Going beyond the chart at realpolitics, and include the vote in MI, basing Obama's numbers on exit polls, you might well cut another 100,000 even from that number. (Which would also take away any amount that might be added if you were to include estimated caucus voters from IA, WA, ME, and NV).

Given that Obama has clearly passive-aggressively done what he could to prevent revotes in both FL and MI, and since there are millions of voters in MI and FL who most certainly would like not to disenfranchised, going with those electoral results, even with their flaws, is by far the fairest thing to do at this point.

So let's just say that Obama is now up roughly 400,000 votes in the popular tally. Can Hillary make up that difference?

Well, in Ohio, which is roughly the size of PA, though a bit smaller (~20% smaller), Hillary won by 10%, and ran up a 208,000 vote differential. If she could win by 20% in PA alone, she would be able to make up that difference.

And if, as one expects, the Wright controversy hurts Obama across the board in all remaining states, it's more than possible that Hillary will crank up even more of a win in the popular vote. Only NC is a reasonably large state after PA which might also favor Obama, and it might well be essentially tied, or even break in Hillary's favor, in the wake of the Wright scandal.

The problem for Obama is, of course, the Wright scandal. There's no reason to believe that it, or its effects, are going to go away, not even in the Democratic primaries.

And when one looks at the dreadful state-by-state polling of Obama's relative to McCain after the Wright scandal, you've got to know in your bones that the man is dead in the general.

The Wrighting is on the Wall.

The beard rocks. As a straight man, I'm hot for that beard.

The first time I saw him on TV after he dropped out he had that beard. I said to myself, "That's an f-you beard." Not a negative f-you, just a f-you, I'm getting a Harley and I'm gonna ride and I don't care what any y'all think.

And this was an f-you -- again, positive, not negative, quite respectful -- to the Clinton machine.

Bill Clinton:

"I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country."

Pish.

He will say anything and do anything to win her the nomination. It is as if he is possessed my an inner demon. And I suspect he is: G-U-I-L-T. And will he should be. He is a dog who sucked her dry...

Here is a prediction: She will divorce him in a year or so. After her defeat, there really is no real reason to pretend anymore. It is expediency, power, and the possibility of their "careers" that holds them together.

Once that is gone there is nothing left but mutual loathing and the money from their library racketeering. Is that enough to keep them hitched?

Probably not.

Bill's my governor and that's the best speech I've heard him give. He does sound pretty relaxed and on his A-game.

Awesome!!!

Bill Richardson. I had thought of him as a great potential President. Nice knife in the back BR. Great that your so off the pace with the people of his state. Gotta wonder what Obama "paid" for this one.

Trashing Pres. Clinton. Give it you Obamaistas you don't really have a stopping point. Kensdad is right on about the Electoral problems Sen. Obama has. With McCain in the race he is going to pull heavy in southern and mid Ohio which means Obama would have to win the Northeast 3:1. Not likely. Pa, he will get mauled in western so he needs a killer winning % in eastern. No way anyone here can pull together a electoral map that gives him a wim. I'd love to see it if you can put it together. How about it Obamaistas ....lets get past hope and show me reality.

"Nice knife in the back BR."
Yeah, guess he forgot the blood-oath to the Clintons is for life.

"Great that your so off the pace with the people of his state."
Ignoring your sentence's misspelling and rather abrupt change in personage, Hillary won NM over Obama by less than 2,000 votes. It was so close it took more than a week to decide who won. Just how far off are you fantasizing he could possibly be?

"Gotta wonder what Obama "paid" for this one."
He promised Richardson he won't have to endure another Superbowl with Bill Clinton.

(Genghis and littleblackpropaganda, that is...)