While we can pretend there have been recent ebbs and flows in the campaign, the reality is that from Super Tuesday on, almost invariably demography has been political destiny. Tell me the demographics of a state and I can tell you roughly what the electoral result will be. Consider North Carolina and Indiana. In North Carolina, Research2000 has Obama up 7. In Indiana, Ras has Clinton up 5. Why? To put it bluntly, it is because there are many more African American voters in North Carolina. Clinton leads among whites by 36 points in North Carolina and by 19 points in Indiana. She trails among African Americans in North Carolina by 88-5 and in Indiana by 90-4. In North Carolina a third of the electorate will be African American. In Indiana, 10% will be African Americans.

Clinton can not win in North Carolina. Period. And in Indiana, it is looking like Obama can not win. Looking forward, Obama has no chance in West Virginia or Kentucky. Where can he break this demographic narrative? Oregon. More . .

Color of Change is circulating an outrageous, deplorable and fallacious petition:

Leaders of the Democratic Party are playing a dangerous game -- risking the credibility of the party to hand Hillary Clinton the nomination against the will of voters. Heading down this path means disenfranchising millions of voters and legitimizing a campaign strategy that has displayed a clear pattern of race baiting and divisive politics.

If Hillary Clinton wins the popular vote and the Super Delegates hand the nomination to Barack Obama, the Democratic Party will have acted against the will of the voters. Despite that, I would whole heartedly support Barack Obama's candidacy in November. In addition, Color of Change falsely smears the Clinton campaign while engaging in race baiting and divisive politics itself. Color of Change smears not only Hillary Clinton, but the millions of Democrats who support her.

As a Latino, I denounce and reject Color of Change's petition. It is an outrageous, divisive, racially polarizing and deplorable act. At a time when all Democrats should be thinking about unifying the democratic Party behind our eventual nominee, who in all likelihood will be Barack Obama, Color of Change acts to exacerbate divisions. This petition hurts the Democratic Party and it hurts Barack Obama's chances to win in November. Color of Change's petititon should be rejected by Democrats of all stripes.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only.

Two to watch tonight. Barack Obama delivers the "top ten" on Letterman while Hillary is interviewed on Nightline.

Is Obama getting tired? Is Hillary just warming up?

Your reactions?

Update: Comments now closed.

Dallas County just set two records. James Lee Woodard is the latest of 17 wrongfully convicted defendants in Dallas County who have been released as the result of new DNA analysis, the most DNA exonerations of any county. Dallas County also kept Woodard behind bars for more time than any other inmate who has been exonerated by DNA.

Mr. Woodard, 55, was sentenced to life in prison in 1981 for the strangulation and rape of his 21-year-old girlfriend, Beverly Ann Jones. But information that Ms. Jones was with three men – including two later convicted of unrelated sexual assaults – around the time of her death was not disclosed to the defense nor was it thoroughly investigated, said prosecutor Mike Ware, who oversees the Dallas County district attorney's office conviction integrity unit.

Rodney Ellis, a member of the Texas Senate, has been trying to get the state to fund an Innocence Commission. He's organized a forum to be held next week that will focus on the prevention of wrongful convictions. Jeralyn has more here.

BBC News cites an al-Jazeera report that Sami al-Hajj, an al-Jazeera cameraman, has been released from Guantanamo. No explanation has yet been given for the decision to release Hajj after more than six years of captivity. More here.

I'm watching Grey's Anatomy. If you'd rather be chatting, here's an open thread.

The AP and Yahoo News, as part of a polling project, has been returning to the same undecided voters over the course of the past year, in an attempt to analyze how their thinking changes during the course of the presidential campaign.

One of the North Carolina voters the AP followed is Meribeth Howlett, a clinical researcher. She recently made up her mind and just voted absentee for Hillary. She explains her reasoning, which I think is spot-on:

"OK — I made a decision, but I should say up front that I'd be happy to vote for either Hillary or Barack. However, I voted for Hillary Clinton. Yes, I've been on Web sites and found the two to have plans that are remarkably similar and so it came down to a more philosophical decision, who do I BELIEVE will do a better job. Because Barack Obama identifies himself as the best candidate to be an agent of 'real change in Washington,' I was expecting to see some details outlining innovative plans to achieve change, but I did not see anything that stood out as greatly different from what Hillary proposes.

More...

Another facet to today's immigrant rights marches (Received by e-mail from America's Voice, which doesn't seem to have a website for me to link to]:

Immigrant rights supporters from coast to coast have been registering voters and helping people become citizens in unprecedented numbers—increasing civic participation in key states and Congressional districts in this exciting election year.

...This year’s rallies are just one snapshot of the intense voter mobilization effort around the country that we believe will play a central role in the 2008 election cycle. Already there has been a surge of immigrant voter participation in the early primary states that will likely spell doom or reward for politicians who seek to use anti-immigration as a wedge in the election.

Some quotes: [More...]

Part 2 of Bill O'Reilly's Fox News interview with Hillary Clinton airs tonight. It hasn't begun here yet, but some of you in other time zones may have seen it.

Hillary discusses the war in Iraq and says there's nothing left to be achieved. She also says torture doesn't work. Iran, Pakistan and immigration are discussed as well.

Be prepared to turn the channel when the interview is over. They've picked Laura Ingraham to provide analysis of it.

Here are the ratings for last night. Hillary scored big time with the 25 to 34 demographic.

Over objections by lawyers for Tony Rezko, Ali Ata testified today at Rezko's criminal trial. (Background on Ata, who pleaded guilty last week here.)

Ata testified Rezko told him "a plan was in place" to remove Patrick Fitzgerald as U.S. Attorney.

Mr. Rezko informed me that they had just finished meeting with Mr. [Robert] Kjellander and that there will be a change in U.S. attorney's office come the new administration," Ata said. And how would there be a change?

"Mr. Kjellander will talk to Karl Rove and make a change in the U.S. attorney's office," Ata said. He knew from Rezko that Kjellander was a GOP operative and had a direct relationship with Rove, at the time a top adviser to President Bush. Kjellander is Illinois' Republican national committeeman. Both he and Rove have denied the allegations.

Ata is singing for his supper. He's expecting a sentence of one year instead of eight for his testimony against Rezko.

Here's an assortment of the latest Rezko trial news.

The Pew Research Center: Obama's image is slipping. The AP discusses the poll here.

More polls:

• CNN: Obama losing ground

• Gallup Daily Tracking: Hillary 49, Obama 45.

• Teleresearch (Indiana): Hillary has a 10 point lead over Barack Obama

• In North Carolina:

  Raleigh's Public Policy Polling has found that Obama's one-time lead of 25 points has decreased to 12. A SurveyUSA poll shows him ahead by 5, while the Rasmussen Reports poll has Obama's lead at 14.

More....

For the third year in a row, immigrant rights rallies were held across the United States today.

From Washington to Miami to Los Angeles, immigrant rights activists demanded citizenship opportunities for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and an end to raids and deportations.

"We come here to fight for legalization. We're people. We have rights," said Eric Molina, an undocumented factory worker who immigrated to Zion, Ill., from Mexico.

And no human being is illegal. Here's what's needed. [More...]