Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan is now singing the praises of Barack Obama:

In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the "hope of the entire world" that the U.S. will change for the better.

"This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."

Obama isn't happy with the endorsement:

Said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton: "Sen. Obama has been clear in his objections to Minister Farrakhan's past pronouncements and has not solicited the minister's support."

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Check out today's Gallup Daily Tracking Poll showing the month of February, with latest results taken Feb. 22-23. (Larger version here.)

Hillary started February off with 47%. She's now at 46%. She rose 4% in the past few days.

Obama peaked on Feb. 17 at 49%. He had a 7 percent lead over Hillary then. Now, he's down 2 percent to 47% and has stayed flat the last few days. Hillary, meanwhile, is up 4 points from Feb. 17.

In the last few days alone, Obama has stayed flat while Hillary has risen 1%.

Where's the momentum?

I do it every year. Live blog will be below the fold, hope you join in. If you want others to see your comments, put them in this thread rather than the live blog.

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By Big Tent Democrat

The Oscars are tonight. Who is going to win? Who should win? Predictions please.

Jeralyn has arrived. This thread is now closing.

By Big Tent Democrat

60 Minutes is about to run its segment on Karl Rove and his alleged actions against Democratic Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Worth a watch

By Big Tent Democrat

The Associated Press continues its atrocious coverage, here it directs its attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism:

Sen. Barack Obama's refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin along with a photo of him not putting his hand over his heart during the National Anthem led conservatives on Internet and in the media to question his patriotism. Now Obama's wife, Michelle, has drawn their ire, too, for saying recently that she's really proud of her country for the first time in her adult life.

Conservative consultants say that combined, the cases could be an issue for Obama in the general election if he wins the nomination, especially as he runs against Vietnam war hero Sen. John McCain.

Yes, as Mark Halperin says, the Media's political coverage is a freak show. Does this mean that the Media is now going to open up the show on Obama? This is just outrageous.

Update (TL): Comments now closed.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only.

When is mocking your opponent a good thing? According to HuffPo wire service selections, when you are Barack Obama. When is it a bad thing? According to Huff Po, when you are Hillary Clinton.

Any criticism of Obama's statements which do not take into account Obama's clarifications and explanations of what he REALLY meant are unfair personal attacks and the attacker is a "liar" who will say and do anything to get elected. . . . Obama's attacks are always fair and merited. . . .

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By Big Tent Democrat

Wolcott:

Perhaps the next time Beltway pundits are tempted to romanticize the blue-collar working man in all his rugged, unpretentious, Saroyan glory, they might want to remind themselves of some of the less savory baggage being lugged into the lunch room, i.e., an ample load of sexist bile:

"For a lot of blue-collar guys over 40, Hillary Clinton is a poster child for everything about the women's movement that they don't like -- their wife going back to work, their daughters rebelling, the rise of women in the workplace," says Gerald Austin, an Ohio political strategist. . . .

"People don't want to speak out against Obama because of the fear of being seen as racist," he says. "It's easier to say you want to keep a woman barefoot and pregnant....You can call a woman anything."

Yes, you can can call a woman anything if you're semi-comfortably sure of being able to get away with it . . .

In recognition of the Oscars tonight, Wayne Slater at the Dallas Morning News asks, "Which movie characters do the current crop of presidential hopefuls most resemble?"

I think the choice for Hillary is great.

Tess McGill in "Working Girl," -- she's learned the ropes and is ready to run the boardroom.

Obama: Slater narrows it to three.

1) Jefferson Smith in "Mr Smith Goes to Washington." Jimmy Stewart offers change in the nation's capital.

2) Neo (Keanu Reeves) in "The Matrix" -- Morpheus wants to know, "Is he the one?"

3) Chauncey Gardner in "Being There." To hear Hillary say it, there's more metaphor than meat in Obama's rhetoric. Was it Obama who said, "There will be growth in the spring!"

Huckabee? He asks if Gomer Pyle ever made a movie.

What would your picks be?

The Democratic presidential primary has been fairly unconventional so far. The Boston Globe has an article today about what Ronald Reagan did in 1976 when he was losing big-time to Gerald Ford: He named his vice-presidential running mate. He came closer, but ended up not winning the nomination.

Despite naming Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania the would-be vice president to shore up support among Republican moderates, Reagan lost the delegate race by a little more than 100. But picking a vice president while trailing in delegates was a bold technique that some political analysts think might repeat itself in this year's tight Democratic race, the first since the Reagan-Ford contest that could go down to the wire in the same way.

....Selecting a popular vice presidential nominee could win over some superdelegates - uncommitted party leaders invited to the convention - while perhaps also attracting some voters in late primaries, analysts said.

The article considers whether this is something Hillary Clinton might do now. It mentions, as possible picks, General Wesley Clark and Bill Richardson.[ More...]

By Big Tent Democrat

Whether fair or not, whether ultimately effective or not, if Barack Obama is the nominee, John McCain will call him inexperienced. That it has had limited effectiveness for Hillary Clinton does not mean it will not work for McCain. Obama's Media Darling status is critical here. Kevin Drum explains:

[T]he problem with Obama isn't that he's less experienced than Hillary, but that he's inexperienced, full stop. And again, like it or not, John McCain will certainly use that as an argument in the general election campaign in a way he couldn't against Hillary. Sure, he's got 25 years to her 15, but that doesn't matter. Beyond a certain point voters aren't interested in who's got more experience, and 15 years is well beyond that point. If McCain tried to paint Hillary as inexperienced, it would be a waste of breath. Nobody would buy it.

When I decided to vote for Obama in the primary I said I had decided it was worth it to roll the dice. But make no mistake: there really is a roll of the dice here. The American public hasn't elected someone with as little big-time experience as Obama in the past century (though we've come close with Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush). I don't think that will keep him from winning in November, but it's pretty clearly a real issue.

Yep.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only.

Yes, I said it. And so did the NYTimes Ed Board:

Middle-class voters across the country are legitimately anxious. Tens of thousands of workers have lost their health insurance, while wages have barely risen. But blaming Nafta or any trade agreement only feeds misguided protectionist sentiments at home and strains already difficult relations around the world. It is also factually inaccurate. In a review in 2003, the Congressional Budget Office concluded that Nafta had slightly increased growth in the United States and that any disruptive effects on employment were small. Trade opens foreign markets for American producers and gives consumers more choices, while competition spurs productivity growth at home. If the candidates are not careful they will quickly pen themselves into dubious policy positions that they would have to follow, or flip-flop on, once elected.

Correct.