ABC News reports Hillary Clinton went to John Edwards' home in North Carolina on Thursday to ask for his support. Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with him tomorrow.

Who will Edwards endorse if anyone? He seemed more aligned with Obama when he was in the campaign, but that was mostly on lobbyists. On poverty and health care, which were his main issues, I think Hillary is closer to him.

What could each offer John Edwards if elected to sweeten the pot? I doubt he wants to be Attorney General -- maybe Hillary can offer to let him be in charge of tweaking and getting universal health care through Congress. A health care czar?

Patti Solis Doyle has stepped down as Hillary Clinton's campaign manager. She will remain as a senior campaign advisor. The new campaign manager is Maggie Williams:

In a note she sent to her staff, Solis Doyle announced that this week Maggie Williams, Clinton's chief of staff when she was first lady, "will begin to assume the duties of campaign manager." Solis Doyle said she would remain as a senior adviser to the campaign.

Here's a report from the blog Turn Maine Blue, where caucus goers and local news are reporting some results [by BTD, and here is CNN's running totals, with 44% reporting, it is 57-42 Obama]:

• Fairfield:

  In the end, said caucus Chairman Franklin Bouchard, there were 55 Democrats for Obama and 54 for Clinton. The vote means each camp will send seven delegates to the Maine Democratic Party convention in May.

• Obama wins Cape Elizabeth by a large margin.

• Hillary wins Turner (Results (including 8 absentees) were: Clinton 62; Obama 55; Edwards 1; Undecided 2) and Wells (Clinton: 151, Obama: 122, Kucinich: 4,Undecided: 4)

• Obama wins Houlton and Rockport

More below the fold:

The Writers' Strike is about to end. The union voted to approve a settlement. Here are the major terms.

The LA Times Strike Zone is here.

It doesn't look like this in Maine today, but the picture is so pretty I'm using it anyway. There's heavy snow in Maine but it's not expected to deter turnout.

The Washington Post reports that older women will be key for Hillary in Maine.

The delegate count is small, the state has 24 pledged delegates and 10 superdelegates, who can support the candidate they prefer and make the decision at any time.

As to who is eligible to vote in the Maine caucuses:

Caucuses are held by each municipal Democratic committee. Any enrolled Democrat within a municipality can attend the municipal caucus. New voters and unenrolled voters can also attend by registering as Democrats at the caucus. Voters registered as Greens or Republicans must change their registration by Jan. 26, 2008 to participate in this year's Democratic Caucus. Young voters who will be 18 by Election Day, November 4, 2008 can participate in the caucus.

I'll start another thread on Maine when the results and exit polls are in.

By Big Tent Democrat

With all the talk about superdelegates, I must admit I am more than somewhat confused on what Barack Obama's position is. First Read reported:

Obama would not commit to a position he had put forward previously that superdelegates should vote the way their states did -- should the Democratic nomination come down to their votes.

"I think those superdelegates and elected officials and party insiders would have to think long and hard about how they approach the nomination if the people they represent have said that Obama is our guy," Obama said the morning after the February 5th primaries.

(Emphasis supplied.) It is obvious why Obama will not stick to that position - having lost California, New York, New Jersey, Florida* and Michigan* - he would be guaranteeing a huge loss for himself among superdelegates. Having won in states like Alaska, Idaho and the like, he will be giving away the game with that position.

Thus he now says:

By Big Tent Democrat

It is funny to see the Obama camp decrying the rules that allow superdelegates to choose whichever candidate they prefer. I happen to agree with them. There should NOT be any superdelegates. That is one of many travesties in this horror show of a nominating process that the DNC has approved. Let's face it, the DNC has screwed this up six ways to Sunday.

From the absurd caucus system which is the biggest disenfranchising process in this entire system, to the craziness of apportioning delegates, to this Washington travesty, we have been cursed with an awful system for choosing our nominee.

What are we left with? These crappy rules. And what can we do? Accept it. As Matt Yglesias writes:

I'll take a middle ground view -- I think Chris is right to think it'd be a pretty bitter pill to swallow if that's how things shake out, but the controlling principle here is that "the rules are the rules." . . . [T]here's a lot of oddness in the nominating system and there's no point of plucking out any particular feature and slamming it as unfair as the process unfolds.

Update (TL): Comments now closed on this thread.

By Big Tent Democrat

Memo to our friend Josh - put away the shovel and stop digging your hole deeper. His latest explanation is perhaps the most damning of himself. He writes:

Some readers seem to believe that Clinton is saying that it's not about suspensions or apologies. It's about MSNBC's need to reevaluate its pattern of behavior.

. . . I give the Clinton campaign the respect of knowing that they're no slouches with the written word. And the words in this letter were clearly chosen with great care. The point of that passage was that merely suspending Shuster was insufficient -- that he needs to be fired. That's what they meant. And I have little doubt that Shuster and the MSNBC execs understood the meaning the moment they read it. I think it would be wrong to shy away from making that clear.

(Emphasis supplied.) It is damning of Josh that he can not imagine that the point of the letter was this:

I would urge you to look at the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language.

(Emphasis supplied.) I agree with Josh that NBC might not see that that is the point - NBC's pattern of sexism is manifest and people oblivious to and accepting of sexism do not easily change their stripes. It is sad to see that Josh in this episode is one of those people too.

Here's a thread for the speeches delivered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at tonight's Virginia Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. (Earlier thread on this here.)

Here is an AP summary of Hillary's speech.

Obama's speech sounds very similar -- almost a replica -- of this one he gave in Denver last week.

Update: 8:53 pm ET: There's your JFK references I predicted earlier, Ted Sorenson at work -- two in one parapgraph.

We’re the party of a man who overcame his own disability to tell us that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself; who faced down fascism and liberated a continent from tyranny.

And we’re the party of a young President who asked what we could do for our country, and the challenged us to do it.

More...and question for Obama supporters below:

Hillary Clinton's campaign tonight announced their fund-raising since Super Tuesday has topped $10 million from more than 100,000 donors.

Update: From the Louisiana exit polls:

Blacks were nearly half the Democratic primary electorate and Obama racked up one of his largest margins yet among them. He won nearly nine in 10 blacks, male and female, according to the exit polls for The Associated Press and television networks.

Most other Democratic voters were white and Clinton won them by about 40 points, a margin she has met or exceeded only in Alabama, Tennessee and her former home state of Arkansas among 19 Democratic primaries surveyed this year. Continuing a pattern seen in other Southern states, Obama won only three in 10 white men and did no better among white women.

The networks have called Louisiana for Obama. But, check out the counties Hillary won or is leading in substantially: Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Bearegard, Caldwell, Cameron, Catahoola, Grant, Jeff Davis, Lafourche, Lasalle, Livingston, Sabine, St. Bernard, Terrebone, Vermilion, Vernon, Washington, West Carroll and Winn. Map showing her counties and original post below the fold:

By Big Tent Democrat

Talking Points Memo continues its very poor journalism on this story. Now Josh Marshall approvingly publishes an e-mail that falsely characterizes Hillary Clinton's letter to NBC News President Steve Capus as calling for David Shuster's firing. What is particularly egregious about TPM's work is it minimizes, even omits, the REAL point of the letter - that NBC has demonstrated an unbroken pattern of sexism in its reporting and commentary and Clinton's demand that this pattern be addressed.

At this point, it simply can not be denied, TPM is choosing to ignore NBC's egregious pattern of sexism. That is very bad of TPM and Josh Marshall. This is part of a pattern of malign acceptance of sexism that we must all fight against.

Update [2008-2-9 22:10:28 by Big Tent Democrat]: After its egregious journalism on this story, TPM NOW compounds it by simply lying. Yes, I am calling TPM liars. Their LATEST headline Says "Clinton Backs Off Firing Demand." They NEVER demanded it. ONLY TPM said FALSELY they demanded it. Shame on TPM. Shame on Josh Marshall. Disgraceful work.