By Big Tent Democrat

I am off now but J. will be back soon. What do you think was the most undercovered story of the past two days? I say Shaq being traded to the Suns. I can not believe what little coverage this has garnered. Shaq was once the best player in the league. And are the Suns worried about their chemistry? How does Shaq possibly fit with a running team especially given his physical problems and age?

If you do not find Shaq as interesting as I do, propose your own undercovered story. This is an Open Thread.

1:39 am ET: Wolf Blitzer on CNN gives these Democratic delegate totals:

Hillary Clinton 591
Barack Obama 476
Total Needed 2025

That's it for me tonight. The spin on both sides begins tomorrow.

AS for my take, let's see who won the popular vote nationally and who has the largest delegate total. I may be in the minority on this, but I don't give much weight to winning the rural, less populated states with few delgates. Particularly those that aren't likely to go Democratic in the general election. (Idaho, Utah, Alaska, etc.)

What Obama has going for him is momentum. The question is, how long will it continue? Hillary has the big states and the biggest number of Democratic voters. The California delegate breakdown will be important. And a big unknown is still the superdelegates in all the states.

I'm in a room with around 400 of my fellow citizens waiting to be called or excused from jury duty.

No lawyer has ever let me serve on a jury. It's too bad because I'd like to see the process from that perspective.

Anyway, it looks like I'll be here for at least a few hours before being sent home, so here's an open thread for you.

By Big Tent Democrat

Ron Klain writes an interesting post about the left blogosphere that stumbles onto a central truth, that the left blogosphere should NOT have favorite candidates, it must have favorite principles and issues. Klain writes:

[N]otwithstanding this stunning success, this week’s withdrawal by John Edwards, coming a week after the departure of Dennis Kucinich [Klain clearly is not THAT familiar with the blogs], means that both of the preferred presidential candidates of the liberal blogosphere are now out of the race.

Despite Klain's glaring error, Barack Obama was at least the second favorite candidate of the blogosphere, he hints at an essential truth - the blogs should not be about favorite candidates. It should try to persuade and/or pressure Dems, candidates and officeholders, on the issues that matter to them. In 2007, I was very critical of the blogs' performance on withdrawal from Iraq. Why? Because it was candidate centric, not issue centric.

In essence, Klein gets to the issue in a roundabout way when he writes:

If you missed our earlier open threads this week, you may not know I haven't been blogging for a few days because I'm moving.

I am finally in the new place, 3.5 miles from the old one, and everything is still in disarray. If you're in the mood for details, click on "more" below:

One of the interesting things about this political campaign is how events that would normally crowd out the race have failed to. SOTU, New Years, etc. The Dem political race particularly has remained largely the biggest story most every day.

The biggest test for this phenomenon however comes Sunday - the Super Bowl, with a New England team looking to make history. Will politics have a chance that day and the day after? Will the campaign be frozen tomorrow until Super Tuesday?

This is an Open Thread.

By Big Tent Democrat

With John Edwards out, there is nothing holding back the tide now. The Left blogs will go all out for Obama and will go after Hillary hard.

With the exception of a few isolated pockets, the Big Blogs, the wonk blogs, Big Media blogs, all of them, are all pro-Obama now. A poor Clinton supporter will be hard pressed to find a port in this storm, or even a place where Hillary gets half of a fair shake.

But don't sweat it too much Hillary supporters, this too shall pass one way or another. Either Hillary takes control on 2/5 or Obama gets the leg up. And it is likely that the nomination will be decided next week.

Either way, the Left blogs will stop hating the Clintons again next week after the 2/5 primaries.

I'll be offline much of the day and evening as I'm in the process of moving my home. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Thanks to all of you who contributed to TalkLeft on Monday, I'll be sending out individual thank-you emails next week. Your donations are much appreciated.

For me, the big news so far today is John Edwards dropping out of the presidential race. It means tomorrow night's debate will just be between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Pretty high stakes for both of them.

With the start of primary season, the amount of time spent blogging, live-blogging, number-crunching, researching, graphics hunting and more has really escalated.

On top of that, it's moving week for me -- always a dreaded experience both in terms of cost and anxiety.

I've made today TalkLeft Appreciation Day. If you have a few dollars to chip in, they would be most welcome.

Here's how, it's very easy. If you don't like paypal (which takes credit cards if you don't have a paypal account) feel free to pull a few dollars out of your pocket and send it snail mail.

If you'd like to donate anonymously, here's the Amazon link.

Thanks to all of you for reading TalkLeft. You are all appreciated, including those who disagree with us.

The Kennedy family is not united in its support for Barack Obama. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend issued a statement today:

"I respect Caroline and Teddy's decision but I have made a different choice. While I admire Senator Obama greatly, I have known Hillary Clinton for over 25 years and have seen first hand how she gets results. As a woman, leader, and person of deep convictions, I believe Hillary Clinton would make the best possible choice for president.

She shares so many of the concerns of my father. Hillary has spent a lifetime speaking out on behalf of the powerless and working to alleviate poverty, in our country and around the world. I have seen her work up close and know she will be a great President. At this moment when so much is at stake at home and overseas, I urge our fellow Americans to support Hillary Clinton. That is why my brother Bobby, my sister Kerry, and I are supporting Hillary Clinton."

The Gators are about to tip off so I leave this open thread so you folks can report the Al Gore endorsement . . .

Or any other news or issue you folks deem worthy of discussion.

Go Gators!