NBC is at pains to NOT report the Dem results in Florida. Let's be clear, this is NOT a normal primary. There was no campaigning (though Obama ran a national ad and that reached Florida, and union allies for Clinton and Obama dropped literature in Florida). The DNC has ruled that no delegates will be awarded, though it is clear that it will be the Dem convention that makes that decision. It is not a win like Obama's in South Carolina.

But a lot of people voted. Indeed, Hillary is likely to have TWICE as many people vote for her than watch Keith Olbermann's program. It ill behooves them to ridicule the votes of Floridians who outnumber MSNBC viewers by a factor of 4. IF we start playing THAT numbers game, then let's all make fun of MSNBC's viewership.

(larger version here.)

Update 8:00 pm : CNN calls Florida for Hillary Clinton, based on exit polls and 15% of vote in. CNN says more people voted in Florida than all the other states combined.

CNN says the Obama campaign's response is Florida is a tie: 0 delegates for Hillary, 0 for Obama. I guess that means he won't call to congratulate here.

Update 7:45 pm: Hillary still way ahead in the counties reporting so far. Obama ahead in one county, Leon -- located at the top of the state. Demograpics for Leon County here.

[More...]

The Florida Democratic primary today will not select delegates, according to Democratic rules. The candidates did not campaign here or run ads, other than a national ad run by Barack Obama. Howver, all the candidates are on the ballot. It seems likely that the largest number of Democratic voters will cast ballots today in Florida that have voted in any state to date. Indeed, RECORD turnout is forecast. Can these votes be ignored by the Media? The Obama camp seems worried that it will not be:

. . . [O]n a media call that was led off by Sen. John Kerry. Here are quick translations of Kerry's opening remarks, which were directly specifically and near exclusively focused on the Clinton campaign's attempt to claim significance from what happens today in Florida:

"The bottom line is that Florida offers no delegates. It should not become part of some spin campaign. . . . You have a contrast today, a juxtaposition. You have an avoidance of a rule set up by the chair to create something that isn’t supposed to be something. In my judgment, personally, as voters look at the meaning of the Florida primary, the voters are not looking for spin to win the news cycle . . .

More....

Defying the Nattering Nabobs of Negativism, Clinton scores the endorsement of symbolically and substantively potent superdelegate/California Representative Maxine Waters [D-CA).

John McCain and Mitt Romney have been exchanging nasty personal attacks in a divisive Floirda campaign that will end Rudy Giuliani's campaign. The polls have Romney and McCain in a dead heat.

The endorsement of the Republican Governor of Florida Charlie Crist has seemingly given McCain a slight boost but it is hard to say how much. Florida has early voting and reportedly some 1 million early votes, about half of the expected total, have been cast already.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is trying to get some publicity for her expected big win in the Florida Dem beauty contest. It will be interesting to watch how many Democrats will vote. It is hard to ignore more than a half million voters. Indeed, the Florida Dem primary is likely to have the largest amount of voters of any primary so far.

There is a great irony in Barack Obama's claim to be the anti-Washington candidate. The DC Establishment of course HATE the Clintons and have come to love Barack Obama. But the DC Establishment have always hated the Clintons:

Clinton spent so long as the dominant personality in the Democratic Party that it is easy to forget: Lots of elite Democrats never liked the guy that much. Or, perhaps more precisely, their feelings of admiration were constantly at war with feelings of disdain.

The ferocity of anti-Clinton sentiments heard around Washington in recent days — as even some former Clinton White House aides say they are enjoying the Kennedy endorsement and the implicit rebuke of the Clintons — has reached levels that haven’t been seen for seven years. Clinton’s pardons in the closing hours of his presidency prompted a similar backlash.

One thing to wonder about is whether the DC Establishment take Obama's criticisms of Washington seriously. I submit they do not. And rightly so. These "outsider" appeals are always phony.

Update (TL): 237 comments, this thread is closing.

Speaking for me only

On Saturday, Bill Clinton made remarks about Jesse Jackson and Jackson's wins in South Carolina in 1984 and 1988. The comments seemed to me a blatant attempt to marginalize Obama's win in South Carolina. An attempt to treat Obama as "the black candidate." I thought the comments were out of order. Indeed, despicable. Clinton has been outrageously tarred by the Clinton Hating Media and many irresponsible progressive blogs, for such comments as Obama's record on Iraq being a fairytale (Ted Kennedy was completely wrong in his defense of Obama on this point yesterday - Obama's opposition to the Iraq Debacle did not survive his entry into the Senate), the questioning of Obama's experience and others.

But this comment was indefensible to me. The sad thing of course is that being compared to Jesse Jackson, a great but flawed figure, should NOT be problematic. But in a campaign for the Presidency, it is. It is important to note that Jesse Jackson does not at all agree with me or others criticizing Clinton for his comment:

I don’t read anything negative into Clinton’s observation,” Mr. Jackson said . . . MORE

Rudy Giuliani's in trouble in Florida. McCain and Romney are likely to beat him. The latest polls show him battling Mike Huckabee for third place.

The LA Times reports on a conversation Rudy had with reporters on his campaign plane Monday. He hinted he would be dropping out if he doesn't win Florida.

In a meeting in the back of his chartered plane en route to St. Petersburg, Fla., a short while ago, the onetime, longtime GOP front-runner told a small group of reporters, including The Times' Louise Roug: "The winner of Florida will win the nomination."

Other papers are predicting doom and gloom for Rudy in Florida tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they are correct.

It's the talk of the town:

• Chicago Tribune

Obama stood icily staring at Clinton during this, then turned his back and stepped a few feet away. Kennedy may've wanted to make peace with Clinton but Obama clearly wanted no part of that.

The sense in the press gallery was that Obama didn't cover himself in glory. Someone even used the word "childish." (Not this writer.) Judging by how much conversation there was about this brush off in the press gallery, Americans will be hearing a lot more about this tomorrow and in coming days.

• Associated Press

  Clinton, clad in scarlet, crossed the aisle between their seats on the House floor and reached out a hand to greet Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Democratic icon whose endorsement she had courted only to lose it to Obama. Kennedy shook her hand while Obama, wearing a dark suit and standing between the two, turned away.

Here's Barack Obama response and Hillary Clinton's prequel to President Bush's State of the Union Address. From Hillary's:

I assume that all of you know tonight is a red letter night in American history. It is the last time George Bush will give a State of the Union.If we all do our part, next year it’ll be a Democratic President giving the State of the Union.

Let’s be clear, one thing that President Bush has never understood is that the State of the Union is not about a speech in Washington. It is about the state of the lives of the American people. What is happening in our schools, in our hospitals, in our jobs? It is whether or not we have people who feel that they are moving toward the American dream or whether it looks like it’s getting further and further away no matter how hard they work. It is about whether or not people will be able to stay in their homes or if they will lose their homes to foreclosures, thereby really undermining the American dream. It is about whether we as a nation will restore our leadership and our moral authority, bring our Constitution out of cold storage, begin to act like Americans again, solving our problems, working toward a better future, making it possible for us to be proud of our country.

From Obama's: [More...]

The Wall St. Journal has an extensive article on where the candidates now stand in the states voting Feb. 5.

Shorter version: Despite Barack Obama's South Carolina win, Hillary is still significantly ahead in the major states.

Mr. Obama heads into the 22-state showdown as the underdog. The Illinois senator trails Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York by large margins in polls in most of the big states voting Feb. 5. And he lacks the time or resources to campaign intensively in many of those far-flung races to close the gaps.....for all of the attention Mr. Obama has garnered since his Iowa caucus victory at the beginning of the month, Mrs. Clinton has maintained her big lead in national polls -- and in polls in the big states with delegate prizes far greater than any state that has voted so far.

More...

Speaking for me only

Since I rail against Obama's unity schtick all the time and find he and Hillary pretty much the same on the issues, it is fair to ask why I tepidly support him. Why not Hillary, who clearly has experience fighting the GOP.

Here's why. Obama has more political talent than Hillary. The upside for Obama is clearly higher. If he can learn to fight partisan battles, he can be the best politician we have ever seen. Hillary is a better politician than I expected and her strong support among women is not to be discounted. In some ways, Clinton has turned out to be better than I expected and Obama worse than I expected. But that is relative because I consider and considered Obama much the superior political talent.