I'm sure there have been others, but this is the first poll pitting Obama or Clinton vs. John McCain for all the marbles since Super Tuesday (though it must be noted that it was gathered before Super Tuesday).

Time Magazine's poll shows Clinton vs. McCain tied at 48%, while Obama beats McCain 48% to 42%.

Don't trust the polls, etc., but I am interested to see what the sure-to-be-coming slew of similar polls predicts in the next few weeks.

I'm not going to say I told you so, yet.

Since the amicable California debate, there have been suggestions floating about that an Obama-Clinton, or a Clinton-Obama ticket would be a dream for the Democrats. I don't believe it for a second. First, it won't happen, unless it is forced on them by Dean and the DNC. I can imagine no more dysfunctional White House than one with Hillary and all her baggage (including Bill) in the VP's suite.

But I do have a dream ticket in mind. What about Obama pairing up with Kathleen Sebelius, the current Governor of Kansas? She's a re-elected Democrat in a very Republican state, she's a woman, she's smart, and she just raised her profile with the Democratic Response to the State of the Union (though she looked a bit terrified). That's a ticket that could win in November, even against a McCain-Lieberman (the collective Dem nightmare, imho) Republican slate.

I continue to believe, with all my being, that Hillary can't win in November because of the poisonous feelings she brings out in even rank-and-file conservatives. Want to re-energize the Evangelicals after Huck's fade? Nominate Hillary! Want to bring the NRA out to vote after Thompson crashed? Nominate Hillary! Want to drive the heavily Democratic youth vote back to their TVs? Nominate Hillary.

In fact, here's the advice I'd give Barack Obama. Losing is not an option, and you should never accept Hillary as your VP. To win the nomination and not be forced to compromise your vision, you should choose Kathleen Sebelius as your running mate now. Today. Show the women voters out there that they don't have to choose Hillary to support women, that there are other (better) women out there fighting the good fight.

What do you think?

We attended our somewhat abbreviated caucus, we stood up for our man, and he rocked the caucus. As one t-shirt said, "Barack Chalk Jayhawk!" Current results give Kansas to Obama by a 46% margin. If only that were reflected across the country.

The line was really long, with hundreds of people snaking down the street in the cold, wintry, windy evening. We were caucusing at the National Guard Armory, one of the few places in town with a large enough space to hold hundreds of folks. Even so, there were people in line by the deadline (7 pm) who could not fit in the building. When the proceedings got started, the precinct captains (remarkably bereft of a bullhorn) announced that they would count us and then let us go home, while they brought inside the 250 people who were still outside.

It was very noisy in the hangar, with spontaneous chanting breaking out all the time. The wife was greatly moved by the show of solidarity, so much so it brought her near to tears more than once. I confess to a spine-tingling moment when the Cap'n asked us if there were some excited Democrats in the house, and five hundred people answered with a thundering "Yeah!"

It was also hot in the hangar, though some kind souls started playing with the big garage door at the far end of the room (the same door from which we were eventually shuffled out). And frankly, it got a little boring at times, too. If it weren't for the audacity of the ten Kucinich supporters, marching and singing and whatnot, it might not have been as much fun. Update: Turns out that of the 35 votes Kucinich got in Kansas, sixteen came from our caucus location.

In the end, we were out of there by a little after 7:30, in time to get home and put the boys to bed before the babysitter had to. Yeah, we got a sitter. It was the right choice, though given how raucous and short the whole process was, our older boy probably would have enjoyed.

More pictures here.

Today is Super Tuesday. Today, if you live in one of the Super Tuesday states, you should go out and vote in your primary, or attend a caucus. Make your opinion known. Some of you didn't do that last time, and we ended up with John Kerry. Please don't let us end up with another bad candidate who can't win. Go out and seize your candidate by the collar (metaphorically, please) and let him or her know that you want to stomp the snot out of the Republicans in November. Thank you.

At roughly $90,000 each second, the SuperBowl advertisements were surprisingly blah this year. We watched the game at TiVo-speed, stopping to watch commercials or plays that looked important in triple-time. Of all the commercials we saw (and different markets got different commercials) we actually ended up liking two of the Bud Light commercials the best. Go figure. Of course, when you throw twenty of them at the screen, one or two are bound to stick, right? We liked "The Wheel" and "Flight". And, we liked the (locally-aired) Obama ad, too.

Let me preface by urging you to go out and vote tomorrow, regardless of who you support. Unless you're one of Huck's Army, then please stay home. If you're a devout Ron Paul supporter, do go, just to entertain the MittCains. Our entire family (me, wife, five-year-old, and 20-month-old) will be going to caucus here in Kansas.

That said. Won't you consider caucus-voting for Barack Obama? That's who we'll be going to support. I can't speak for my wife, but I'm going in order to vote against Billary as much as to support Obama. Here's why, in a nutshell. I think McCain will beat her in the general election. I dislike her brand of anything-to-win politics (though I don't really believe Obama is above that, the tactics Clinton has pulled out in NH and SC, and FL and MI make me think of her as Rove-like). I think the nation will not welcome her as President, I think we will remain divided, blue vs. red. And I'm tired of all of those things.

Thank you for your time.

P.S., I got the "Vote" thing here.