AddieStan

That's what Air America host Rachel Maddow just called John McCain , who attempted to pour water on Barack Obama's "rhetoric of hope."

At The Atlantic , Joshua Green raises the curtain on the career of Clintonista Patti Solis Doyle , the Clinton campaign manager who was canned on Sunday.

Fresh on the heels of is sweep of this weekend's Democratic caucuses, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) tonight added to his column overwhelming victories in three mid-Atlantic entities: Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. His victory speech, before what appeared to a vast crowd in Wisconsin, where Obama's next big contest will take place, was typically inspiring, though not quite as extraordinary as those he's given before. That's probably just as well; he needs to look a bit more human than he has of late, and lay off the messianic theme. Preceding Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) addressed what appeared to be a large rally in El Paso, Texas, with a high-energy speech, well-delivered and complete with a list of policy changes she hopes to initiate. Clinton is in Texas because she's all but conceded next week's contests in Hawaii and Wisconsin to Obama. (The Texas primary is on March 4.) To his detriment, Sen. John McCain (D-Ariz.), the likely R...

If you thought the sexism and outright misogyny expressed by men opposed to Hillary Clinton 's run for the White House had reached its depths before Super Tuesday, you'd be wrong. For today brings word that MSNBC reporter David Shuster accused Hillary Clinton of "pimping out" her daughter, Chelsea. Into what mode of prostitution has the mother sold her girl? Why, politics, you fool! Your blogstress finds it absolutely amazing that Shuster should use the language of prostitution to describe Chelsea Clinton 's work on behalf of her mother. Over at Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh states the case : this should be Shuster's Imus moment. This is the kind of crap that's adding fuel to the fires dividing feminists right now. The more misogyny of this order that's heaped on the Clinton campaign, the greater some feel an imperative for feminists to vote for Hillary. I don't agree that there's an imperative, but I do find myself more inclined to pul...

WESTFIELD, N.J.--Well, Barack Obama may not have won your blogstress's blessed native state, but he has succeeded in shaking up state politics here, luring support from such establishment political leaders as state Senate leader Richard Cody (who briefly served as governor, filling out the term of James McGreevey , who resigned after revealing a gay affair) and Congressman Steve Rothman . But it wouldn't be New Jersey without a bit of voting intrigue, as your Webwench has been reporting for TAPPED: JERSEY CITY, WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM UPDATE ON JERSEY'S VOTING WOES Also got some response to Hillary Clinton's pitch to queer voters from Stampp Corbin , who runs the LGBT outreach team for the Barack Obama campaign: DEMS VIE FOR GAY VOTES On my way back to D.C. -- whoa, whoa, baby, back where I belong.

Well, she calls us by the more politically correct term, "LGBT Americans." Here's a blog post signed by Sen. Clinton, posted on a gay site: LGBT Americans: "I Want to Be Your President" by Senator Hillary Clinton As I have traveled around the country these past twelve months, what I sensed in my heart has been confirmed – America is embracing its LGBT sons and daughters with an acceptance and understanding as never before. On the campaign trail, a father of a gay son will ask about ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. A woman will ask why she can be discriminated against just because of who she is. Sometimes they wait furtively for the crowd to thin and then whisper their confidences in a soft voice and sometimes they stand up proudly at town meetings and want me to share my views on how I will help lead the change to assure that this country fulfills its promise to everyone. Let me tell you what I have been telling voters across America. I am fully committed to the f...

WESTFIELD, N.J.--It was not your blogstress's intention to abandon her devotees on Almost Super Monday, indeed it was not, mes amis . However, your cybertrix found herself with a sketchy internet connection inside the Izod Arena (renamed twice now, a terrible disservice to the memory of the governorship of one Brendan Byrne). When did Izod rule Jersey? I thought we were more a "Members Only" sort of crew. So, please accept the apology for the lack of original material for today on AddieStan, but do take a look at your blogstress's offerings on TAPPED: DE NIRO SENT TO MEADOWLANDS TO WHACK HILLARY WHAT A LONG, STRANGE TRIP IT'S BEEN

If you've been living in a cave, or away from a computer or BlackBerry or some other tethering device, you may not know of this brilliant piece of music by Will.I.Am, which is based entirely around the oratory of one Barack Obama. It's breathtaking. But don't take my word for it. Check it out.

Of the first-ever televised debate between presidential candidates, it is often said that people who watched it television thought that the cool, sweatless John F. Kennedy won. Those who listened to that debate on the radio were said to have called it for Richard M. Nixon . Because of a prior commitment, was not able to watch tonight's debate, televised on CNN, but listened to it on C-SPAN radio. To my ears, Hillary Clinton won. Her knowledge of each of the issues was breathtaking, and her vocalization, modulation, and demeanor were all excellent. Barack Obama 's disembodied voice annoyed me; there was a pushiness to it. The television commentators all seem to be calling a tie.

I was born into a church that bars me from the priesthood on the basis of something called the "natural resemblance" theory: in other words, because Jesus of Nazareth possessed certain body parts that I do not, and because I have some that he did not, then I do not resemble him well enough to minister in his name. Today, there are feminists who are demanding that I vote on the same basis; that a presidential ballot cast for anyone who does not possess the same bodily configuration as mine indicates a damning lack of sisterhood on my part. I daresay, I have not waged my little wars for women's equality only be to be told for whom I must vote. To wit, this post on TAPPED: AIN'T I A FEMINIST?

Your blogstress wishes she wasn't quite so burnt out on live-blogging debates, of which there are far too many this election cycle. (There are some words I never thought I'd hear myself say.) Tonight's GOP debate features the bizarre spectacle of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates sitting at a dais in front of the "Air Force One" plane that went out of service with Reagan, being asked questions not simply by pop-culture newsman Anderson Cooper, but actual newspaper reporters, as well. But given the general lack of charisma among the Republican candidates, and the fact that this is the umpteenth debate in as many weeks, your écrivaine asks her readers to fill her in in the morning. The debate takes place, even as she types, on CNN.

The Democratic campaign for the presidential nomination will endure a sad moment this afternoon, when John Edwards , the former North Carolina senator, is expected to announce his withdrawal from the race. Yes, your blogstress has been rather hard on Edwards, having a natural aversion to his sometimes transparent displays of opportunism, particularly his attempt to capitalize on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan and his sexist response to Hillary Clinton 's verklemptitude in New Hampshire. But Edwards has brought something quite real to the Democratic debate, and without him, it's doubtful that the role of corporations in creating the hard times experienced today by so many Americans would have ever been brought to the fore. I am also moved that Edwards is returning to New Orleans to make his 1:00 announcement today; it was from that neglected and abused city that he launched his presidential bid. Of course, the prognosticators are already placing bets on w...

Your blogstress did her best to be present for her devotees at the anointment of Barack Obama by the Kennedy clan but, alas, she found herself among the 100 or so journalists turned away from the event . Of course, being your Webwench, yours truly was not about to take no for an answer, seeing as she had RSVP'd and assured ahead of time by Obama for America staffers that both she and her laptop would have no problem entering the hall at American University at which the rally took place. Would that it were true. So, eventually, your cybertrix did indeed make it into that hall, just as Uncle Teddy was saying that the senator from Illinois would be ready to lead on Day One. And then they kicked me out. I had a laptop. Not allowed for those of us who were closed out of the magnetometer sweep of equipment, despite our having arrived in time for it. Today I have the sniffles.

Reader nrglaw left a long and thoughtful comment on an earlier post about Barack Obama 's prospects for the general election. So thoughtful is the reader's post, mes amis , that your blogstress has granted it this thread of its own, as well as a respectful, if less than thorough, refutation. From nrglaw: There was a lot of focus on one statistic leading up to the SC primary, namely that Black Democrats represented 52% of the state's democrats. That statistic seems have gotten forgotten since the Obama victory. Its clearly still very relevant, however. I understand that Obama won 80% (my son says 82) of black democratic voters, which would account for 40% out of the total of 55% he polled. In the 18-29 year old group, he took 49 -- a push at best. Overall, he polled only 25% of the white vote. Apparently, the Latino vote was not very significant, because it isn't even mentioned in any of the MSM coverage of the results. This is a group where Hillary has done well. So...

It's the status quo. (Read: the Clintons) This is a transcendent speech. The Clintons may have given Barack Obama a gift with their negative, race-baited campaign against the candidate they sought to paint as "the black candidate." For in playing the race card, they gave Obama permission to address the race issue head-on, to no longer dance around the question of racial prejudice in America. I do believe that their lies in the hearts of far more white people than anybody imagines a desire for redemption.

Obama is pointedly asserting the diversity of his "coalition," exactly the right point to make, given the racialized nation of the South Carolina campaign. But his tone, so far, is a bit more combative -- even angry. Be careful, Barack. The people turn to you for uplift.

...as the Obamas take the stage. Pink, Chanel-like suit, flipped hair. A departure from her sexier trademark body-conscious dresses and combed-back hair. Fitting, perhaps, in light of tomorrow's " target=resource window>endorsement by Caroline Kennedy , Jackie 's only daughter.

In tomorrow's New York Times , Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, constitutional scholar and all-round class act, will " target=resource window>endorse Barack Obama . Wow.

Speaking from Independence, Missouri, former President William Jefferson Clinton , even as the returns came in from the primary race he sought to sully in South Carolina, delivered what may be taking the place of her concession speech. However, what bit of the speech MSNBC showed was mostly about Himself: his AIDS activism, how he ran "a pretty successful presidency". He's become quite nauseating.

In the three-way contest between John Edwards , Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama , the O-man won 49 percent of white voters in the 18-29 age group. This is good news because it shows the limits of racializing the campaign. Another interesting stat: Obama and Clinton won virtually equal numbers of white, male voters. Will provide those numbers as they become available. And although the two white candidates won greater percentages of the white vote than did Obama, he won a good 15 percent more of the white vote than the 10 percent the polls had suggested he would won. And Obama's 24 percent total of the white vote come close to Edwards' 29 percent. Hillary Clinton won 36 percent of the white vote, mostly from older white women.