Three times this season, Barack Obama merely had to lob a ball, and he could have struck Hillary out.  Three times he has failed.

1.  After Iowa, a win in New Hampshire, a win that every poll foresaw, would have done it for him.  But he gave that supercilious comment in the debate about Hillary's likeableness, and Hillary gave a strong performance in the final days.  Obama failed to strike her out.  How humiliating.

2.  After a breathtaking run of the bases in February, winning one contest after another, wins in Ohio and Texas would have sealed the deal.  The polls suggested he was on the brink of doing it, and he outspent Hillary hand over fist.  Obama failed to strike her out.  How humiliating

3.  For six weeks, Obama demanded Hillary get out of the race.  He plastered the airwaves in Pennsylvania with his visage and message.  He outspent her.  He spent weeks on the ground shaking hands and hold rallies.  And for the third time, he suffered another humiliating loss against Hillary.

We have ourselves a genuine landslide! We need a little historical perspective. The margin between Reagan and Carter in 1980 was a 9.7 percent spread (50.7 to 41), roughly the same as last night's spread in Pennsylvania, which I hear over and over was a "mere" 9.4 percent. We called it a landslide then, and we should call it a landslide now. We Democrats, that is, we on the losing side that year, called it a landslide, because it was a landslide, and guess what, my fellow Democrats who support Barack Obama, you on the losing side, it is this year still a landslide.

I think we all love Maya Angelou.  If any of you don't, I would suggest you should consider her life and her example.  Since she was a child, she has known many and great troubles and risen again and again not just to surmount her difficulties but to become better as the result of them.  In her adversity, she has found a path to victory.  I think she is heroic on the scale of a Nelson Mandela.  

In order to explain a little of her victory, I would like to suggest a definition of wisdom.  Wisdom is the ability to understand and remember one's emotional experience and readily apply it to the present moment.  With that definition in mind, I say that the triumph of Maya Angelou is that she has become a woman of immense wisdom.  

Just a quick diary this morning.  Karl Rove doubtless is the father of lies, but he has proposed an interesting solution to the Democratic impasse over the status of the delegates from Florida and Michigan.

Taegan Goddard at CQ Politics has his suggestion.  Rove suggests that Obama should be magnanimous, recognize that Hillary will gain on his lead, but demonstrate to superdelegates his capacity for leadership, and give the delegates as currently constituted from January's elections their seats at the convention.  

Update: Ambinder now writes, "Update: Turns out that the culprit is the Texas Democratic Party. The delegate lists they forwarded to the campaigns contain many errors on them, so Clinton delegates are receiving Obama mail and Obama delegates are recieving (sic) Clinton mail. Indeed, it wouldn't make much sense for Obama to remind Clinton delegates when the conventions are." I communicated with a contact of mine who is very familiar with the shenanigans in the process in Texas, and he's not convinced that Ambinder's read is entirely correct. You will recall the things that came out at the time of the primary and caucus in Texas, like how Senator Obama's people were grabbing sign in sheets early. My original diary commences here:

I have read a lot of complaints about Hillary's observation the other day in Philadelphia, "Pledged delegates in most states are not pledged. You know, there is no requirement that anybody vote for anybody."  A lot of people who support Mr. Obama took exception to a frankly true observation.

Some of you might have caught Alegre's write-up of last night's debate, where Hillary showed us just how passionate she is about continuing to serve her country as our next Commander in Chief, and of how ready she is to lead.  Toward the end she used a very common phrase - whatever happens, we're going to be fine.

Now come on... admit it - you've used that sort of phrase when trying to reassure a loved one, friend or colleague during a tough patch right?  It's not like John Edwards is the only person who's used language like this before.

And yet in their desperation to negate Hillary's amazing closing comments in the debate last night, they're doing exactly what they've accused Hillary of doing - finger-pointing over what they're calling plagiarism.  Thing is... there's no there there.

Hillary's campaign just released something that points out just how common this phrase is in our lexicon.  As Alegre likes to say, "Make the jump for more."

People have their dander up about this story from Politico that says that Hillary will fight for Obama's pledged delegates in the event neither candidate has obtained a sufficient number of delegates to receive the nomination.

A Clinton campaign spokesperson has said the story is false.

On February 6, Barack Obama made the following observation:

I think those superdelegates and elected officials and party insiders would have to think long and hoard about how they approach the nomination if the people they represent have said that Obama is our guy

Let me heartily concur with the Senator's sentiments on that matter.