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I am so outraged at the race-baiting and religion-bashing coming out of the Clinton camp against Obama that it absolutely makes me want to puke.

A few months ago, Clinton volunteers circulated an e-mail falsely claiming that Obama was a Muslim (he is in fact a Christian)–not that there’s anything wrong with being a Muslim, but it was clearly intended to play into people’s prejudices about a minority religion. Obama has worked hard to dispel that rumor.

Today, the Drudge Report was sent a picture of Obama in traditional Somali garb as a goodwill gesture on an overseas visit a couple of years ago (something not at all unusual for politicians and ambassadors)–and Drudge attributes the picture to a source in the Clinton campaign.

When asked and after Obama protested release of the picture, the Clinton campaign erupted in righteous indignation:

Enough. If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.

This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry.

We will not be distracted.

In a perfect Clintonian trap, her campaign manager has the unmitigated gall to put out a statement like this while at the same time declining to deny the picture was sent to Drudge from her campaign. Of course it came from her campaign–and why? To cement the image of Obama as a Muslim, of course…and to play into people’s racial and religious fears. Why else would anyone submit a picture like this to Drudge?

I am so thoroughly disgusted at these tactics that if Clinton ends up being the nominee, I will stay home on Election Day. I would rather see John McCain be president than vote for that witch.

With Obama winning decisively for the ninth and tenth time since Super Tuesday last night it is becoming clear that Clinton will not be getting the nomination. She should read the writing on the wall and quit the race now, for the good of the Democratic Party and the nation.

Obama is causing her coalition to crumble, repeating his Virginia performance in Wisconsin last night:

Polls in the upcoming states of Texas and Ohio don’t bode well for her either; recent polls show them both in a dead head in Texas where she was heavily anticipated to win the big latino vote there, and Obama catching up to her quickly in Ohio. Given the Democratic method of awarding delegates by proportion rather than winner-take-all, Clinton would have to win these states by huge, lop-sided margins in order to remain competitive–and that’s just not going to happen.

McCain is wasting no time targeting Obama in his speeches. Rather than putting the Clinton machine into heavy negative mode in a manner that could damage the Democratic nominee in the months ahead, she should put her ambition aside for once and do what’s best for the party.

It’s over, girl.

(Approximately)

“It’s like, after making John McCain the nominee, Republicans are having a huge case of buyer’s remorse and have decided to stick it to him again and again by voting for Mike Huckabee.”

–Chris Matthews on Hardball, discussing Huckabee’s strength in Virginia and his wins elsewhere.

I was listening to Obama’s victory speech last night, and noticed a sudden change in tenor and theme. His gloves came off–but not against Hillary who he totally ignored–but against McCain.

He injected the following themes, to powerful effect:

He began repeating the “Bush-McCain” mantra. He talked about the “Bush-McCain” tax cuts, about the “Bush-McCain” war in Iraq. He intends to use Bush, the most profoundly unpopular president in modern times, as a millstone around McCain’s neck by constantly associating one name with the other in people’s minds by incessant repetition.

He also continued to hammer home that he is the candidate of change–and that McCain is just a stooge for the establishment seeking to maintain the status quo. For example, he repeated McCain’s recent and ridiculous assertion (which parroted Bush’s) that he could see us staying in Iraq for 100 years or longer–something that goes over like a fart in church right now in this country. By Obama embracing the mantle of change at this juncture, at a time when overwhelming amounts of people in polls say that is their top priority for this election, is a very good thing.

McCain spoke immediately after Obama–and he ended up looking like a deflated souffle by comparison. This is going to be interesting!

Obama is doing what the GOP has been so good at doing in previous elections: he is beginning to define his opponent before his opponent has had a chance to define himself.

Needless to say, Obama trounced Clinton last night despite the crappy weather.

I’m a big poll watcher, and I’ve been looking to see if there were any trends coming out of the exit polls to see if Obama could increase his support coalition beyond blacks and progressive upper-income Democrats.

Indeed he has. I didn’t write the numbers down, but the networks were reporting last night after the Potomac primaries that for the first time,

That’s the beginning of a very powerful coalition–one that I hope will extend to upcoming states.

I rushed out this morning, leaving my cell phone and reading materials behind, thinking today’s voting would be a quick in-and-out 5 minute affair.

Um, no.

What must have surely been a record-breaking line for a primary awaited me at the polls. I did not press the vote button until an hour and a half later.

With nothing else to do, I took note of what was going on around me–who was there to vote, what people were saying.

There were the young professionals, blackberries and iPods in hand–and those who could not afford such luxuries.

There were young people and old–a lot of older people, in fact–a busload of them arrived from a nearby senior residential home.

There were whites, blacks, hispanics, asians…people from all walks of life.

“Will be in line for 1.5 hours, but last general election was 4 hour wait,” typed the woman in front of me into her Blackberry. “At this rate, next general election will be whacked.” (Yes, shame on me for reading over her shoulder.)

Most people were cheerful, happy to be a part of something that seemed really, really important. “I’ve been in line for an hour,” yapped a woman into her phone. “But I’m not leaving–this election is important!”

Unfortunately a few did leave, unable or unwilling to wait in line for so long. One older person collapsed, requiring a 911 call and an ambulance.

Clearly, the electorate is in a mood. From gas prices, to the housing collapse, to the recession, to Iraq–people are sick and tired of being sick and tired, and they’re not going to take it anymore.

I have a feeling this angst will translate primarily into Obama votes. We will see tonight–polls in Virginia close at 7 PM.

The Clinton campaign knows it’s in trouble–setting up Ohio and Texas in March as “must win” states in the face of a string of losses on Super Tuesday and beyond.

This is a terrible strategy, and I have doubts she’ll even make it to March. The string of defeats in state after state between now and March–Obama is expected to have blowout victories in the Potomac region today and has won every other state voting since Super Tuesday–threatens to create a snowball momentum effect that may be impossible to cancel out by the time March rolls around. It’s not just the delegate count (though many Clinton super-delegates are now wavering because of the Obama snowball)–it’s also the demoralization of troops, the drying up of fundraising, and the incessant drumbeats of impending death from the media. Obama is already bringing in twice as much money per week as Clinton, choking off her ability to respond.

Oh well..this former Hillary supporter is off to vote for Obama in the Virginia primary. She just didn’t close the sale for me.

I’ll be voting for Obama in Virginia’s primary tomorrow because:

And most of all: