Good News and Bad News

Good news and bad news in Chicago this morning. The good news is that it's warming up from below zero. The bad news is that this means it's warm enough to snow, and we're getting more of it. Obama wins big this weekend. At the polls, racking up the state of Washington, Louisiana, Nebraska, Maine and the US Virgin Islands to boot. But coming up in the March (and April) primaries can he win the big Blue States needed to win the presidency in the general election, where Hillary currently leads?

Obama beats out Bill for a Grammy, a category where Hillary unfortunately can't compete, with this footnote, helpfully noted by Reuters:

No Republican politician has won the category since Everett Dirksen, an Illinois congressman and senator, in 1968.

I would say for the record, Mitt Romney has a great speaking voice. Who knows what the future will hold?

Hillary retires one campaign manager and hires another, while Barack's controversial spiritual mentor retires. But will the Barackstardom last? Chicago Tribune Sunday:

Even when Sen. Barack Obama was the presidential candidate of the open collar, he was never the blue-collar one.

And these days, now that he rarely appears in public without a suit and tie, Obama is coming to grips with an undeniable trend: People with college degrees and higher incomes tend to choose him, while working-class voters, at least white ones, are more likely to favor Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

This is by no means a new divide within the Democratic Party, whose economically diverse population includes Hollywood glitterati, union workers and every pay grade in between. (Think Kendall-Jackson meets Anheuser-Busch.)

Then there's this NY Times headline, "Catholic Vote Is Harbinger of Success for Clinton":

Ms. Nolan recalled, as a girl, going on a field trip in Upper Manhattan to the shrine of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini — an immigrant nun from Italy who in the late 19th century built 67 orphanages, hospitals and schools, amassing and wielding power against a stubborn hierarchy. She was the first American to be canonized a saint.

The destination was the shrine where an effigy of the saint, along with some of her remains, are displayed under glass beneath the altar. “When you’re a fourth grader coming from Queens and you see that — well, you talk about female role models,” Ms. Nolan said. “Not that I’m putting Hillary Clinton in that category.”

(God forbid) The headline seems at odds with the story:

“I voted for Obama, but it was mostly an anti-Hillary vote,” said Bill Duffy, a police officer who was picking up his children from a parochial school in the northwest Bronx. “I mean, Obama’s got some good things about him, but the experience is a question. So I might end up with McCain.”

This also from the NY Times this weekend. Catholics may still be a significant voting bloc, but they've been dispersed:

The shifting demographics driving the church closings are most pronounced in the mid-Atlantic states, the upper Midwest and in old industrial hubs throughout the Northeast, where the Catholic immigrants who once made up a significant portion of the work force have decamped for the South and West since the manufacturing sector began its collapse in the 1970s.

Maybe Larry Kudlow's right.

P.S. More Rezko with an Obama mention, (the gift that keeps on giving for Hillary). Sun Times, "My Life as an FBI Mole":

But sources said that, for more than two years when he was giving information to agents, Thomas provided a fly-on-the-wall look inside Rezko's real estate operations and his desperate attempts to keep his projects afloat.

Sources said Thomas also logged frequent visits to Rezko from Gov. Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Blagojevich and Obama were among the many politicians for whom Rezko raised campaign cash. Neither has been charged with any wrongdoing.

UPDATE: Dennis Byrne with a healthy perspective. Bill Kristol, "Obama's Path to Victory":

Next comes March 4, when Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island vote. Clinton’s campaign believes Ohio and Texas will constitute her firewall. Will it hold?

I suspect not. Obama will have momentum. He will likely have more money than Clinton for advertising. His ballot performance among Hispanics and working-class whites has generally been improving as the primary season has gone on. He intends to push a more robust economic message that could help him further narrow the gap among lower-income voters. And an interesting regression analysis at the Daily Kos Web site (poblano.dailykos.com) of the determinants of the Democratic vote so far, applied to the demographics of the Ohio electorate, suggests that Obama has a better chance than is generally realized in Ohio.

The Dems may rid us of Hillary and Bill. Now that's good news for the country. For once, the Dems may offer us some good news instead of doom and gloom. Whether they can ever govern and keep us safe is another matter.

UPDATE: Oh, and this snippet--bleeding heart liberals' hearts bleed...for themselves. Naturally. It's that sense of entitlement.

UPDATE: Sun Times, "How did Hillary win key city wards?":

Cook County's Democratic ward bosses said they were backing Barack Obama for president and Northwest Side Ald. Tom Allen (38th) for state's attorney.

And yet many of them failed to deliver their wards for either candidate.

Does that mean the ward bosses have lost their power to carry their wards?

Did they cut secret deals to back Hillary Clinton for president and Anita Alvarez for state's attorney?

Or was it just another "Year of the Woman," in which women and Hispanics voted their preferences instead of those of their ward bosses?

"A lot of women wanted to vote for Hillary Clinton," said mayoral brother John Daley, whose 11th Ward -- the ancestral home of the publicly pro-Obama Daley clan -- went for Clinton and Alvarez.

Once again--if Obama wins the Dem nomination, will women and blue collar voters turn out in big numbers for him?

Related posts: That was Then...Hillary is Now, Rezko on the Radar for Obama, Obama Girl GOTV Not, Obama Worship and Other Stories, Chicago's Subway Series, Obama Most Liberal, You Gotta See This, Mr. Rezko and Mr. Obama, Hillary's Latino Edge, Naomi Wolf on Fox, Hillary Crying Again, Pity Me Hillary