Here's this afternoon's Gallup tracking poll:

This is a three-day rolling poll with 1250 likely Democratic voters.

PRINCETON, NJ -- The increase in support for Hillary Clinton at the national level that Gallup saw in interviewing conducted Sunday and Monday continued in interviewing Tuesday night. Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted Feb. 3-5 now includes three consecutive days in which Clinton has done well, giving her a 13-percentage point lead over Barack Obama, 52% to 39%.

Democratic preferences in Tuesday night's interviews -- mostly conducted before Super Tuesday election results were known -- were similar to Sunday and Monday night's interviews. Gallup Poll Daily tracking will not begin to reflect the impact of Tuesday's voting on national Democratic preferences until tomorrow.

Obama had been competitive with Clinton in interviews conducted Feb. 2 (as well as earlier last week), but those interviews have now dropped out of Gallup's continuous three-day rolling average reporting.

Democrats need to stop the electability fairy tales and focus on the only electability question that matters: the Electoral College votes.

Here's the breakdown for all of the primaries to date.

Total votes:
CLINTON: 8,886,712
OBAMA: 7,132,964

Percentage:
CLINTON: 55.5%
OBAMA: 45.4%

Electoral votes from states won (270 needed):
CLINTON: 201
OBAMA: 125

NOTES: Does not include raw votes from IA, NV, AK. Counts all Michigan "uncommitted" votes as Obama votes.

The situation comes into greater clarity when you back out the rock solid Republican states that would never cast their electoral college votes for a Democrat:

Electoral votes from states won (270 needed):
CLINTON: 198
OBAMA: 68

NOTES:

The Republican states and electoral college votes irrelevant to Democratic Presidential chances are:

Georgia    15
Alabama    9
South Carolina    8
Oklahoma    7
Kansas    6
Utah    5
Idaho    4
North Dakota    3
Alaska    3

The relevant Clinton states and electoral college votes are:

California    55
New York    31
Florida    27
Michigan    17
New Jersey    15
Massachusetts    12
Tennessee    11
Arizona    10
Arkansas    6
Nevada    5
New Mexico    5
New Hampshire    4

The relevant Obama states and electoral college votes are:

Illinois    21
Missouri    11
Minnesota    10
Colorado    9
Connecticut    7
Iowa    7
Delaware    3

Discuss amongst yourselves:

Here are some tidbits from the Florida Exit polls. Discuss amongst yourselves.

BTW, I believe more Democratic votes were cast today than Iowa, NH, Nevada, and SC combined. Discuss amongst yourselves:

Florida has 27 electoral college votes, the fourth largest in the country and 10% of the electoral college votes necessary to elect a Democratic president. Discuss amongst yourselves:

Women (59% of voters):
Clinton 55%
Obama 29%
Edwards 13%

Men (41% of voters):
Clinton 42%
Obama 35%
Edwards 20%

---------------

White (67% of voters):
Clinton 53%
Obama 22%
Edwards 22%

Latino (12% of voters):
Clinton 59%
Obama 30%
Edwards 7%

African American (19% of voters):
Clinton 27%
Obama 70%
Edwards 1%

------------

Democrats (79% of voters):
Clinton 53%
Obama 33%
Edwards 12%

Independents (17% of voters):
Clinton 42%
Obama 28%
Edwards 27%

Republicans (4% of voters):
Clinton 24%
Obama 26%
Edwards 34%

The question is whether Rezko did a $925,000 favor for Obama by paying for part of his home? A picture is worth a thousand words, so take a look at this NBC news feature with extensive photos of the property:

1) As you can clearly see from the overhead photos in the video, this was clearly NOT an "adjacent" piece of property. This was quite obviously the yard for the Obama house. The only access to the Rezko property is from Obama's parcel. The intent here was clearly for Rezko to purchase the land and continue making it available for the exclusive use of the Obama family. A $925,000 favor to a sitting US Senator.

2) Why did Obama buy a strip of "Rezko" land and build a fence? Simple. Obama knew that eventually somebody would photograph the property and the sham nature of the arrangement would be instantly obvious. Thus, he had to do something to give the appearance of Rezko's land actually being separate from the Obama house. Thus, building a fence (with a gate providing the only access). Obviously, the Rezko property was never intended to be a separate piece of land and a fence on the original lot line would have been absurd. Pause the video and note the SUV parked on Obama's driveway immediate to the rigth of the fence (the new lot line). This indicates that, initially, Obama's driveway was actually sited on "Rezko's" piece of the property...a strong indication that Rezko intended the use of the land as a gift to Obama. To even site a plausible fence required transfering part of "Rezko's" land to Obama, even though Obama already had full use of, and was maintaining "Rezko's land.

3) Rezko has since transfered title to his land to his attorney. Is this one of the land transactions that landed Rezko in jail yesterday?

Why is this important? Obama has long suggested that voters should ignore his lack of experience and consider only his superior "judgement". The entire rationale for his qualification to be President is his "judgement". Does this sham property purchase, regardless of its legality, seem like good "judgement" to you?

One of the themes of the presidential race is the choice between flashy rhetoric we often hear from politicians and real work to make the lives of real Americans better. Today, Hillary Clinton received the endorsement of 2.9 million nurses who work everyday to improve the lives of real Americans, the American Nurses Association:

THE AMERICAN NURSES ASSOCIATION ENDORSES
SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY)

SILVER SPRING, MD -The Clinton Campaign today announced the endorsement of the American Nurses Association (ANA). The ANA represents the interests of the nation's 2.9 million registered nurses.

Their endorsement was not based on the feel-good rhetoric of conventional polticians, but on Hillary Clinton's obvious and real leadership on heath care issues -- a life time of commitment that includes rural health initiatives in Arkansas, enacting S-CHIP which provides health care coverage for millions of children, passing legislation that extends VA health care to millions of National Guard members, and the most impressive plan for true universal health care:

"Too many Americans must do without high quality health care, and this country deserves a president that will make health system reform a priority," said ANA President Rebecca M. Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR. "Senator Clinton has shown a commitment to implementing real change in our health care system to ensure high quality, affordable and accessible care. She has also recognized the importance of educating, recruiting and retaining, RNs, and the need to improve the nurse's work environment which includes addressing safe and appropriate staffing. America's 2.9 million registered nurses represent the largest group of health care professionals. We have long advocated for the critically needed reforms vital to the improvement of health care and will use our power in the voting booth to make health care a priority."

Hillary welcomed the endorsement and honored the work that 2.9 million registered nurses do, every day, every night. She went on to reaffirm her commitment to quality affordable health care for every American instead of the timid health care plans of candidates from both parties:

"I am honored to have the support of the American Nurses Association," said Clinton. "We owe nurses a great debt of gratitude for the critical role they play every day in providing quality care. As President, I will continue to support efforts to attract and retain qualified nurses, especially in rural and urban areas, and to improve working conditions. I look forward to working with America's nurses to deliver affordable, quality health care to every American."

Hillary's acceptance touched on some of the real-world track record she has done on behalf of nurses. It's clear that her support of registered nurses extends beyond the realm of fairy tails and campaign speeches:

Hillary has a history of working for America's nurses. In the Senate, Hillary introduced the Nursing Education and Quality of Care Act, which would expand the number of programs that address nursing faculty shortages and increase the supply of nurses in rural areas. As part of the Nurse Reinvestment Act, she helped create grants that expanded nurse Magnet hospitals. Hillary also supported increased funding for both Title VII and Title VIII, which help to address the higher education needs of nurses and nursing faculty. Finally, she has supported programs to attract nurses to the field, including efforts to improve the quality of the working environment for nurses.

Finally, Hillary touched on the ground-breaking nature of her plan for true universal health care...a plan that turns its back on the politics of the 1960s and looks to a brighter health care future for all Americans in the 21st century.

Hillary's American Health Choices Plan will cover all Americans and improve health care by providing consumers new choices, lowering costs and improving quality. Under Hillary's plan, Americans who like the insurance they have can keep it and stay with their doctor. But Americans who don't like the coverage they have will be able to pick from the same set of plans Members of Congress choose for themselves. Under Hillary's plan, insurance companies won't be able to deny people coverage for a pre-existing condition and tax credits will ensure that working families never have to pay more than a limited percentage of their income for quality health care. People who change jobs will be able to keep their health care.

Here are the seeds of the close relationship between ultra-liberal Senator Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama:

OK, I know I'm supposed to add some commentary about this article, but honestly, I'm speechless. I don't know what to make of these quotes from Rep. James Clyburn, the godfather of African American politics in South Carolina. I'm reaching for the reset button on my brain.

So, I'll just post a paragraph or two, given you a link to the entire article, and let you guys discuss amongst yourselves:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/20 08/01/james_clyburn_undeclared_not_u.htm l

The notorious Horton came up [in his conversation last night with Bill Clinton], Clyburn said, after Clinton complained about South Carolina Democratic bigwig Dick Harpootlian comparing the ex-prez to Lee Atwater, the GOP operative who made Willie Horton a household name. (Horton, for any readers who don't remember, was a convicted murderer who committed violent crime while on a Dukakis-endorsed weekend furlough from a Massachusetts prison.)

Clyburn said Clinton was "not very happy with that" comparison, but he assured Clyburn he wouldn't be retaliating. "It will be behind us," Clyburn said Clinton told him.

And then this:

Clyburn also said he disagrees with Bill Clinton's assessment that Obama will win the black vote in South Carolina while his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, will win the majority of votes cast by women in the state. In fact, while he isn't about to say whom he personally plans to vote for on Saturday, Clyburn said he hasn't found one black leader yet in South Carolina who is declared for Obama.

Two of those leaders are in the family. His maternal cousin, Leon Howard, who is chairman of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, and paternal cousin, Bill Clyburn, a member of the black caucus, are both supporting John Edwards. Clyburn said he knows of three black state senators supporting Clinton. But none that he has found are supporting Obama.

Clyburn said he doesn't really see Obama as the "black candidate" polls are making him out to be. If anything, Clyburn argued, Obama is the white candidate.

snip

Clyburn predicted the Democratic primary on Saturday will be "a lot tighter" than the polls suggest, some of which have Obama leading Clinton by as much as 17 percentage points.