To all of you who live in New Jersey (my birth state!) or any of the other lucky SuperDuper states today, I wish I could go vote with you today!ДЄlabama, alaska, arizona, arkansas, california, colorado, connecticut, delaware, georgia, illinois, kansas, massachusetts, minnesota, missouri, new jersey, new mexico, new york, north dakota, oklahoma, tennessee and utah. plenty of other bloggers have plenty of eloquent things to say today. And hot damn, can he speak.ДЄnyhow, last week I joined the Ravelry Knitters for Obama group (who, by the way, are having a raffle) and have finally decided to show you all my stripes after many months of resisting talking about the primaries on this here knitblog. Damn, I love this guy!!! His campaign video makes me cry! He's such a wonderful speaker, and policy differences aside, after listening to the Shrub's pathetic attempts at complete sentences for the last eight years, we deserve a president who can speak. That would be really amazing.Д«ut really, what I'm hoping for is that Barack Obama sweeps the country off its feet. I considered saying something to the Fred '08 folks.Д«ut I was afraid that the result might be that I wouldn't get any of their e-mails.Д«etter to see them three times, I guess, than not at all.Here in my laggardly home state, we won't be able to vote in a primary until May, so I have been half-hoping that today's contest would be an even split, keeping the Democratic bid wide open long enough for us to actually play a role in the decision for a change. The problem was that it sent me three copies of each message, including the final one that said he was bowing out. It's not that his campaign sent noticeably more electronic missives than most of the others, though it sent plenty. If he can't win there, potential supporters elsewhere might conclude that a vote for him is wasted.ДЄ trivial personal note on the exit of Thompson from the race: It means my e-mail box will be considerably less cluttered. He needs to show that he can expand his support beyond evangelical Christians.ДЇlorida has become for him what South Carolina was to former Tennessee Sen. Not so Huckabee, who hasn't won anywhere except in Iowa on Jan. With their recent victories, McCain and Romney probably can survive with a merely respectable showing there. One likely reason: Clinton leads handily in the polls. Hence the Obama campaign has downplayed the significance of Florida, even while running ads there. That's true even among the Democrats, even though the party has - at least for now - stripped Florida of its delegates because it moved up its primary. More important, the victor will be seen as one going into Feb. 5 playing field.ДЇlorida, too, is winner-take-all for the GOP. Giuliani has a chance in all of them, especially New York.Д«ut if there is any lesson of the campaign so far, it's that it's risky to use 'as things stand now' to project future trends.ДЇor both parties, but especially the Republicans, Tuesday's primaries in Florida could re-tilt the Feb. That is, the winner of those states' GOP primaries gets all of their nominating convention delegates. Yet another reason is that four primaries that day - in Giuliani's home state of New York as well as in New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware - are 'winner-take-all.'

So McCain can't count as much as he has on independents to swell his support. In many states, only registered Republicans may vote. Neither political party came out of Super-duper Tuesday with a clear nominee, but SaturdayвЂ™s caucuses and primary in four states could move them closer. Click here to read coverage by media across the country. That, despite Giuliani's dismal showing in early contests, is one reason why it's too early to count him out.ДЄnother is that on Super-Duper Tuesday, McCain will have a problem similar to Obama's. A record number of voters cast their ballots in TuesdayвЂ™s primaries and caucuses in 24 states.

John McCain, is on the rebound in both categories.ДЇormer New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is second only to Romney in money and likely his equal in organizing. The Lazarus of the GOP field, Arizona's Sen. Mike Huckabee has little money and is just beginning to muster his troops. Mitt Romney has lots of money - much of it his own - and a reasonably strong organization. Once again, this gives an advantage to candidates with money and organization.ДЇormer Massachusetts Gov. Consider: Only 78 GOP delegates will have been picked so far. The fallout of Tsunami Tuesday likely will be even more tidal wave-like on the Republicans. Thus, Obama won't get the lift he got from independents in earlier states. In many Super-Duper Tuesday showdowns, only registered Democrats can vote.

Obama will lack one advantage he had earlier. The biggest prize, of course, will be California, where Clinton still leads in the polls, but not by as much as she did two months ago.

Superduper tuesday