So, I'll make this short and sweet. If you go over to ABC News you'll see their banner headline this morning. ABC's count differs from many other media counts, but they are the first to have Obama passing Clinton and that's a big deal.

ABC shows Obama leads Clinton now, 267-265.

From the Politico:

Reid said he met Wednesday with all of the Senate committee chairman, and that one chairman told him  he was going to make an endorsement decision "soon."

When asked in the hallway if he was the committee chairman in question, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden  delivered an emphatic "no."

Could Sen. Clinton win Maryland in a general election? Everyone talks of PA as a swing state, but the last time a Republican presidential candidate won Maryland was the same year as Pennsylvania, 1988.

If any traditional Democratic state is to flip should the Democrats misguidedly nominate Hillary Clinton in Denver, Maryland is it. Few, if any, states have as sizeable a population of African-Americans and is as solidly a blue state.

Obama needs approximately 96 superdelegates between now and the beginning of June to allow Montana and South Dakota to push him over the top on the night of June 3rd.

For the moment that first network splashes across it's screen - BARACK OBAMA WINS THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION - perceptions change forever.

Which is why Obama must work the remaining superdelegates hard, ensuring that he has enough overall delegates to reach the requisite number of 2025 on the final night of the primaries, June 3rd.

More analysis after the fold.

There's been a lot of talk today about who we WON'T vote for in this election. Which is why I must remind everyone of the stakes.

I, John Sidney McCain III, do solemnly swear

If at noon on January 20th 2009, those are the words we hear emanating from the steps of the United States Capitol, with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney standing by with Cheshire cat grins, the impact will be devastating.

WE ALL LOSE.

It's 300 days until Inauguration Day.
YOUR vote November 4th determines who will fill this picture.

I want Senator Obama to go negative.

I want Senator Obama to pick up the "kitchen sink" and throw it directly back at Senator Clinton.

I want Senator Obama to make this campaign about restoring integrity and leadership to the White House - Qualities that has been missing through successive Presidential Administrations, Republican and Democratic.

After the press and Senator Obama's opponents strongly criticized him over his supposed Pakistan "gaffe" during the summer, Senator Clinton acknowledged she agrees with Obama's original position during last night's opening exchange.

File it under the "big surprise" category. I guess now we know why the Bush Administration has threatened to veto the federal hate crimes bill!

Philip Anderton Cooney, a sophomore at Georgetown University, was charged September 27th in connection with the anti-gay assault of a fellow Georgetown student.

From the Washington Blade:

Cooney is the son of Philip A. Cooney, who served for four years as chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The senior Cooney resigned from his White House post in June 2005 after the New York Times reported that he had made changes in government reports on climate change. Critics said the changes were intended to downplay potential evidence of global warming.

More after the jump...

The 5,000 member High Point Church in Arlington, TX canceled a memorial service for a Navy veteran 24 hours before the service was to begin upon discovering the deceased was gay.  High Point was founded by Gary Simmons and his wife, April, brother to popular Christian televangelist and author Joel Osteen.  

Simons told the Associated Press:

"We did decline to host the service — not based on hatred, not based on discrimination, but based on principle. Had we known it on the day they first spoke about it — yes, we would have declined then. It's not that we didn't love the family."

Of course not.  Right.

With John McCain now officially in the presidential race, the Senator has unveiled his new website, www.johnmccain.com.  The design of which can best be described as Darth Vader meets "The Thin Red Line."  Not only is his new logo devoid of any color, but many of the pictures on the homepage are in black and white.  Which begs the question, what on earth was the Senator thinking?  He is running a campaign for President, not a Calvin Klein ad campaign.