Obama surge as Clinton melts

Obama's gonna blow out Hillary Clinton again Tuesday, in Wisconsin and Hawaii. Not sure what Clinton's strategy for Wisconsin was--she parachuted in yesterday, after Obama's been camped out in the state since Tuesday.

Now, it looks like she's leaving a day ahead of schedule, ditching out Monday--the internal polls must show she has no shot at winning or even keeping it close.

Even worse, snowstorms are hitting today in Wisconsin--wonder if the Obama campaign took the long-range weather forecast into account? Characteristically, Clinton's campaign originally claimed she was leaving Monday to avoid the storms (ha! they must think reporters don't have access to weather forecasts). Oddly, it also said her daughter and husband would stay in the state.

Here are some characteristic items about Obama as he campaigns in the Badger state.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Racine rallies around Obama:

And Obama also chastised a man who asked him his views on Native Americans and about how the country has been "screwed" by the NAFTA trade agreement.

"Ask one question and do it in a more polite manner," Obama said.

AP, via Wisconsin State Journal:

Barack Obama is wearing a wristband in memory of a soldier killed in Iraq, given to him by a mother who said she wants the Democratic presidential candidate to keep others from dying.

Tracy Jopek of Merrill, Wis., gave Obama the bracelet at a rally Friday night in Green Bay, and Obama was still wearing it Saturday as he campaigned across the state before Tuesday's primary.

The bracelet has her son's name, Sgt. Ryan David Jopek, and the date the 20-year-old was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb, Aug. 2, 2006. "All gave some - He gave all," it says.

"She gave me this wristband, which I'm very grateful for," Obama told the Green Bay audience, halting and lowering his voice from his normally upbeat presentation. "I meet mothers and family members all over the country who are still mourning their children but are also thinking about the young men and women who are still over there and wondering when it will end."

Obama has not made a point of showing it to reporters or others on the campaign trail. A campaign staffer described it as black metal band with silver lettering.

Obama a Hit in Japanese Town, AP

Barack Obama has never been to this port town on Japan's snowy west coast, and residents only know him from news reports on his faraway campaign for the U.S. presidency.

No matter, Obama the town is nuts about Obama the man.

Obama's name graces posters hung in the main hotel. Headbands and T-shirts with drawings of the candidate's face will be available soon. Local confectioners are designing Japanese-style sweet bean cakes with Obama's portrait on them.

Policy doesn't seem to matter much either to this Obama, which is well-known in Japan for its lacquerware. Instead, the overriding issue is simple: Obama's name.

"Obama gives good speeches and has a good voice, so I want him to do well. And, of course, we share the same name," said Seiji Fujiwara, a hotel executive and leader of a local support group established earlier this month for the Illinois senator. ...

Supporters of Obama here, like their counterparts in the U.S., are now looking forward to the March 4 Democratic primary contests in delegate-rich Texas and Ohio.

The 30-member support group plans to put on headbands and T-shirts with portraits of Obama to watch the results on television together, said Fujiwara. They plan to sell Obama sweets and chopsticks — once they get clearance from the candidate.

Susan Lampert Smith in the Wisconsin State Journal, Time passing by Clinton generation

The cute girl in the YouTube video has a crush on Obama.

I know how she feels. I've had a crush on Bill Clinton. ...

Clinton didn 't seem bothered by the fact that Barack Obama outdrew him nearly 10-to-1 at the jam-packed Kohl Center two days before.

Clinton delivered his valentine to Hillary, telling the students that his wife started changing the world back when she was their age and a Yale law student. He talked about how America 's status had gone to the dogs since he left office.

He talked and he talked, for over an hour.

By contrast, the Obama event had been quick-boom-bang. There was the cool celebrity video by the Black Eyed Peas on the big screen, a quick introduction by Gov. Jim Doyle, and a trademark Obama speech, short on details, long on inspiration.

He talked about the young crowd, not to them: It's your time, seize the moment.

Remember 1992, when the Clintons were the cool young people?

Reagan wordsmith Peggy Noonan's Confidence or Derangement?, Confidence or Derangement? in the Wall Street Journal

She has also taken to raising boxing gloves and waving them triumphantly from the podium. Is this a fruitful way to go? It's her way, bluster and combat. People do what they know how to do.

A better way might be honesty. I say this in the sense that an old Richard Nixon hand used it when he said, "Nixon doesn't always think honesty is the best policy, but he does think it's a policy." He saw it as a strategic gambit, to be used like any other.

But imagine if she tried honesty and humility. When everyone in America knows you're in a dreadful position, admit you're in a dreadful position. Don't lie about it and make them roll their eyes, tell the truth and make them blink.

As in: "Look, let's be frank. A lot of politics is spin, for reasons we can all write books about. I'm as guilty as anyone else. But right now I'm in the fight of my life, and right now I'm not winning. I'm up against an opponent who's classy and accomplished and who has captured the public imagination. I've had some trouble doing that. I'm not one of those people you think of when you hear a phrase like 'the romance of history.' But I think I bring some things to the table that I haven't quite managed to explain. I think I've got a case to be made that I haven't quite succeeded in making. And I'm going to ask you for one more try. Will you listen? And if I convince you, will you help me? Because I need your help."

Could Mrs. Clinton do something like this? I doubt it. She'd think it concedes too much and would look weak. But maybe it would show an emotional suppleness, and a characterological ability to see things as they are, which is always nice in a president.

Frank Rich in the Times, The Grand Old White Party Confronts Obama

As some Republicans drift away in a McCain-Obama race, who fills the vacuum? Among the white guys flanking Mr. McCain at his victory celebration on Tuesday, revealingly enough, was the once-golden George Allen, the Virginia Republican who lost his Senate seat and presidential hopes in 2006 after being caught on YouTube calling a young Indian-American Democratic campaign worker “macaca.”

In that incident, Mr. Allen added insult to injury by also telling the young man, “Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.” As election results confirmed both in 2006 and last week, it is Mr. Allen who is the foreigner in 21st century America, Mr. Allen who is in the minority in the real world of Virginia. A national rout in 2008 just may be that Republican Party’s last stand.