I watched There Will Be Blood this past Sunday. Simply the best movie I’ve seen since I watched Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth over a year ago, which is definitely saying something. As a film junkie who’s watched literally thousands and thousands of flicks, it’s not often that one leaves me awestruck. Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood did just that.

The first thing TWBB reminded of was Citizen Kane. Not just the plot itself, but also Daniel Day-Lewis’ career performance. It was so reminiscent of what Orson Welles accomplished in Kane. Then I started digging deeper.

TWBB is based on a book called Oil. Obviously, that is a topic that resonates now more than ever. For me, the word oil has become synonymous with greed, with power. And it appears that was the case long before any Bushes ever called the White House home. The movie, to me, is really about greed.

The parallels to this election are obvious as well. On one side you have the older mogul, hellbent on winning no matter the cost (Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview/Hillary Clinton). On the other side you have the young prophet, who possesses an uncanny ability to gather and rally people behind him (Paul Dano as Eli Sunday/Barack Obama). I won’t give away the end of the movie, but it was a bleaker outcome than I am hoping the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination race ends up being.

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“Michigan and Florida shouldn’t count for anything.” - Hillary Clinton

Those EXACT words came right out of her mouth not too long ago. Regardless, even if her Florida “win” — isn’t 0-0 in delegates actually a tie? — it does influence a few voters, she wasted a day on a state with no delegates. As the article linked below states, she may have partially squandered her biggest advantage — time.

(hat tip: Huffington Post)

First of, I want to remind all of our readers that the Florida Democratic Primary was, for all intents and purposes, a “spring training baseball game.” Stole that one from Keith Olberman, but it’s fitting. Florida was punished by the DNC for moving up its primary without permission, and lost all of its delegates as a result. Even though Hillary Clinton responded like she had just won the Indy 500, the contest put the “M” in meaningless.

The good news is that Barack Obama made encouraging progress among Florida voters after both his lopsided South Carolina victory (that was a real one) and his endorsement from the Kennedys. The amazing thing is that he swayed many voters without ever appearing in the state. We’ve all heard that once you’ve seen Barack Obama in person, you’re on board. Anyway, this bit from the Huffington Post bodes well for Obama, and shows that he has Big Mo:

Yet a closer look at the exit surveys shows some notably positive trends for Clinton’s chief rival, Sen. Barack Obama.

Despite losing the state overall by 17 points, Obama actually won more support than Clinton from voters who made up their minds in the last three days (46 percent to 38 percent), in the last week (39-31) and in the last month (47-40).

Clinton did defeat Obama among Floridians who decided on a candidate on the day of the primary. But overwhelmingly, Clinton’s support came from those who made up their minds over a month ago (63 percent to 27 percent), and from early voters who used absentee ballots (50-31). Floridians began receiving absentee ballots in late December.

According to the exit polls, those early deciders and early voters made up fully 59 percent of Florida’s Democratic electorate.

The results seem to indicate that Obama picked up significant momentum in Florida following his victories in Iowa and South Carolina, as well as his high-profile endorsements (49 percent of Florida voters said Ted Kennedy’s support was important to their decision).

If this is any indicator of things to come — and I think it is judging from what I’ve heard out of other states — Obama might not only do well in Colorado, but also in crucial states like Arizona, California and New Mexico. From the Denver Post:

The Democratic caucuses hold more potential for high drama in the presidential race, with Colorado voters split evenly between Barack Obama at 34 percent and Hillary Rodham Clinton at 32 percent — well within the poll’s 3.5 percentage-point margin of error. John Edwards was the choice of 17 percent of likely caucus-goers. Fourteen percent said they were still undecided.

Obama’s strength in Colorado may come from the fact that the state’s Democrats see the desire for change as a driving issue in the campaign. The poll showed 51 percent of Democrats see change as more important than experience — and the ability to bring change is a trait they overwhelmingly associate with the Illinois senator

Seriously, just when I thought Hillary Clinton couldn’t possibly be any faker, I read this. From The Hill:

In one instance Clinton appeared to gauge Obama’s response before showing her own.

When Bush warned the Iranian government that “America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf” Obama jumped up to applaud. Clinton leaned across Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), seated to her left, to look in Obama’s direction before slowly standing.

Doesn’t that sound like something a sixteen-year-old cheerleader would do at a high school talent show? Pathetic. I have to find that video clip…

My favorite line of Barack Obama’s response to President Bush’s State of the Union address was, “A politics that puts Wall Street ahead of Main Street.” Check his response out for yourself…

Don’t tell us Obamaites we can’t win this thing! From Wired:

Senator Barack Obama’s campaign has raised more than $4 million online over the past couple of days, said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe in a campaign memo released on Monday.

“Our strong donor base provides us sustainability, allowing us to be financially competitive — if not superior — heading into the rest of February and March,” he wrote in the memo. “In the last two and a half days, we have raised over $4 million online alone.”