Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post has graded all the presidential candidates economic stimulus plans, and Barack Obama received the only “A” on either side. In fact, the only “B” was given to John Edwards. With the nation focused on the economy, this is key. Especially considering Republican frontrunner John McCain (”D-plus”) has admitted that he doesn’t know much about the economy. Check it out:

Barack Obama: A-minus. I criticized his previous tax plan, but Obama is at the head of the class with an intelligently designed, $120 billion stimulus plan. He would speed a $250 tax credit to most workers, followed by another $250, triggered automatically, if the economy continues on its sour path. Obama would direct a similar rebate to low- and middle-income seniors, who are also apt to spend and could get checks quickly. One demerit: Obama omits any increase in food stamp benefits, which Moody’s estimates would have the greatest bang for the buck, $1.73 for every dollar spent.

John Edwards: B-minus. Edwards gets points for handing in his paper early — in December, he issued a $25 billion stimulus proposal (plus $75 billion more if needed), including important help to states to avoid cutting Medicaid rolls. But like Hillary Clinton (see below), he would spend too much money on programs — investing in “green collar” jobs, for instance — with too long a lag time to make them an effective stimulus. Edwards’s grade goes down because he also hasn’t explained how the $75 billion would be spent.

Hillary Clinton: C-plus. Clinton, too, raised the issue early, then turned in a faulty first draft with a $70 billion stimulus plan that didn’t provide much immediate stimulation. It included a $25 billion increase in the program to help low-income Americans with heating costs — an excessive amount (the current program is under $3 billion) that probably wouldn’t kick in until next winter. Even worse was her housing plan, including a five-year freeze on subprime mortgage rates that could produce higher interest rates and reduce liquidity.

Four days later, Clinton said she would immediately implement a $40 billion tax rebate plan she had put in reserve in her first draft. Fine, but overall, the Obama plan devotes a far greater percentage to spending that is more likely to jump-start the economy.

From Reuters:

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama holds a double-digit lead on rival Hillary Clinton three days before South Carolina’s presidential primary, aided by a huge edge among black voters, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Obama leads Clinton 43 percent to 25 percent in the rolling tracking poll, with John Edwards a distant third at 15 percent heading into Saturday’s contest. The poll has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

He was up by 16 percent yesterday, so his lead seems to be growing daily. Let’s not relent, though — this needs to be a behind-the-woodshed beatdown heading into Super Duper Tuesday.

“How do we get along? We can’t stand each other.”

– John Edwards, on the Late Show with David Letterman, when asked if the three leading Democratic presidential candidates get along with each other.

(hat tip: Political Wire)

Barack Obama now leads Hillary Clinton by 16 percent in South Carolina, and is just as dominate among women as he is men. In fact, John Edwards is closer to HRC than she is to Obama. Obama wins black voters (70 percent!), every age group under 65, Independents and Republicans as well. Go see the brand spankin’ new Public Policy Polling poll for yourself.

(By the way, this poll proves that John Edwards can help Obama win in the South and Midwest on Super Tuesday, where Edwards does very well with white voters. And I don’t think he’ll steal many anti-Clinton votes elsewhere. As we saw in Nevada and New Hampshire, Edwards doesn’t do very well outside of the two above-mentioned regions.)

After watching the post-debate edition of Anderson Cooper 360, it’s clear to me that the general consensus of the panel was that Barack Obama was tonight’s South Carolina debate’s big winner. By all accounts, he was stoic, strong and witty as he leveled damaging attacks on both Hillary Clinton and hubby Bill.

TIME magazine’s Mark Halpren - Gave Obama an “A-” tonight, his highest grade. He added that “in the room, Obama was clearly the favorite.” That right there shows how well he is doing in the state itself.

CNN’s Candy Crowley - Pointed out that Obama looked tough, and definitely came out and accomplished what he needed to in “standing up not just to Hillary Clinton, but Bill.” Personally, I loved Obama’s comment “I can’t tell who I’m running against sometimes.” (here’s the video clip for that brilliant barb)

I’ll also throw in MSNBC‘s Chuck Todd, who thought Obama came out ahead, despite being consistently attacked:

BTW, Obama was particularly strong in the second part of the debate. His answers on religion and his national security rebuttal to Clinton were very good. The strong second half performance will blunt any potential negative backlash he received in the first part…

But the center of attention for this debate was Obama and ultimately, that’s probably a good thing for the South Carolina frontrunner.

• Andrew Sullivan — who I’ve started to read quit a bit more recently — not only points out similarities between George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton, but also digs up a video that shows that the Bush camp actually likes HRC and trusts her with its legacy. The article even goes as far as to use words like “Rovian” and “sleaze” to describe the Clintons. In my opinion, getting compared to Karl Rove is about as bad as it gets. He’s a brilliant man, but he’s also the scum of the earth.

• A look at if Hillary’s young women supporters are old enough to truly remember what went down the last time the Clintons lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

• Slate wonders “what on earth we are doing when we make the Clinton family drama—yet again—a central part of our own politics?”

• Donklephant takes a look at the Clintons getting exposed on Meet the Press, and looks at the condescending nature of Hillary’s attack on Barack Obama over his comments about Ronald Reagan.

• Meet Obama’s speech writer, Jon Favreau, who says writing for a speaker and writer of Obama’s caliber is like being “Ted Williams’s batting coach.”

• The Huffington Post says that Obama may face “white resistance” in Southern states. This is exactly the reason why I think it is a good thing for Obama that John Edwards is staying in this race.

• House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn — “one of the most powerful African-Americans in Congress” — says that Bill Clinton needs to “chill a little bit.”

• The false Muslim e-mail attacks and rumors have spread so rampantly that Obama has been forced to put out mailers confirming his Christian faith in South Carolina. Don’t worry; Obama is still a very big believer in the separation of church and state.

More to come after the big debate…

Barack Obama came up just a little bit short in his bid to upset Hillary Clinton in Nevada, a state in which she has long been heavily favored. The silver lining, however, is that Obama won a staggering 83 percent of black voters. Considering that blacks made up about 15 percent of Democratic voters, yeah, this is a huge moral victory. Why? Because that is the biggest turnout for black voters yet. This isn’t a poll — it’s solid evidence that black voters now prefer Obama to Hillary

Remember,  half of South Carolina’s Democrats are black. The South Carolina primary is still a week away, but recent polls showed that Obama is carrying a nine-point lead there. Also, the timing couldn’t be much better. With Martin Luther King Jr. day taking place Monday, I expect Obama to channel MLK’s spirit and create that same kind of enthusiasm in the South. Actually, it appears the channeling has already begun:

“Sometimes we’ve got that thing in our heads that says we cannot do something,” he said as his largely black audience shouted “Yes!” in response. “We have been told for so long it’s not possible. We’ve got to wait for somebody else to tell us it’s possible before we decide it’s possible. But let me tell you, I’m here to say it’s possible. We’re doing it right now. Don’t tell me I can’t do something!” - Barack Obama, Jan. 18

Ironically enough, I spent my morning at a funeral held at a mostly black church that I’ve been to on a few occasions. Let me tell you, this “preaching to the choir” strategy is going to work with flying colors in S.C. There’s just no way a Hillary Clinton can pull that off either. She may try, though. If we’ve learned anything in 15 years of knowing the Clintons, it’s that there is absolutely nothing they won’t do to get a win.

Hillary won fairly big among women In Nevada, but nationally the gap isn’t wide at all. Black women actually favor Obama by 11 percent, and black voters favor him by 28 perecent, a 52-point swing (Clinton once led in that category by 24 percent).

All in all, thing are looking very good for Obama in South Carolina. Especially with John Edwards’ campaign now on life support.

The Nevada Democratic caucuses have begun. Barack Obama is up early 48 percent to 46, but Hillary Clinton once led by 25 points in this state, so it will be tough. Regardless, Obama has shown that he’s a fighter and he will at the very least make a strong showing heading into South Carolina, a state I expect him to win.

More thoughts later in the day…