March 4 Voting: Early Predictions

I'll quickly add to the dearth of educated guesses concerning today's set of primary and caucus voting:
• Hillary Clinton will find a reason or two to stay in the race, regardless of her performance in Ohio and Texas. Even if Obama takes both states, I don't see this race ending before Pennsylvania unless HRC is absolutely blown out today.

• Obama will not score his knockout; the recent swing in momentum toward Clinton (as witnessed in a number of recent polls and surveys) will keep Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island close, with HRC scoring at least one win in the big delegate states of Texas and Ohio.

• The Dallas Morning News endorsement of Mike Huckabee will have a larger-than-expected effect on GOP returns. I think more and more people are considering the possibility of John McCain serving one term before letting whoever ends up as veep take up the Republican banner in 2012. I wouldn't be surprised if Huckabee or Romney ends up on the ticket with McCain, just as Democratic runner-up John Edwards ran with John Kerry in 2004.

• Conversely, there's no chance in heck of a Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton ticket... Look for John Edwards to be on the shortlist for Obama and Bill Richardson on HRC's shortlist for vice president.

• Rush Limbaugh will say something absolutely asinine Wednesday regarding Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Howard Dean.