Hil's Hometown Paper Calls It: Barack Wins Selma Showdown

The New York Daily News says the junior senator from Illinois bested the junior senator from New York as both gave pulpit speeches on civil rights sacred ground.

Both campaigns spent a carefully choreographed Sunday in Selma, Alabama site of "Bloody Sunday" - the 1965 beatdown Black protesters got while demanded their right to vote.

From the Post:

"Hillary Clinton was very good, Barack Obama was a little better.

In the battle for Selma — and the black vote across the U.S. — yesterday's round went to the senator from Illinois.

Both were greeted enthusiastically at historic black churches, where they pumped up the congregations with fiery speeches. Both were cheered as they marched to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, walking in the steps of civil rights pioneers beaten bloody 42 years ago.

But on a day when two presidential heavyweight contenders came to town, it was Obama's intensely personal and provocative remarks at Brown Chapel AME Church - and the rock-star treatment he received along the route of the march - that gave him an edge."

Move Over Brownback, Here Comes Obama

The junior senator from Illinois scooted on down to neighboring Kentucky over the weekend...even though Brownback had Jesus send a snowstorm to Chicago to try to keep Obama out.

"Obama apologized for the delay, saying snow in Chicago kept him from arriving sooner.
"There was no way I was not going to make 3,000 people coming out," he said to audience members who paid $25 a ticket for the event. A higher dollar fundraising event was scheduled later at a nearby hotel."

Obama Best at Juggling Duties

...which include running for president (o.k., o.k. exploring a run for president) and keeping his day job.
According to the Associated Press (via the San Ho Mercury News) Barack Obama has not missed a single vote in the Senate this year. On the other hand -

"Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., have missed two votes each. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., has missed nine votes, and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has skipped six."

And the dubious award for most votes missed? (drumroll please...)
Kansas Senator Sam Browback, who has -

"missed more than half the votes taken in the Senate last month as he ramped up his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Brownback skipped 20 of the 39 roll call votes in January, or 51 percent, according to Senate voting records. That's a higher absence rate than any other member of the Senate except Democrat Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who is recovering from a brain hemorrhage he suffered before the new session of Congress began."

Brownback, Richardson Also Giving Obama a Run for His Money

• "Richardson Touts Experience as Cure for Underdog Status" (New York Times)
• "Democrat Richarson seeks office" (BBC News)
• "Bill Richardson Joins 2008 Race" (CBS News)

• "Kansas senator announces presidential bid" (Concord Monitor NH)
• "Bio Box Brownback" (Fox News)
• "Brownback in Long-Shot White House Bid" (ABC News)