Has Hillary quit on the Nebraska caucuses?

Word from various news sources is that Hillary Clinton has essentially conceded the Saturday, February 9th, caucuses and primary, including Nebraska's, to Barack Obama.

In a conference call with reporters, a Hillary campaign official conceded that Obama was "favored" in all three on Saturday, but that she could win both Ohio and Texas! In other words, she still doesn't care about the little states.

In the mean time, Obama will be holding his 3:30 pm Thursday rally in Omaha's Civic Auditorium. Obama couldn't get the Qwest Center (which holds approximately 17,000, vs the Civic's approx 10,000) because of another event there. The last time the Civic was involved in Presidential politics was in 1988's Vice-Presidential debate between Dan Quayle and Lloyd Bentsen. Obama's wife will also make an appearance in Lincoln.

And whither the Clinton campaign? Well, Bill and Chelsea Clinton both made offers to visit Nebraska back when they were humping Nebraska's Democrat Super-delegates, but no word on either of them. Apparently no paid staff, at this point, either. And when you go to Hillary's campaign website, and click on "States" you'll note that Nebraska is nowhere to be found. (Washington and Louisiana aren't either, but Virginia and Maryland, which are up on Tuesday, are listed.)

But that's not to say that there are no events for Hillary in the Cornhusker State. This evening (Wednesday), from 5-6PM, the Hillary partisans will be holding a "Voices Across America" event. And that'll be at...The Qwest Center? The Fireman's Hall? Barrett's Castle? Uh no, you'll have to head on over to the...Memorial Park, Dodge Street overpass. Be sure to wear your mittens...

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We're still waiting to hear from Democrat Scott Kleeb as to whether he will run for the U.S. Senate, the House, or try to drop into the Nebraska legislature. Kleeb is still playing it coy, stating that it could be any of those three. He says he's trying to figure out the "best place" to contribute. Is he showing his hand for a Unicameral run? He says his decision won't be until after Saturday, so who knows. Didn't we already go through this last summer with Chuck Hagel?

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Also no more information yet on the mysterious possible 2nd District Democrat candidate Richard Carter. We personally think that Carter's website looks like it was created by whomever put together the Tony Raimondo website (consulted by Paul Johnson), but that's just by eyeing it. We're also still waiting for the first blurry photo of Carter walking through the woods.