Have you seen that Barack Obama thing, where the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am and others remix the underdog from Illinois's New Hampshire primary speech into a folksy, inspiring tune and a demure, Calvin Klein-esque music video? People really seem to love watching celebs like Scarlett Johansson (who just happens to have an album coming out), Tatyana Ali, and John Legend crooning about some cause or another. Slate loves it. YouTube commenter SAXjewell declares it "SO TRUE!" and adds "GO ObaMA". Blah blah blah. Things like this are so cliche that thinking they're cliche is a cliche. It's pretty, but condescending. Can we make a decision on our own, thanks? Yes, we can. Video after the jump.

"How many mainstream news sources on Monday will compare Obama to the Giants and Hillary to the Patriots? Watch this space for an ongoing tabulation!" [Bus Your Own Tray]

Potential voters in tomorrow's Super Tuesday primaries are receiving automated calls from actress Scarlett Johansson, one of Barack Obama's more glamorous supporters. (A $100 Amazon.com certificate to the first person who can provide us audio.) Update: And here it is. Thanks, Albert!

This Obama mailer has greatly upset Clintonites, who feel (quite rightly) that it evokes that classic anti-Hillarycare ad "Harry and Louise" from way back in 1993. "It is as outrageous," said Len Nichols, head of the New America foundation and former Clinton White House employee, "as having Nazis march through Skokie, Illinois." [HuffPo]

According to "recent polls" mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, Barack Obama trails Hillary Clinton in New York City "by as few as four points." Andrew Sullivan—who, to be fair, hates Hillary—quotes a reader who argues, convincingly, that if New York's primary is going to be a close one, it will be because of the borough divide. The Clintons are still beloved by the mainstream black leaders of Harlem and the rich people everywhere else in Manhattan. In Brooklyn, though, home of well-off white youths and a couple million minorities, Obama's support seems strong. We live in Bed-Stuy. Brownstones, bodegas, and the neighborhood's only veterinarian all sport Obama signs; Hillary's presence is non-existent. The rest of the state, though, will pose bit of a problem for the senator from Illinois. Because it's basically the deep fucking South up there, have you been? [Andrew Sullivan]
Photo Credit: threecee

The most enlightening part of last night's Clinton-Obama debate (besides Senator Clinton's awkward dissembling on her war vote suddenly becoming a positive for her after Wolf Blizter's hamhanded followup led to a chorus of boos) happened shortly after it ended, when CNN cut back to Anderson Cooper in... well, we're assuming it was the Situation Room. He asked his panel of pundits for their reactions to what they'd scarcely had time to digest. Gambling-addicted former Drug Czar Bill Bennett began with a lame joke about hippies, then praised Obama's performance. He got halfway through the word "articulate" before catching himself. "Artic—well-spoken" (or something along those slightly less offensive lines) he said, remembering the fate of poor Joe Biden. Which raises the question: can stuffy old white people find ways of complimenting Barack Obama that don't sound condescending and borderline racist? Answer: not really! But not for lack of trying!

The 60s are back! Thanks to the candidate for change! Attached, Barry Hussein's new TV ad, set to run right here in New York City—which is briefly important again, did you hear? Barack Obama knows America is sick of the same old ways of doing politics. They're tired of dynastic families remaining in Washington for generations. He knows also that everyone loves the Kennedys! At least, most of the Kennedys. The dead ones mostly, plus the ones we don't see too much of, like Caroline. It was so nice of those Kennedys to adopt Barry and make him one of the family! Just like Brad and Angelina! Or maybe he's infused with the spirit of JFK himself, like Suri Cruise! (The Times notes that the spot references the moon landing, which NIXON did, while leaving out the Bay of Pigs. Seriously? You thought they'd include the Bay of Pigs? Why not a drugged-up Marilyn Monroe getting double-teamed by the President and the Attorney General too!) The full ad is below, watch and pine for the black and white America you don't remember but it seemed pretty awesome.

Though Sen. Hillary Clinton won the Florida primary, Barack Obama is still riding high after receiving perhaps the most endorsement of this campaign season. No, it's not the Kennedy imprimatur. It's the endorsement of street art dude Shepard Fairey, the guy who did those Andre the Giant Obey stencils. Recently, Fairey released a "limited edition" Barack Obama poster in which the starry eyed tricolor Senator is gazing into the distance whilst the word Progress is written across his chest and he appears to wear a lapel that is a mashup of the always mutable Obama logo and Andre the Giant. In the spirit of fairness, we've done a similar poster for Hillary Clinton which you can see and download after the jump.

Google has banned all personal attacks from political ads running on its ad network. "'Crime rates are up under Police Commissioner Gordon 'is okay, but 'Police Commissioner Gordon had an affair' is not,' writes Peter Greenberger on the Google Public Policy blog. Which of course means if Google had its way with the rest of the world, you'd never have heard of John McCain's black baby, Hillary Clinton's cookies or Barack Obama's drug dealing. Boring!

For the first time in, like, ever, politicians are in New York for a purpose other than fundraising. The leading Democratic candidates for president, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, are actually competing for our votes. How quaint. Here's a guide to Obama events in New York City.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama read the top ten list on David Letterman last night, counting down his top ten campaign promises. At No. 4: "I won't let Apple release the new and improved iPod the day after you bought the previous model." Puh-lease. It's enough to make you long for the good old days, when candidates pandered for votes in the polling booth, not on Digg.

The New Republic polled the people who really matter for their endorsements in the ongoing primary battle. Yes, finally, we shall get to hear the thoughts of two noted media recluses: famous lawyer Alan Dershowitz and Vanity Fair editor/Canadian Graydon Carter! Dershowitz endorses Hillary Clinton, because Barack Obama is a Muslim. Graydon Carter endorses Barack Obama because Hillary Clinton is not sufficiently yar. [The Star]

The Times let embittered and oft-inaccurate tv critic Alessandra Stanley write about something a little more weighty than Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles in today's paper. She gets to review the President's "State of the Union" speech, which happens on TV, yes, but it doesn't involve explosions and there are not really commercial breaks. Thankfully it's often transcribed and distributed beforehand, so Stanley doesn't have to sort of half-remember bits of dialog she wasn't actually paying attention to. But only the real journalists get to write about the bullshit in the speech itself, so Stanley instead babbles some sub-sportswriter-by-way-of-David Broder nonsense about "Dynasties" playing themselves out in some grand Wagnerian opera just behind the scenes (and also in front of the scenes, on stages and behind podiums and such). Because the Bushes and the Kennedys and the Clintons were all sorta there, in Washington, DC, where all of them spend most of their time.

Hey Barack Obama! Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz really doesn't appreciate you ignoring him and his friends, okay? "Some reporters say Obama seems disdainful toward journalists," Kurtz wrote in his column yesterday. "But the man who touches so many Democratic hearts feels no need, for the moment, to reach out to journalists...a curious disconnect indeed." Um, Howie, it makes us feel kind of uncomfortable when you show us your passive-aggressive inner child like that. If you stop, we'll totes find someone to sit with you at lunch today!

Congratulations to the Hamptons Independent for publishing the single most offensive newspaper column ever. In "satirizing" the Obama/Clinton feud, the offending column manage to insult and degrade women, blacks, and every literate person on Earth in equal measure. Oh, it was written by the editor. Under the pseudonym "YoMama Bin Barack." That doesn't even make sense. Anyway—black people speak pidgin english, and many of them are in jail. "White women" enjoy being "bitch slapped." Too bad Bloomberg's not in the race, the only thing the column's really missing is blood libel. [Plum]

"I need you not only to vote, but I need you to get cousin Pookie to vote," Obama said. "I need Ray-Ray to vote." [Canada.com]

CNN has apparently banned some of its most recognizable analysts from its campaign coverage. James Carville and Paul Begala—CNN's top Democratic analysts, both of whom achieved political fame in Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign, and both of whom support Hillary—were suspended from commenting on the presidential race sometime in December. And no one noticed!

'New York Times' to Endorse Hillary Clinton for President [Radar]

Senator Clinton polls higher than Senator Obama in Santa Clara County, 43 percent to 27 percent, a Clinton campaign staffer told the Wall Street Journal. But we know what really counts in Silicon Valley: money. And when it comes to raising cash, Barack Obama's winning over the tech crowd. He raised about $500,000 just last weekend at a breakfast in Atherton. Wondering who was there? Here's a list of known Silicon Valley supporters for each candidate.

Barack Obama is a handsome man. Were the Democratic presidential candidate really to accept a blow job from a limo driver during a cocaine-fueled binge, wouldn't he have scored with someone a little hotter? (The hilariously implausible video accusation, from a toothless critic who claims he performed oral sex on Obama back in 1999 when he was still a local politician, is after the jump.)