At the end of the day

Clinton, McCain win Florida primary -- CNN: For the Democrats -- Clinton 50%, Obama 33%, Edwards 14%, Kucinich 1%. On the GOP side -- McCain 36%, Mitt 31%, Rudy 15%, Huck 14%, Paul 3%. Exit polls, gender and age breakouts at the link. More Democrats turned out than Repubs. Heh. [See Update II]

Digby rightly criticized MSNBC for behaving "rude, snide and dismissive about more than a million and a half Democratic voters in Florida (more than double the turnout from 2004)... ...If it is inappropriate for Clinton to declare victory it's also damned inappropriate for every gasbag on television to say that all these votes are completely meaningless. They may not add to the delegate count, but they were cast in good faith by American citizens and they should be treated with respect by these jackasses." Amen to that!

Clap harder! -- At Political Animal, Kevin examined "who [clapped] when" during Bush's SOTU and articulated valid points and comparisons between Hillary and Barack.

Disappearing wingnuts on the Hill -- "Two Republican representatives, Kenny Hulshof of Missouri and Ron Lewis of Kentucky, have announced plans to leave Congress, adding their names to a list of more than 24 House Republicans who will not be running for re-election. " Hulshof plans to run for governor of MO. Lewis wants to be with his family. NYT

Russ Feingold (D-WI) explained the privacy issue of FISA in video.

Ezra Klein rocks! -- Challenging a NYT article pronouncement, "Mr. Bush has spent years presiding over an economic climate of growth that would be the envy of most presidents," Ezra delivered a colorful chart on "Average Economic Growth by President" based on GDP. Who won? The Kennedy-Johnson Administration followed by Clinton. Go look at the presidential performers. Via Krugman who also had some choice remarks.

The House overwhelmingly approved -- by a vote of 385 to 35 -- a $146 billion economic stimulus program. Sen. Harry Reid "said the bill would be on the [Senate] floor by late Wednesday and was likely to be approved this week." Potential Senate amendments to the bill -- "to give more money to food banks, to increase food stamps temporarily, to increase subsidies for home heating and other energy costs for low-income families, to adopt alternative energy tax credits and to finance infrastructure projects." More at the link.

Sexual assaults -- Alaska is the worst in the nation: "In nearly 1,000 cases studied over two years, the average age of victims was 16, while the average age of those accused was 29. In four out of five cases, the suspects were relatives, friends or acquaintances.... Overall, 89 percent of the victims were female. One out of three cases were reported more than a month after the abuse occurred, leaving evidence hard to collect." Sexual violence is "worst in rural areas."

Pentagon WMD$? -- "The Office of Naval Research will test fire an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va. on Jan. 31, 2008, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST. The gun will be fired at over 10 megajoules of energy – a power level never before achieved by an EMRG." See Spencer Ackerman.

Shock in Iraq -- "Civilians stumbled upon nine headless bodies in a field about 60 miles north of Baghdad on Tuesday. ...The nine, including three women, had been targeted because they were suspected of being part of a local awakening council, or concerned local citizens group, that was working with U.S. troops to fight al Qaida in Iraq, said a police officer involved in the investigation. ...On Jan. 17, a bombing killed 12 people in Diyala, and unidentified and headless bodies are found sporadically in the province." More disgusting news: "In Baghdad, five roadside bombs" injured 31 that included "five U.S. soldiers and seven members of the Iraqi security forces." McClatchy

Wasting tax dollars -- "A federal report released Tuesday says the Army Corps of Engineers charged the government hundreds of millions of dollars for supervising projects in Iraq that have been identified as having failed or fallen behind schedule specifically because oversight was lax or nonexistent." Adding insult to injury, "its rates were on average more than twice as high as those charged by an Air Force office that has also been active in Iraq reconstruction."

Tomorrow at the Daily Howler -- "Defeat of the Rubes." Bob Somerby: "Lower tax rates produce higher revenues! The rubes have been handed this flat-earth nonsense for years–and your hard-charging “press corps” just sits back and watches. Last night, two rubes repeated this blather to Luntz. Tomorrow, we give you full details." Main link.

Success! -- Blue Girl got her computer thanks to all of you who helped. Special recognition to Kevin Drum for his support!

UPDATE I: Check Yellow Dog for the 411 on Ron Lewis of Kentucky.

UPDATE II: Rudy drops out, endorses McCain. And I erred in stating that more Democrats turned out than Repubs. There are more registered Democrats (41%) than Repubs (37%) in FL... but the total number of voters who cast ballots for Democratic candidates came to 1,683,984 vs. 1,920,164 votes for Repub candidates. How dare I forget Independents. That'll teach me.

[That's all...no more after the jump.]