Wow--this is as spectacular as the Portland rally. Obama is up 55 to 39 percent in the Gallup national daily tracking poll.

This is Obama's largest lead yet. Looks like he's completely pulling away. Is this because of Edwards, the superdelegates, media spin? It looks good for Obama either way. Hopefully this reflects the start of the Clinton supporters' unity move.

Do my fellow readers remember the time you first read one of the Obama smear e-mails? The ones that dredge up Muslim associations (doubly hard to refute without insulting Islamic American voters?), the ones that question Obama's mothers' sexual proclivities for dark skinned men, the ones that focus on the meanest, scariest, blackest people who ever crossed Obama's past?  I do. It was really jarring.

That first moment has to be in the background for context, but this post is about another moment: The Moment I Realized Barack Obama Also Heard These Smears. He probably read some version of these years ago. He's bright enough to imagine what ignorant Americans would do with his incredibly difficult (love the man, but it's not just "funny", it's damned insane post 9-11, post Iraq II). He knows--he knew--what was coming. When he entered the race he said:

I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness in this — a certain audacity — to this announcement

No kidding. Effing - audacious! Audacity or blind stupid courageous conviction? Should be a new swear word--fauckdacity! (fukdacity?!) This man can take it. He's been Barack Hussein Obama his entire life, through the first Gulf War, through 9-11, he knows. He learned to trash talk in basketball for a reason. This man uses these ridiculously big cajones to elevate the national dialog. He knew, and he's doing this anyway. He knew his life would be threatened, he knew, and I think this man has his eyes completely wide open to the facts and still -- still -- still talks of hope.

Has anyone else had that moment---when you realized exactly how audacious this campaign really is?