Clinton by 100

Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, sent out a memo today regarding expectations for tomorrow's madness. Interestingly, instead of saying "we expect to do well" or "we will be in a strong position even if Senator Clinton collects more delegates," Plouffe set the point spread.

Clinton (-100)

Think of what that means for a second. Obama, by all accounts, has been surging in national polls. CNN has him up 3 nationally. He has closed the gap in California & Missouri, and he has shortened the gap in New Jersey, Connecticut, etc. If Plouffe, speaking for the campaign, sets the line at 100 and Obama loses by 101, it's a loss by his team's definition. Obama & Co. must feel very confident in their poll numbers.

There are 1,688 pledged delegates available on Super Tuesday. a 100 delegate spread means Barack needs at least (1,688/2)-50, or 794. This amounts to 47% of the delegates available. Now, the Obama camp didn't do such a hot job setting expectations in New Hampshire, but that seems to be something of an outlier. No campaign manager in his/her right mind would set expectations that explicitly without some wiggle room, which tells me one thing: Obama expects to make some serious noise tomorrow.

I'm taking Obama and the points.