You're welcome!

Dems could win big this year.

The new Congress is sworn in before the new President.

I think the last SUSA NE poll showed Obama winning 2 of the state's congressional districts.

I have family in Nebraska. It's far from homogeneous. Omaha is a surprisingly cosmopolitan medium-sized city, with a young population, a lot of culture, and a fairly strong local Democratic party. Lincoln, the second-largest city in the state, is a college town with a vibrant progressive tradition. After that comes six hours of unrelieved flat Midwestern farmland before you hit Colorado.

It's because of Nebraska's nearly-unique division of electoral votes (by congressional district, not statewide winner-take-all) that Obama has a shot at an EV or two from the Cornhusker State.

There are other states, and other EVs, that would likewise be in serious play if they awarded their EVs that way. On the one hand, you'd see some GOP EVs out of California's Central Valley and Orange County; on the flip side, you'd have almost guaranteed splits in Colorado, Arizona, and a few other swing states, not to mention some guaranteed Democratic EVs out of Texas.

So, yeah, I agree that there's at least a shot for some map-changing EV action out of Nebraska this year.

You are correct that Obama has no chance statewide, but remember, NE awards its electoral votes by congressional district.  Of the three, only the 3rd is unapproachably Republican (it even supported Goldwater in 1964).  Obama does have a chance, however remote, in the other two.

That said, I really can't imagine any scenario in which case those two EVs make the difference.  If Obama gets even one vote from Nebraska, odds are he's winning in a landslide and doesn't need them.  Just off the top of my head, Indiana comes to mind as a red state where Obama has an outside-but-not-as-outside-as-here chance.

Clinton won the Oklahoma primary and come within a few points in the Nebraska beauty contest. She can do well in the plain states with Democratic voters but really, neither will win there in the fall.

Populism was actually founded in the great plains and used to be quite progressive.  May be making a resurgence.

I think Obama does well out West as it is a bit less partisan, more independent, more libertarian, less established in "tradition", more open minded.
Hillary's head to heads against McCain mirror John Kerry's.  She generally isn't respected out west by many non-Democrats and since most people are non-Democrats, it would have made November quite a challenge.
I'll let someone else address the Appalachia/Ozark alley success by Clinton.  I would just get myself in way too much trouble speculating.

If you enjoy reading, check out "Take this job and ship it" by Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota.  A great read and I learned quite a bit about the political attitudes of his constituency.

He can win over Plains voters due to the practice he's had running for Senate in Illinois.  Central and parts of Northern Illinois have many things in common with that region so he's been able to hone into the desires of those voters within his home state.  Southern Illinois remained a sticking point for him but I can tell you being black handicapped him big time: it's so divided down there even the drug dealers are racial partisans.    

Keep in mind primary is the first time Obama has been on the national scene and has campaigned for Appalachian voters.  He's going to do his 2nd take after the primary is wrapped up, to win over Ohio voters and hopefully put VA/NC/SC into play.

I've been hearing this "The Obama hype will end soon enough " since the spring of 2007.  It's not a microtrend.  

Presumably he's just trying to balance Jerome's pro-Clinton bias and stop MyDD being a laughing stock. When the nomination process is over and Obama is the nominee there will be a lot more self-serving pro-0bama pieces, and presumably even Jerome will have to grit his teeth and write a few. That's what a partisan site is about, it does its best to get Democrats elected and advocates for them. If you want to advocate against the Democrat nominee then why not go over and join a Republican blog?

Why can't he constantly put down the presumptive nominee for whatever reason pops into his head? That's the kind of level-headed and substantive post we need to see more of round here.

It could turn out to be critical.  I keep playing around with the EC map, and there are so many not only possible, but quite likely scenarios that get Obama to 269 Electoral votes.

Yes, I know 269 means it goes to the house and all that, but it's more complicated than a straight up and down vote - the house delegations as a whole from each state have to vote, and they can vote for anyone they want.  If no one gets 26 of them, it moves to the Senate which is currently tied.