The latest Politalks is here, remember that episode 7 and 8 will also be posted on a Tuesday due to other commitments. This week we've seen childish politics reach new highs and more than just a little bit of borrowing from others to try and get ahead in the polls. Also, more weighty content with a scathing analysis of the ever ongoing Israeli-Palestine conflict.Not work safe with transcript below.

...She would be required to close up shop and tell everyone to go home. I'm going out slightly on a limb, like many others, by predicting the end of her bid to become the Democratic nominee in all but name. The reason for this though isn't because of her more vindictive than ever attitude but because the people simply don't care for her now they've seen both sides of both arguments.

Latest polls are obviously starting to come in with more and more important data looking towards next weeks make or break primary session for the Democrats, and as I wrote earlier on this blog, the data has been looking worse and worse for Hillary. Just to remind you before you read on, Clinton really needs to win around 150 delegates from Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania...though ideally from Texas and Ohio alone to give her campaign a much needed boost. To do this she will have to win these large states by around 40 percentage points.

So Obama has won Hawaii and Wisconsin as predicted, and come the end of the counting he should be at least 150 delegates ahead of Clinton leading in to the next big day of primaries. This is almost certainly the end of the road for his streak, as impressive as it's been, and I feel it's done some big damage to Clinton's campaign which are now seeing slumps in the polls in even the states thought to be safely big wins for her. Ultimately though the next two months are going to be about Clinton and her regaining the ground on the upstart. Unfortunately for Clinton I think that will ultimately play in to his underdog status that he enjoys come May.

Just a quick one, but I wanted to blow my own trumpet and brag about how how right I was about where the Democratic race is going. I'm now more sure than before that the next two states of any meaning will also go to Obama with polls on the rise for him. After that is Texas and Ohio. Quite simply put, Hillary has to win both of these states by about 70% to 30% to stay in the race. Even winning by that margin will likely not put her back in the lead with pledged delegates, though perhaps for overall delegates, but it could stay her execution enough to be able to fight Pennsylvania which is the last big state. In short she needs roughly 100 delegates from these two states just to stay on the pace and give her campaign a boost, and then an emphatic victory in Pennsylvania. Even then it may not be enough.

If Obama does as well in Texas as people are rumouring, or if he cuts in to what is a significant margin of support for Clinton in Ohio, then I have to concur with others around the web that are suggesting that the first primaries of March could be Clinton's curtain call.

Probably not safe for work, here is our third effort. As always we welcome comments on the style and content in an effort to improve! Transcript below...

In the shadow of the current UK political climate, with civil liberties being increasingly infringed and power being shifted towards those that don't deserve it while they claim they're devolving it to us, it's nice to actually see some kind of positive politics...even if it is over the pond in the US of A. The night is not quite over but the results seem to be that McCain has generally, though not convincingly, won the night for the Republicans, while Huckabee is the most improved candidate with Romney letting his pace drop. For the Democrats it will be described as a draw, and depending on how it's spun it's a close points victory for Obama.

News has just broken that John Edwards is quitting his campaign to become president of the USA. This is a very interesting move as it now leaves only Obama and Clinton as the remaining runners and people will want to know how Edwards is going to side when it comes to his previous competitors.

I'm trying something new here, not sure if it's going to work as well as intended but here it is. Read more for the transcript of this movie.

Last night there was a democratic debate for South Carolina and unfortunately the event descended in to childish scrapping between Clinton and Obama. On one hand it is clear that they no longer think Edwards is really in the running, and on the other that they are truly worried about each other's chances of winning the nomination. Take a look at the video...

The BBC are currently reporting, while I wait to hear what the Republican South Carolina primary result turns out to be, that "in Hillary Clinton's own words" this is a big win for her. Well...of course she would say that, she needs to keep her momentum going. But is it a big win really? In reality what happened was that she slipped from a clear 20 point lead over Obama before Christmas, tainting herself with the issues about legal wranglings over where caucuses could be held and her team not helping her image in the public spotlight, ultimately beating Obama by only 6 points (it would appear).