By the end of today, a significantly clarified presidential race

Florida's role as a political weathervane has once again been confirmed.

Last night, John McCain overcame Mitt Romney 36-31 and won all 57 of Florida's delegates.

Guiliani's dismal 3rd place showing confirms the end of his campaign, and the beginning of the ignominy.

The AFP indulged in some classic media "20-20 hindsight-ism" in its remarks on Giuliani's exit:

In retrospect, Giuliani had few options.

As a thrice-married pro-abortion, pro-gay rights baron of liberal New York, he was always an odd fit with the religious conservative Republican base that swept Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush to power.

That's nice to hear, after months of being told his positions didn't matter. I guess they maybe did.

Giuliani is expected to endorse McCain. McCain is now the man to beat on Super Tuesday (in 6 days). This even more so because Thompson has dropped out, and Huckabee is broke. Romney has enough personal income to campaign, but he is now facing a long, uphill fight. He really needed to win Florida.

On the Democrat side, in a surprising decision, John Edwards is also getting out of the race.

Surprising not because anyone thought he had a chance of winning, of course, but instead because many folks were widely expecting him to stick in the race in order to win delegates and stay influential in the convention. His exit, it would seem, will help Obama in Super Tuesday more than Clinton.

Ron Paul has vowed to continue campaigning.

So, to recap: Hillary vs. Obama (with some added Edwards support) and McCain trying to push out Romney (with Paul doing his thing in the wings, and Huckabee looking for a place back at the table).

update: as a little more grist for the comment mill, Rob Vischer at Mirror of Justice notes some complimentary things about McCain. Meanwhile, Rasmussen tracks McCain ahead of both Hillary (8%) and Obama (6%) in a potential general election match up.