In a split-screen interview, Josh Marshall treats Markos Moulitsas Daily Kos as a kingmaker and Kos doesn’t demur. Marshall quotes Kos saying that he wouldn’t issue an endorsement but then Kos goes ahead and hands down his tablets.

True to the netroots m.o., he starts with the negative. Kos has completely eliminated Biden and Kucinich. He’s “skeptical” about Clinton. Cough Cough. He has ruled out Edwards over taking public funds, capping his campaign spending. And that leaves Dodd — whom he voted for in a straw poll because “it was a way to reward his behavior in the Iraq debate” — and Obama. “I like Dodd better,” he says. He says he wants Dodd’s rhetoric in Obama’s body (if he ever said that the other way around, there’d be a firestorm). He says Dodd is running on a platform of restoring the Bill of Rights — “I mean, how much more inspiring can you get?” He acknowledges that “a vote for Chris Dodd would probably be a wasted vote.” Sounds like a tapioca endorsement of Obama. He complains that Obama is playing it safe, “which you only get to do if you’re the frontrunner.” And he’s not. “It’s very uninspiring,” Kos complains. He contrasts it with the Howard Dean campaign, which “empowered people.” Ah, those were the netroots days.

Kos acknowledges that Clinton has “run the perfect race.” Even as other candidates are getting known, she’s still surging in the polls “and that is pretty damned impressive.” He says she is “ruthlessly on-message.”