JUST 6 MORE DAYS

The Infomercial

I thought it was well-done. It certainly beats Ross Perot’s informercial from 1992.

He kept it positive - didn’t mention the word “Bush” once.

Watch & tell me what you think.

Read McCain’s ‘prebuttal’ to the infomercial here.

A lot of you have voted already. As of Monday, more than 50,000 people have voted in Hamilton County.

Which way are early voters leaning? Marc Ambinder:

Obama leads by 16 points among likely voters, by 17 points among independents, by 13 points among men, by 20 points among women, is tied among whites, and is up eight among white Catholics. Of the 15 percent of the sample who’ve already voted, Obama leads by 19 points (although this subsample has a fairly large MoE). 74% of Obama’s backers say they support him “strongly,” which is 20 points higher than the percentage who say the same about their support for McCain.

Click here for the full Pew results, as of Tuesday.

Here’s a site where you can see the early voting numbers already in from around the country. Very useful.

From that site I glean:

The number of early voters so far in Tennessee is 45% of the total number of votes in 2004. (wow.)

&, 36.4% of the ENTIRE number of votes cast in Georgia in 2004 have been cast already this year. (again, wow.)

The Peach state is turning into one of THE states to watch this year - & I had written that state off months ago, back when Bob Barr’s Georgia support started dropping off.

But now - look at this chart over at Pollster.com. We have ourselves a real nail-biter, folks.

& not just the presidential race. The battle for Saxby Chambliss’ Senate seat remains intense.

The two latest polls come from polling firms that lean either way.

The left-leaning InsiderAdvantage poll has Saxby Chambliss & Jim Martin at 46-44%, That same poll also shows McCain leading by just 1 point).

The right-leaning Strategic Vision poll has Chambliss up by 2, & McCain up by 6.

& it’s possible that Georgia may be the last Senate race called - as in called several weeks after election night. MSNBC’s First Read blog explains:

“If Martin wins, he’ll have Obama to thank because the surge in African-American turnout is clearly benefiting the Democrat. By the way, Georgia could be the state that is the final race called in the country. Why? The state has that quirky runoff law, and a third-party candidate in the race might hold one of the major party candidates under 50%. The last time Georgia hosted a Senate runoff was the last time the country elected a new Democratic president: 1992, when the election of Clinton ended up helping the Republicans pull the Senate upset (Paul Coverdell defeated Wyche Fowler). This time, however, Republicans fear that an Obama victory will only energize African Americans in the runoff and make Chambliss’ path to victory even more difficult.”

Speaking of African-American turnout, it’s huge in Georgia - check it out. Georgia’s Secretary of State reports that 35% of early voters are African-American - more than double the percentage of the state’s population.

& there seems to be a correlation between a state’s African-American voting population & percentage of early voter turnout. FiveThirtyEight.com’s Nate Silver has the details here. In short, the higher the percentage of blacks in a state, the higher early voter turnout is. The states with the highest turnout are Georgia, North Carolina & Louisiana.

Can McCain count on voters who make up their minds in this final week? The trends (from Pollster.com) from past Presidential elections, in terms of their numbers, don’t look promising:

Click this link (again, to Pollster.com) to find out which way those last-minute voters swing.

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But still, interestingly, yet probably unsurprisingly, Obama still faces a major disadvantage with voters down here in that long-GOP stronghold, the South, per ABC News:

Obama is outperforming any Democrat back to Jimmy Carter among white voters, getting 45 percent to McCain’s 52 percent. But in the South, it is a very different story. Obama fares worse among Southern whites than any Democrat since George McGovern in 1972.

Whites in the East and West tilt narrowly toward Obama (he’s up 8 and 7 points, respectively), and the two run about evenly among those in the Midwest. By contrast, Southern whites break more than 2 to 1 for McCain, 65 percent to 32 percent.

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SIX DAYS.

Barack Obama

His informercial appears on most of network TV tonight… except for ABC (read why here). Needless to say, I’m ashamed of my parent network about this. It’s airing “Pushing Daisies” instead, & running some frankly offensive promos about it.

Above: wet, wet wet conditions in Chester, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Doesn’t look fun at all.

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Above: Obama making calls to undecided voters in Colorado.

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Has Obama fudged his “no tax increases for those making under $250,000″ promise this week? Marc Ambinder does some fact-checking.

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Michelle Obama appeared on Jay Leno Monday. Click here to watch.

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Why the Right’s ‘Kitchen Sink’ Philosophy is Failing

From the Toot:

“…once you’ve made a narrative choice, you do have to stick with it - you can’t just keep bouncing around, or people become confused. If you are telling the story of a scary vampire, you can’t decide in chapter 2 that he’s also 500 feet tall and radioactive and bent on destroying Tokyo, in chapter 3 that he is actually a giant man-eating shark, and in chapter 4 that he is all this and a super-terrorist trying to plant a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. All of these things are, indeed, scary, but taken together they add up to a muddle.

This is the problem. It’s not just the McCain campaign’s problem - although their inability to pick a narrative and stick to it is a special kind of inexcusable - it’s a problem for the entire wingnut noise machine. Obama is a Marxist Muslim Arab Jesus Black White Terrorist Technocrat Racist Do-Gooder Liberal FDR Stalin Hilter Commie Fascist Gay Womanizing Naive Cynical Insider Noob Boring Radical Unaccomplished Elite Slick Gaffe-Prone Pedophile Pedophile-Seducing Liberation Theology Atheist Etc. & Anti-Etc. with a bunch of scary friends from - wait for it! - the Nineteen Hundred And Sixties. It makes no sense. It’s a jumble sale of fears and scary associations from 50 years of wingnut witch hunts and smear campaigns, a flea market of pre-owned and antique resentments, and if one does detect a semi-consistent 1960’s motif running through it all, that’s because that’s when most of these ideas were coined.”

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John McCain

Above: at a joint rally with Sarah Palin in Hershey Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

He also appeared in North Carolina..

…but, interestingly, without incumbent GOP Senator Elizabeth Dole. (this may be why)

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Speaking of absences, someone’s face appears to be conspicuously absent from his own party’s website.

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Is the ‘Divided Government’ Argument Going to Work?

It’s the major card McCain has left to play. But Newsweek’s Andrew Romano is pessimistic. Former Bush staffer Peter Wehner hsays the party needs to return to its reformist roots [which, I'd add, is what John McCain should have pushed harder for - challenging his party to return to its fundamental principles - instead of blatantly pandering to its base, which has spent the past year essentially rooting for the status quo, or at least is blind to why the status quo is in such a sorry state].

Here’s a ‘Silver Lining’ for Republicans, though:

Single-party government rarely works for very long. It tends to overreach when there are no limits to those in power (see Congress/President Bush, 2002-2006). If this plays out, that will bode well for the beginning of a comeback for the now-battered GOP. [though I will say that if you sat on your hands & approved of how things were run under Republican leadership, you have a smaller rhetorical leg to stand on.]

& here’s a reason Democrats might prefer divided government:

['divided' here being less than a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate]

If this crazy year ends the way the trends are looking - that Obama will be elected - Obama’s historical standing would improve if he brought about change with the help & support of the minority party.

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The Keystone State Conundrum

Why is McCain behind Obama in the Pennsylvania polls? Michael Barone hazards a guess:

“My hypothesis is that that is because places like the Philly suburbs are places where the recent decline in household wealth has been most conspicuous. Housing prices mean a lot more to you when your house started off at $400,000 and declined to $290,000 than they did when you started off (as may be typical of Scranton or a blue-collar town in metro Pittsburgh) at $140,000 and declined to $110,000. Newspaper coverage of our current economic distress focuses on the very poor (like a recent Washington Post story on North Carolina, which focused on an ex-convict in a cheap motel in Charlotte), but the people who are getting hurt most visibly in their lifelong project of accumulating wealth are the more affluent. They’re the ones whose house values have most visibly and spectacularly declined, and whose 401(k) accounts and stock portfolios have tanked in the last few months as well. Folks in Scranton or in the cheap motel in Charlotte didn’t expect to live comfortably ever after off their increased house values, 401(k)’s, and Merrill Lynch accounts; a $700 monthly check from Social Security is about what they have long expected and that’s not in danger (yet). Folks in the Philly suburbs did expect to live comfortably off such assets.”

& he concludes

“The irony here is that voters motivated by anger at the decline in their wealth seem about to elect a president who has promised to embark on wealth-destroying policies.”

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What Hath Karl Rove Wrought?

The exodus of a chunk of voters - Libertarians - who traditionally vote Republican, that’s what.

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Joe Biden

Here’s a view-from-the-crowd at a Joe rally in New Port Richey, Florida on Monday. He remained in Florida on Tuesday.

Sarah Palin

Above: at a rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania, appearing with McCain.

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Sadly, there appears to be quite a few reports of ‘ugly Americanism‘ at her rallies, & that’s a shame for Palin & her supporters, who in my opinion should quickly & forcefully speak out about those who would tarnish her image, especially if you are hoping she becomes the Republican party’s standard-bearer after the election.

That’s it for now! I know it’s a lot to digest, but please feel free to comment on anything mentioned above. ALL views are welcome here.

& check back later in the day, as I’ll provide more info in this post. Let me know what you think of the ‘one-post’ format. I think I’ll stick to doing it this way through the home stretch.

Above: Gallup reports on early voting thus far.

Reminder: voting in Hamilton County ends this Thursday.

According to the election commission, as of today - Monday - 44,862 of you have voted early in Hamilton County.

Have I?

No.
I am one of those who prefers the drama of election day. I can’t fathom doing it any other way, though I support early voting whole-heartedly. (actually I’d prefer it if voting were on a Saturday, but that’s a discussion for another time.)

From a Hamilton County-based blogger who calls herself “The Tennessee Federalist Student,” in a post called “So I Just Got Back from Early Voting:” (she appears to have voted early at the Northgate Mall location):

“Ok, so first off, you know that the line had to be about 97% McCain/Palin (I went to the small mall in Hixson, an older suburb of Chattanooga, TN- super middle class, suburbia, family oriented, etc, etc. Secondly, it was early voting- there were maybe 6 people there under 60, and at least half of them were housewives who brought their kids). But who do I get behind me? An ultra-liberal, ultra-poorly informed, loud talking, old man, gay couple.* Really! I have absolutely no idea how this happened.

So, from the moment they got behind me, the one started to remind the other that he must not forget to vote for Obama. The first time I thought that he was joking. But apparently not, apparently the fellow really needed reminding. The way I figure it, if you need reminding of who to vote for, you probably aren’t prepared enough to vote. (yeah, he was older, and I’m sorry if he had some sort of dementia or something, but that doesn’t disprove my point). Anyway, from there they started to discuss “the Catholics” as in, “the Catholics are going to vote for McCain because they’re against abortion.” That was the first time that I wanted to turn around. I mean really? Did these fellows not realize that first of all “the Catholics” actually more often tend to lean Democrat?”

Click on the link to read the rest of the story - there are two more times in which she suppresses the desire “to turn around!” (the ‘elite media stereotype’ that resides within me - which I take pains to repress at times - intently wants to know what would have happened if she did.)

What’s your early voting story? I’d love to hear it! Plus, I might add, I have lived in the Scenic City for 15 years & that’s the first time I’ve ever heard about an “old man married gay couple” existing anywhere in the county.

Live & learn!

2 New Polls Show 2 Different Realities

(also after the jump: “Battle of the Robocalls”)

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Want to know where you can vote early? We’ve got a breakdown for every county in the NewsChannel9 viewing area here, complete with phone numbers.

The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan has some early voting anecdotes from Tennessee & Georgia:

Tennessee:

“I live in a very Republican county in Tennessee, just south of Nashville - voting started here on Wednesday. I went to vote today and there was a very long (well-behaved) line of people. The woman who checked my registration told me there are 120,000 registered voters in the county and as of yesterday (Thursday) 10,000 people had voted. She told me voting is way ahead of the 2004 General Election and they suspect 75% of registered voters will actually vote.”

Georgia:

“I stood in line in Cobb County, GA for just short of two hours on October 13th. The poll workers said the shortest line they’d had so far was 45 minutes and that was back in September (Early Voting started Sept. 19th).

This is gonna be one for the history books.”

Have you voted early?

What was the experience like?

I’d love to hear from you!

What Can I Wear to Vote? What Can’t I Wear to Vote?

There is a lot of confusion about it. Some guidelines from snopes.com:

“It’s up to voters to be aware of what the regulations are at their local polling places; if you can’t get (or don’t have time to find) a definitive answer about what constitutes electioneering where you vote, you may want to leave apparel (or other decorative items) bearing the names of candidates home on election day, or at least be prepared to remove if asked. (For example, if you’re going to wear an “Obama” or “McCain” shirt to a polling place, be sure to bring some other clothing you can change into or cover up with just in case.) In general you should not be denied permission to vote for violating passive electioneering regulations; you should just be asked to leave the polling place & remove the items in question from public view before you re-enter.”

Yesterday I took a call from a woman who said she saw several Obama supporters right near the entrance to the Hamilton County Election Commission. I suggested that if she felt it was too close (the rule is no “electioneering” within 100 feet, then she should complain to the commission. That’s what I’d recommend you do if you think someone’s in a “gray area” - speak up. I’ve also read an instance of McCain-Palin electioneering going on in Charlotte, North Carolina:

“My husband has driven to two others in his attempt to vote today, and the scene has been so ridiculous that he has given up and will try again next week. At two of the spots where he tried to vote, he witnessed and was approached by two exceedingly aggressive McCain/Palin volunteers who were pulling people out of line, handing out brochures, and telling them “You really need to think carefully about your vote. If you plan to vote Obama, we would ask that you read this material and reconsider your vote.”

At one location, after approaching my husband aggressively, these volunteers were forcefully asked to leave by an employee and were told the police would be called if they did not cease and desist.”

If they’re within the bounds of the law (ie at an appropriate distance), then those folks have a constitutional right to do what they do.

But I hesitate to fully endorse doing this. Most people who show up to vote have already made up their minds. We should give those people the respect they deserve.

Tennessee was actually at the heart of a 1992 Supreme Court case - Burson v. Freeman (pdf file) - about what is & isn’t proper at the polling station:

Read the rest of this entry »

From the Scholastic website:

It’s official. At least for the kids! The Scholastic Presidential Election Poll results are in: Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama won with 57 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for Republican nominee Senator John McCain.

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Since 1940, the results of the student vote have mirrored the outcome of the general election all but twice: In 1948, kids voted for Thomas E. Dewey over Harry S. Truman. In 1960, more students voted for Richard M. Nixon than for John F. Kennedy. In 2000, a majority of student voters chose George W. Bush, mirroring the Electoral College result, but not the result of the popular vote.

From the AP:

“…a new Associated Press-Yahoo News poll, conducted with Stanford University, shows just how wide a gap remains between whites and blacks.

It shows that a substantial portion of white Americans still harbor negative feelings toward blacks. It shows that blacks and whites disagree tremendously on how much racial prejudice exists, whose fault it is and how much influence blacks have in politics.

One result is that Barack Obama’s path to the presidency is steeper than it would be if he were white.”

Read the rest of the story here.

The phenomenon of voters telling pollsters they’ll choose a black candidate, but voting otherwise inside the booth, is known as ‘the Bradley Effect,’ after Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley.

Learn more about “the Bradley Effect” here.

How much will feelings about race affect Barack Obama’s chances? Weigh in by posting a comment! All views are welcome.

& so here we are on the last primary day! Hard to believe that the 2008 Iowa caucuses were just a short 17 years ago.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.& we’re closing with Big Sky Country & the Mount Rushmore state. What do the polls tell us? Who cares? The endgame is nearly upon us, & today’s outcome will likely not change a thing.

Nope! Now it’s a matter of waiting for this particular historical metaphor to happen (indulge us, please)…

or…. maybe not?

Stay tuned! It’s only going to get more exciting from here.

Hey, why not impress your friends & go ahead & call what will happen in the next 72 hours!

..nothing?

..she (finally) capitulates?

..he offers her the VP ticket?

What? Give us your best guess!

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton has won a largely symbolic victory in Puerto Rico’s presidential primary.
Early returns show the former first lady winning a convincing victory over her rival Barack Obama.
A pre-election poll suggested she could wind up with nearly two-thirds support.
But even in defeat, Obama was on track to gain at least 14 delegates, bringing him within 50 of the 2,118 needed for the nomination.
Aides to the 46-year-old Illinois senator are predicting he will clinch the long-sought prize within days.
Montana and South Dakota hold primaries on Tuesday, the last of the primary campaign season.

Here’s an ad Clinton is now airing Montana & South Dakota:

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Kentucky vote tally here. Exit poll results here.

Oregon vote tally here. Exit poll results here.

Clinton’s victory speech (3 parts):

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Obama’s victory speech:

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So are we done yet?

Doesn’t look like it.. & yet it does.

Here’s the latest Gallup daily tracking poll:

What do you think? 

Welcome to Kentucky/Oregon primary day!

*Oregon’s is a closed primary. Registerd Democrats only.
*52 delegates are at stake
*The entire state votes by mail-in ballot, unlike all others. This could complicate things, as this Washington Post article explains.
*The Oregonian newspaper says turnout is likely to top 1 million. But that’s below their all-time record.

*Like Oregon, Kentucky’s a closed primary. Registered Democrats only.

*51 delegates are at stake.

It looks as if both Obama & Clinton will chalk up a win today.

But Barack Obama’s may be the more significant one, in that he could cross the threshold of a majority of pledged delegates offered in the entire contest.

Hillary’s got another trick up her sleeve, though. After today, she plans to claim she has won the popular vote.

What do you think? Who will win? Post a comment!

For the third time this year, a Congressional district that was once a Republican bastion has fallen to a Democratic candidate.

Travis Childers won over Greg Davis in the race for the 1st congressional seat in Mississippi, 56-44 percent.

This follows a GOP defeat in Louisiana and in Illinois (the latter being the seat vacated by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert).

In all 3 campaigns, the national GOP has funneled money to pay for advertising to tie in the Democratic candidate to national Democrats, including Barack Obama & Nancy Pelosi.

Last week, well before the Mississippi race proved him right, another former House speaker, Newt Gingrich, warned the entire GOP that using those tactics would be a non-starter as a strategy in November:

“The Anti-Obama, Anti-Wright, and Anti-Clinton GOP Model Has Been Tested — And It Failed

The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti- Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail.

This model has already been tested with disastrous results.

In 2006, there were six incumbent Republican Senators who had plenty of money, the advantage of incumbency, and traditionally successful consultants.

But the voters in all six states had adopted a simple position: “Not you.” No matter what the GOP Senators attacked their opponents with, the voters shrugged off the attacks and returned to, “Not you.”

The danger for House and Senate Republicans in 2008 is that the voters will say, “Not the Republicans.”"

If you’re a Republican who’s rooting for GOP to win this year, then the link above to the rest of Gingrich’s memo should be required reading. If the House leadership ignored Gingrich’s advice last week, you can bet on the fact that they’re paying close attention to it now.

& this week, it looks like they have made some changes. Yesterday, the House GOP announced its new campaign slogan.

…ready? 

It’s “The Change You Deserve.”

Catchy, no? Gotta go with change in your slogan in this “change” election year.

One slight problem, though:

The slogan is already used by the above company. The product? An antidepressant drug.

I suppose if the shoe fits, right?

What do you think? Post a comment!

Hillary Clinton won West Virginia by a 2-to-1 margin last night, 67% to Obama’s 26%.

Watch her victory speech:

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But the math remains a tough nut to crack.

Today Obama picked up three more superdelegates.

Yes, we’re back & feeling somewhat better. Thanks for all the kind get-well words. We have 5 posts in the works for today, so check back.

Hillary Clinton can’t close the deal, & her prospects for securing the Democratic nomination are slimmer as of this morning.

Exit poll results here. Interesting tidbits:

• The college student vote was decidedly split in both states
• Voters who called the Jeremiah Wright issue “an important factor” in their vote went overwhelmingly for Clinton. The inverse was true for Obama - voters who didn’t care about it went overwhelmingly for him.
• Voters who made their minds up in the last week swung Clinton. Guess that gas tax holiday pander worked for a lot of folks.

Now for some Cherokee County results! This is the only North Carolina county in the NewsChannel 9 viewing area [in red in the above map]. Despite a huge loss across the state [particularly in the central region known as the "research triangle,"], Clinton won huge in Cherokee County, 73%-25%. Interestingly, neighboring Clay County had the exact same percentage with about half the number of voters than Cherokee County. Details here from the hometown paper, the Cherokee Scout.

Another interesting Cherokee County factoid:

• Total Democratic voters: 3224
• Total Republican voters: 1075

A majority-Democrat county in the south? Yes, it’s more common than you think - Grundy County, Tennessee often shakes out the same way, too. The reason? Many southerners are so conservative that they vote against Republicans because of “that rogue Abraham Lincoln.” No, seriously.

What about Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” effect? It seems to have been a factor in Indiana, as outlined here. [by the way, we'd like to go on the record to say we have absolutely no problem with the strategy behind Operation Chaos. Democracies are messy things, & voters of all stripes have every right to vote how they want. To try to put a stop to it somehow would tarnish the democratic values we all share.]

Obama’s victory speech in North Carolina:

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Clinton’s “victory” speech in Indiana [2 parts]:

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So what happens next?

..ONLY THE UNCOMMITTED/UNDECLARED SUPERDELEGATES KNOW FOR SURE! STAY TUNED!!

Details on North Carolina polls here.

Details on Indiana polls here.

What the candidates should know about Indiana.
What the candidates should know about North Carolina.
Five things to look for in the Indiana results.
Five things to look for in the North Carolina results.
Eight questions that may be answered after today.
Native North Carolinian John Edwards & his wife Elizabeth (surprisingly) say they’re not going to endorse either candidate. See what their likes & dislikes are for each candidate here.
Will the North Carolina results drive Hillary to drink? Matt Drudge got his hands on an internal ‘expectations’ memo from the Clinton campaign that says yes.

Below: Obama campaigns in Indiana

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Below: Clinton campaigns in Indiana

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Below: Obama campaigns in North Carolina

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Below: Bill Clinton campaigns in North Carolina

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Your turn! Who’s gonna win which state?? PLEASE comment!!!!

Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary, 55% to 45%.

Analysis & video clips after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

HAPPY PENNSYLVANIA PRIMARY DAY!

More links & clips about today than you can shake a cheesesteak at, after you click “read the rest of this entry.

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Well, here’s a rebuttal to yesterday’s post about the sudden crucialness of North Carolina.

No, no, this article says — it’s Indiana that is the key state that will decide the fate of the Democratic nomination:

Indiana may be the one state remaining on the primary calendar where both candidates begin with a roughly equal chance of coming out ahead.

…

In Indiana, Obama has a home-field advantage, while Clinton has the backing of the popular Sen. Evan Bayh and may have an edge on the kind of economic issues that are likely to dominate the discussion before the state’s Democrats vote on May 6.

So what do the polls say? No idea. RealClearPolitics.com does not have any. Let me know if you see any.

May 6th will be very exciting. We can’t wait!

What do you think? Will North Carolina or Indiana be the deciding state? Post a comment!

JUST IN: TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida Democrats have abandoned plans to redo the presidential primary with a mostly mail-in vote. Party leaders had expressed concerns about the proposal. The party plan was to run a second primary to seat the state’s delegates at the August convention. The state party considered the idea because the Democratic National Committee is refusing to award delegates based on Florida’s Jan. 29 primary, in which Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won. The DNC stripped Florida of its delegates because party rules didn’t allow the state to vote before Feb. 5.

Mark Halperin’s page, The Page, over at Time Magazine, has the full letter from the Florida Democratic party. Key paragraph:

“A party-run primary or caucus has been ruled out, and it’s simply not possible for the state to hold another election, even if the Party were to pay for it. Republican Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio refuses to even consider that option. Florida is finally moving to paper ballots, which is a good thing, but it means that at least 15 counties do not have the capacity to handle a major election before the June 10th DNC primary deadline. This doesn’t mean that Democrats are giving up on Florida voters. It means that a solution will have to come from the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee, which is scheduled to meet again in April.”

This is not good news for the Clinton campaign.

What’ll happen? Will they split the delegates 50-50? Or how about adhering to the rules so states won’t try the same thing Florida & Michigan did this year?

What do you think?

Barack Obama won the Mississippi primary yesterday, 61% to Clinton’s 37%.

Based on those percentages, Obama will get 17 of the state’s 33 delegates, & Clinton will get 11. (there are 5 superdelegates still hanging).

Current delegate count: Obama 1606, Clinton 1484.

After the jump, we’ll

1. Take a look at some Mississippi voter exit polls,
2. Find out about another delegate win for Obama announced yesterday,
3. Look into Clinton’s argument that a primary win in a given state translates into a win for the party in the general election, &
4. Take a look ahead (a loooong look ahead) to the next primary, in Pennsylvania.

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to Mississippi Primary Day, the latest in our state primary/caucus travelogue.

33 delegates are at stake in today’s Magnolia state contest.

After the jump, we delve into polls & predictions — plus find out which state should have had their primary today.. but didn’t.

Read the rest of this entry »

Obama wins Wyoming, 61-38.

He gets 7 delegates added to Clinton’s 5.

Pledged delegates, Obama/Clinton: 1378/1223

Committed Superdelegates, Obama/Clinton: 210/245

Total delegate count as of Monday morning, Obama/Clinton: 1588/1468.

Obama has a 120-delegate advantage at the moment.

On to Mississippi! Check back for our upcoming preview of the Magnolia state primary soon…

Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower in the eastern part of the state offers an apt current metaphor, dontcha think?

It’s a safe assumption that Wyoming Democrats are a rare breed.

Republicans outnumber them in most districts by 2 to 1 — in some, they’re outnumbered 20 to 1.

But this weekend, those rare Democrats are going to get a big say in the momentum of the race to the Democratic nomination. 12 (suddenly crucial) delegates are up for grabs.

Some thoughts on whom the state will favor (& keeping with tradition a look at some of the state foods), after the jump.

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