I voted!

[Jeff]

That negative advertising does work to throw the other candidate off their game. Obama needs to get back on message and be ready to counter punch any crap they throw his way

Negative advertising disgusts me. I think Clinton's "3 a.m." ad is trying to say, "If you vote for Obama, a black man will sneak into your white house at 3 in the morning and kill your children."

I've also heard that some Republicans have been voting for Clinton in the Primaries because they believe Clinton can be beat for President, and that Obama can't.

I'm so happy for and proud of all of my friends who opted to be delegates. It's inspiring to see so many people active and passionate about... well, about a candidate who I like.

[shando]

I decided on Obama at the end though. Although, I wanted to be the guy who voted for Bill Richardson.

I liked Richardson too. He was actually the most experienced candidate the Dems had, especially on foreign policy. Hell the guy negotiated with Saddam and that that fucked up dictator in North Korea. I liked Edwards a lot too, but his message was too angry and that eventually turns voters off.

Don't underestimate the Clintons. As soon as everyone is ready to write them off, they find a way to come back. That negative advertising does work to throw the other candidate off their game. Obama needs to get back on message and be ready to counter punch any crap they throw his way

I'm calling it here that Obama wins the nomination (Athur's right that the delegate math is almost insurmountable for Hilary, depsite last nights great showing) and he picks Richardson as his veep. It will placate the Clintonistas as he was in Bill's cabinet, will get Hispanics onboard with Obama, and will help in the battleground state of New Mexico.

Also, I'm an Obama delegate to the county convention from the 135th precint, where we had 394 people come out and caucus last night in one tiny little church meeting hall. 40 Obama delegates and 17 for Clinton.

Ron Paul won my precint's Republican primary with 34 votes. McCain and Huck tied at 20.

[starkserious]

At my caucus I believe Obama won a definite majority of the 38 delegates we had. Not sure the exact amount. I agree that Obama will win out clearly on Delegates now...and picking Richardson as his VEEp is an excellent choice to shore up the Hispanic vote and provide the foreign policy experience factor Obama lacks.
Remember back 2000, Bush picked Cheney because had lots of foreign policy experience, and we all see how effective that was for us in digging a huge hole for us to climb out of in a new administration.

I'm still worried about the republicans and McCain. I just don't trust the voters around the nation to do the right thing yet in a general election. I hope I'm wrong about that this time!

[arthursimone]

Looks like when the dust settles from yesterday, Hillary comes out with a net gain of 4 delegates.

4.

Not exactly the comeback win she needed, yet now she's talking about Obama as her VP? As though the media will pick up that goddamn narrative. Oh wait, they will.

[nadine]

Looks like when the dust settles from yesterday, Hillary comes out with a net gain of 4 delegates.

4.

Not exactly the comeback win she needed, yet now she's talking about Obama as her VP? As though the media will pick up that goddamn narrative. Oh wait, they will.

The media.. including NYtimes is annoying me at how it keeps saying BIG WIN FOR CLINTON!!!!

[LuBu McJohnson]

Well, of course the media is going to milk this as much as humanly possible. They've got an insane amount of drama here, simply because, at the base of everything, it's "A black guy running against a woman, and it LOOKS incredibly close" You could run with something like that all the way to June.

But I've been seeing this kinda stuff since the 2000 election, when tension kinda fell into their laps.

2000: "Oh sweet god, it's all down to Flordia! The winner will be president, the loser will be shamed out of politics forever! We could project a winner at ANY MOMENT, people!"

2004: "Oh sweet God! it's all down to Ohio! The loser might as well kiss a man in public! GAAAH!"

2006: "HOLY FUCK, the democrats are only 6 representatives away from a majority in the house. Oh god, now 5! WE'LL STAY WITH IT ALL NIGHT!!" (While this wasn't as exiting, great efforts were still made)

And that's happening now...repeatedly, in 2008:
"It's ALL DOWN to South Carolina!"
"It's ALL DOWN to Super Tuesday"
"It's DO OR DIE in Texas/Ohio"
"It's DO OR DIE goin' DOWN in Pennsylvania"
"It's LIBERTY OR DEATH in Guam!"

Oh please, PLEASE GOD have them make a big deal about Guam.

[starkserious]

The media is hyping everything...look beyond the trees and you'll see the media forest which is full of hype and unsubstantiated news stories. The media is lazy because all they want to do is be fed stories by the spin masters. Just look how wrong they have been since the election has started. Most of the public is stupid and it doesn't take much for th media to distract them with a juicy story. Don't take your eyes off the prize folks. Key for OBama...Stay on message!...Stay on message!,...Stay on message!

[beardedlamb]

i'm for obama, but let me air an annoyance as well. i don't think low turnout of republican voters and/or caucusers is a reason to think obama will do well in typical republican strongholds, ie texas. democrats turned out because their vote actually matters right now. votes for huckabee or ron paul would be useless against the guy who claimed the nomination at 8pm central. remember, he was mathematically the winner two weeks ago.

let's just be careful about making obama such a highly lauded candidate sure to win in a landslide because everyone who came out will only listen to that and not the fact that they have to actually get back out and vote again in november.

[beardedlamb]

also, abc is picking up scrubs. that's weird. and offtopic.

[shando]

i'm for obama, but let me air an annoyance as well. i don't think low turnout of republican voters and/or caucusers is a reason to think obama will do well in typical republican strongholds, ie texas. democrats turned out because their vote actually matters right now. votes for huckabee or ron paul would be useless against the guy who claimed the nomination at 8pm central. remember, he was mathematically the winner two weeks ago.

let's just be careful about making obama such a highly lauded candidate sure to win in a landslide because everyone who came out will only listen to that and not the fact that they have to actually get back out and vote again in november.

I agree. The numbers from my precint just reflect that like lot of America, we segregate ourselves politically. My neighborhood is just super-duper Democratic.

And I know a lot of people think the ongoing nomination is bad for the Democrats. I know there are downsides, but for the first time in a long time the Dems are running a 50 state campaign, at least in the primaries. When was the last time Democratic candidates spent much time in places like Texas, Wyoming, Missisippi, etc. I don't think a Dem nominee will win any of those three states, but it's good in the long run that there are high profile contests in these states, putting Democratic issues in front of the public in places that often don't get exposed to them.

[vine311]

also, abc is picking up scrubs. that's weird. and offtopic.

I voted for Neil Flynn.

[Jessica]

Holy Shit! My daughter got in the Statesman for her part in the Caucus.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ ... r_del.html
She is so cool!

[Jeff]

Aww, that's rad. Happy Birthday to Catherine!

[Brian Boyko]

Well, of course the media is going to milk this as much as humanly possible. They've got an insane amount of drama here, simply because, at the base of everything, it's "A black guy running against a woman, and it LOOKS incredibly close" You could run with something like that all the way to June.

But I've been seeing this kinda stuff since the 2000 election, when tension kinda fell into their laps.

2000: "Oh sweet god, it's all down to Flordia! The winner will be president, the loser will be shamed out of politics forever! We could project a winner at ANY MOMENT, people!"

2004: "Oh sweet God! it's all down to Ohio! The loser might as well kiss a man in public! GAAAH!"

2006: "HOLY FUCK, the democrats are only 6 representatives away from a majority in the house. Oh god, now 5! WE'LL STAY WITH IT ALL NIGHT!!" (While this wasn't as exiting, great efforts were still made)

And that's happening now...repeatedly, in 2008:
"It's ALL DOWN to South Carolina!"
"It's ALL DOWN to Super Tuesday"
"It's DO OR DIE in Texas/Ohio"
"It's DO OR DIE goin' DOWN in Pennsylvania"
"It's LIBERTY OR DEATH in Guam!"

Oh please, PLEASE GOD have them make a big deal about Guam.

Don't laugh. Guam's got delegates. Seriously, if there's no clear winner after Pennsylvania, the next is North Carolina. No clear winner there? Puerto Rico, with 55 delegates.

[The Drewd]

Puerto Rico has almost as many delegates as Louisiana (56), more than Oregon and Kentucky.
It is sounding more and more possible that Florida will "do-over" their primary. Hillary is pushing for either that or to seat her FL delegates from January. Even with FL & MI delegates and a win in PENN, she still won't have enough delegates to pull ahead of Obama, but the closer to him she gets the more she will be able to declare the pledged delegates a near tie, and argue the superdelegates should then decide (in her favour).