One last thought about last night's primaries/caucus

How about a quick delegate rundown for last night… keep in mind that all these numbers are tentative, as final vote tallies continue to creep in from the post-Texas primary Texas caucus (yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds…)

Vermont, which Sen. Obama won, and its 15 delegates: Obama grabs 9 and Clinton 6.

Rhode Island, which Sen. Clinton won, and its 21 delegate: Clinton gets 12 while Obama still gathers 8.

Texas PRIMARY, which Clinton won, and its 126 delegates: Clinton takes 65 but Obama still grabs 61, only four less than what Clinton, the winner, got.



Ohio, which Clinton won, and its 141 delegates: Clinton took 76 while Obama grabbed 65.

So for the night, Clinton grabbed 191 delegates while Obama scooped-up a still-respectable 178.

The overall lead in pledged delegates, as of now, per CNN;

Obama: 1,257

Clinton: 1,127

If you add super-delegates, Obama has 1,451 and Clinton 1,365 with 2,025 needed to officially secure the nomination.

What does all of this mean?

Well, the stark reality of it is that, despite her three state victories last night, Clinton only chipped away at Obama's pledged delegate lead, and if Obama can show he's not going to collapse under the weight of Clinton's assault, there will be no reason for the super delegates to overturn the will of the voters in either pledged delegates or the popular vote)… and, as my esteemed colleague Scott says, with the way the delegates are divided, in order for Sen. Clinton to pull ahead in the pledged delegate count she would have to win the rest of the primaries and/or caucuses by 65% in each state… which, barring Sen. Obama having a secret love-child with Brittany Spears, will NOT happen.

As always; stay tuned…

Hmmmm...

Methinks the media needs to tone things down just a tad…

McCain is being projected as the winner on the gop side in Ohio and Vermont…

On the Democratic side, Obama is being named the projected winner in Vermont, while the other Dem races are too close to call… which might have something to do with the fact that the polls just closed…

Hopefully I'll have some updates later... stay tuned.

UPDATE: Per CNN; the McCain camp is agog that if they can clinch tonight, "President" Bush will endorse him tomorrow.

Yes, you read that right; they're excited about the prospect of Mr. 19% endorsing him.

Hmmmmmm... I think I'm excited about it as well...

Teehee...

What's up with Iowa & New Hampshire?

I’m in my mid-thirties and, for as long as I can remember the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary have always been the first salvo in the presidential campaign process.

As I grew older, started thinking for myself and got more interested in politics, I’ve often questioned the unwarranted amount of power that these states wield for both Democrats and republicans… after all; neither state is particularly representative of the rest of the US from a demographic, economic or political standpoint…

It is important to bear in mind that no state is uniform in its demographic or cultural makeup as every town, city, village in states that lean conservative have pockets of Liberalism and vice versa, but rather I am suggesting that these states are among some of the least representative of this country and, therefore, are an unfortunate choice for early presidential primaries.

Before on this blog I’ve postulated about a national primary…. but the more I think about that scenario, the more I become dissatisfied with that plan and instead think a regional primary system, one where each state is separated into 4 or 6 regions and each region votes on the same day, would be more beneficial…

But I also think that politics should stop at the waters edge… and I am not very confident, that the primacy of Iowa and New Hampshire in this process is likely to change in my lifetime.

But one can hope…

No real earth shattering surprises....after all it's only Iowa.

The Iowa Caucus' (which is basically a game of musical chairs on the Democrat side..) are over and the winners are....... a Democratic win for Barack Obama and on the other side of the aisle a Republican win for Mike Huckabee.

Okay, is anyone really surprised by this? No, not if you can read or have watched at least 2 minutes of TV in the past month.

If there was any surprise it was in the 2nd and 3rd place finishes.

On the Democratic side 2nd place was captured by John Edwards while Hillary Clinton came in 3rd.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney came in 2nd with 3rd place being snatched by Fred Thompson.

Low 'caucus' results dealt death blows to the campaigns of Christopher Dodd and Joe Biden. Both will abandon their runs for the White House.

Okay now that the 'caucus' are officially over, can we now please go about the business of ignoring anything to do with the state of Iowa for the next 4 years ?