David,
I think this is a crucial time for Hillary. She does need to win big to hit Obama where it counts…the delegates. But at the same time if she can atleast get a win that could get her back up and running with the public.

I really think that the way that they divide the delegates is insane. Why should someone who loses a state get as many delegates or more than the one that wins? That to me makes no sense what so ever. I really think that they need to change that. It should be winner takes all in my opinion!

Cynthia, Covington, Ga.

I’m an Ohioan who just voted. I noticed many Republicans “switching” to vote Democrat. My guess is so they could vote for Hillary (who CNN projects as having a better chance of being beat by McCain). How is this fair and allowed??

IN OHIO EDWARDS AND KUCINICH ARE BOTH ON THE BALLOT. IN A TIGHT RACE COULD ONE OF THEM BE A SPOILER FOR EITHER SEN. CLINTON OR OBAMA. COULD THEY BE THE RALPH NADER OF THE PRIMARY, TAKING JUST ENOUGH VOTES AWAY FROM ONE OF THE SENATORS?

Why is it the early front runner ,in this case Hillary, had to face so much more scrutiny and criticism than Obama had to endure in the early stages of the primary ? One would think the candidate who is the unknown , in this case Obama, would have had to face the acid test as a common rationale way of thinking.

The media whether they want to admit it or not has impacted these primaries and quite possibly to the detriment of the country.

Everyone already knows what Hillary Clinton stands for and what she has accomplished and the experience she possesses but as for Obama, the concern is with him is more and more information is surfacing on his background that is damaging and disconcerting.
If the people knew more about Obama from the onset , this race between he and Hillary Clinton wouldn’t be as close as it is now or it may even be over already.

I believe EACH STATE should have a presidential canidate. No strings attached, no billions of dollars spent, no cheating(lol), no shoes, no shirts, no problems.

David,

Once again thank you for such an insightful editorial . Jeremy must be one smart cookie to work for you.

I can’t help but think how the discussion re the process used by the Dems to come up with nominee parallels the discussion re the Electoral College. How a candidate can win the popular election and yet lose the election. That the college is unfair to large states. On and on. One thing your piece makes clear, candidates better employ some math majors along with the poly sci types if they want to run a strategic, smart race.

As one who has no plans to help keep a Republican in the White House, no matter how decent a man McCain is, I hope that either Hillary or Barack unexpectedly blows the other out of the water today. I am concerned that McCain gets to spend the weekend relaxing at his ranch serving reporters BBQ and recharging his batteries and Hillary and Barack are wearing themselves down to the nub going from venue to venue. The climate changes alone should be doing them in. Looking forward to the broadcast tonight.

Charlotte D
Stockton CA

PS: I did not think Hillary was a good fit last night on The Daily Show. Maybe if she had been in the studio it would have worked better. Colbert’s reaction to Jon’s “get” was funnier.

With all the talk that it appears mathematically impossible to turn things around given that there are few if any states that Clinton can win by double digits. I suspect that the Clinton camp is doing a lot more than just saving face. They either have a plan to make Florida and Michigan count or they ( Hillary) expect to use the delegates that they have acquired to bargain at the convention (don’t forget the super delegates).
It doesn’t seem clear to me that there is an exit strategy and I thought her quasi- valedictory speech at the Texas debates was a way to end the ride on a good note. I hope that she has not lost the timing advantage and ended up losing the election for the democrats as a whole. The egos involved are too big and so I am tempted to think that the current “fight” is less about winning the primary than about going down fighting.
We are having this concerns because it involves the Clintons and their knack for being fighters and “comeback” kids. If the camps were reversed, Obama, or I believe any other fair-minded democrat would have conceded in order to unify the party.
Clinton makes it sound like its her birthright. It is not.

It’s easy to understand the delegate math as shown by Jeremy & other experts on the gap/margin required to be closed by Clinton.

However, it’s difficult to understand how the results will be spun by both sides? And how the media may (or not) continue to amplify the louder ones deliberately or unknowingly. The “spin” noise & playing the psychology will confuse the heck out of majority Democrats who don’t practice cold math as Jeremy, J. King or C. Todd.

One thing is clear: the Republicans are enjoying the indecisive Democrat primary process - a Democrat mistake that may have to be paid in Nov.

As senior voters (I am 66; my husband is 69), we are Obama supporters. And, although we are registered as Independents, we usually vote Democratic. We thought we could comfortably support the Democratic candidate this time - whether HRC or Obama - but
HRC has begun to engage in such dirty politics, which sickens and disgusts us. This leads me to decide, that if she is the candidate, I will vote for McCain! My husband concurs. I wonder how many other people are being turned OFF OFF OFF.
Thanks, Leslie Oh

I”m very excited about Hillary’s prospects for today! I think this could really quiet some of the pundits who are trying to end her campaign before the rest of the voters have a say.
Go Hillary…this country needs you!

I was reading about the apportionment of Texas delegates and how 2/3 will be chosen by the primaries and 1/3 by caucuses. Over the last months, Barack has consistently performed better in caucuses and I found myself wondering if that fact would help him over the hump. Then I began to consider how silly it was to try to calculate what kind of difference how 1/3 of the delegates for one state would be distributed, but that is what it has come down to.

There’s no doubt that it has all made this one of the most exciting election years in decades, but when it’s over, we’re going to have millions of Democrats feeling that the seemingly arbitrary DNC rules made it something less (and MORE) than “one man, one vote,” no matter who wins.

Well, I suppose rules are rules and they all should abide by them, however Clinton wants the Florida and Michigan delegates to count for her even after signing on to the rules agreed upon by the DNC. That’s not surprisiong coming from her. What is surprising though, is CNN (not you by the way) openly campaigning for Clinton for the past several days, which gives new meaning to the old phrase “Clinton News Network”…

David,
Is it not politics as usual! We expected Hillary to win! The reason why Obama seems as a good challenger is because he is able to excite the common person about politics. Hillary will win and hopefully, today but would have taken away the zeal out of common person’s expectation of something different in the future! That’s would be a great loss!!

Great article. According to the polls, it does look like Hillary will win three of the four states today. But, if she comes away with a net gain of ten or fewer delegates, it will actually be a victory for Obama. With fewer and fewer opportunities for Hillary to catch him, a war of attrition is to his advantage, because, regardless of the party rules, I can’t see any scenario in which the Superdelegates vote against the outcome of the primaries. That would seem to be party suicide.

Until recently, Senator Obama was behind in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island by 20%. Therefore, if he loses these three states by 5% or less, it would be a much bigger victory than Senator Clinton’s.

I think that today, Senator Obama will extend his delegate lead regardless of the popular votes.

Mmmm… Mr. Gergen… here’s an idea. Why don’t you just wait and see…? and let the electorate vote. Then you can whitter on all you want about this and that. The story hasn’t even happened yet! As ‘Anderson Cooper360′ himself says, ‘get out of the way and let the story reveal itself’.

Hillary is done.

Stick a fork in her and move on!

It would be nice without a Clinton in the white house. This country has had to much of the Clinton family and Bush family. The country needs to move on past these two families and realize that there are other people in the US that can lead this country.

Obama has got up a head of steam. I think the country is finally realizing that we have other options. They might not be the best options but, at least they are options.

If it comes down to McCain and Obama in the general election, many will be hard pressed to choose between them.

Only time will tell.

Beverly, Massachusetts

The weather is horrible in most of Ohio except southeast Ohio where Obama is strong. The young and diehard Obama fans would get out in a blizzard if need be…while the 65 and over and soccer mom Clinton fans won’t. I now believe Obama can actually come very close to beating Hillary in Ohio. Who would think a sleet/snow storm might determine the Democratic nominee?

If Hillary surged (I doubt it) it would be due to her negativity which has become her MO lately. Obama seems to do better than the polls predict. The real question here is how the Clinton campaign will spin the results

Cindy–

The repulicans do an “all or nothing” distribution of delagates in most of their states. Even when just under half of the popular vote goes to Huckabee, his supporters get NO DELEGATES.

It seems to me that having the popular vote determine the distribution of delegates is more democratic! Every vote counts in every state! I love the POWER OF DEMOCRACY!

This entire election including the delegates is messed up. To begin with, why have seperate states voting months apart from each other. What one person may have voted for in January, new information changed their opinion in March. Their should be one national election for the democratic/republican parties so everyone voting are all on the same page at the same time. They should also all be primaries, it should go by popular vote nationally eliminating the delegates and so on. The whole eledtion process is overly complex and messed up and needs to be simplified just like the tax code. Too be fair and just everyone’s vote need to be weighed equally across the board, wether it comes from Alaska, Florida, or California.

The thing I am concerned about is if Hillary wins both, then the ald statements that she wins the big states comes back out. The problem with this is it makes it seem that all the other states don’t matter and the votes from those states don’t matter. It demeans all the voters of of all the other states and makes it appear as their votes don’t count. The other problem if Hillary wins by a small margin and continues on, it will just raise the negativity and division that is beginning to appear within the party. If goes on much longer like it has been, the supporters of the odd one out will end not voting or not supporting the last one standing no matter what the person they supported says.

I agree Cindy. I live in Texas and haven’t met a person yet that understood the two step process. Worse yet, half of them don’t even know it exists! We’re learning now due to the intense interest in this election.

Each person should get one vote and that’s it. Obama has a tremendous advantage in caucus states and I’m afraid TX may be no different. But:

I’M 2 STEPPIN’ FOR HILLARY BABY!!!!

Cindy, if it were winner-take-all, the primary would be basically decided by two states (California and New York). This is exactly the mindset that has caused the Democrats to lose so many national elections over the years. By forcing the nominating process to travel through so many states, it allows all major candidates to build support and more importantly, ground operations in a number of states. This, as you know, allows us to be more competitive in a ton of states in the general, rather than focusing on Florida, Ohio, and a couple other “purple” states. One wrong turn in any single one of those, as we’ve seen, results in something like King George being sworn in. The current system for the Democrats is a much more engaging, democratic, and ultimately effective way to determine a nominee.

Jeff, Bozeman, MT

David, Thanks for more of your (and Jeremy’s) great insight. I was beginning to wonder what exactly to look for tonight, as it appears that the Clinton team are poised to continue the Campaign regardless of the outcome, and unless there is a “Mitt Romney” style capitulation for their camp, it seems that we are well on our way to a divided convention. I only hope that this year’s Democratic convention isn’t similar to the Republican one in 1976, in which everyone realized the wrong candidate was selected after the competitor gave their convention speech.

I for one like the democratic primary system. It is more pluralistic and enables our party to actually capture the will of a grassroots movement.

It would be easy to say California is The Bay Area and Los Angeles and a winner take all approach to a democratic primary would always favor the candidate that did best there. However that ignores the democrats and their values in other sections of the state which are on large more moderate to conservative.

By creating a primary system that accounts and gives a delegate voice to the more purple constituents of the party we have created a system that can and will allow our party to evolve. It takes a candidate like barack that locks up a traditional voting block of the party. Blacks in his case residing primarily in the dominant urban centers of the democratic party and then allows them to augment with a broader cross section outside the urban core that otherwise decides our primaries.

We as a party will be stronger for having motivated these more purple voters come november. Our system itself gives more incentive to independents and creates a better opportunity to expand our party base by enabling a broader spectrum of voices in the primary. Competition is healthy.

If you forgo the spin and look at the delegate count then Jeremy Haber’s comment to “watch the margins” is correct. I have seen at least two scenarios that give Hillary Clinton improbable wins in states following Texas, Ohio, Vermont and RI. In all of them she is still unable to get even with Obama after the fat lady sings. If her margins are slim tonight she is in trouble.

But you are correct in that a major victory for her tonight could reverse the Big Mo after which she could begin to weigh her options.

All in all I think that tonight will be a surprise for the Clinton camp with Obama coming out on top with an additional 15-25 delegates and I look forward to how his team responds since they have been excellent so far and surely we cannot expect them to lie down and take the Camp Hillar abuse for too long. What a fight !!!

I voted this morning for Barack and it was an awesome experience! After months and months of watching everyone else participate, it was great to finally get involved.

I agree that if Hillary wants to stay in this, she better win big tonight. I have high hopes that this will not happen though.

And please, Democratic Party, DO NOT adapt the “winner takes all” senerio in the future. How is that fair at all? Instead of everyone’s voice being heard, only the winner, which may not be the majority in some cases, would be recognized. That is the worst idea I have ever heard…

Cynthia, I agree that the current system is not ideal, but I don’t believe in winner take all either. In winner take all a close wins in a few big states could end the campaigns early. Each state sets up it’s own system, so reform will be difficult. Here in Colorado we have caucuses, which are inherently undemocratic, but the parties and the state don’t want to take on the expense of an election.

Lew, Denver

Cynthia may be right in the fact that the system seems insane but do we really want to be Replicans where Fl. decided everything just because it was winner take all. With only a plurality, McCain won Fl. and no one could catch him with that kind of delegate total. I like that this election has gone as far as it has. I hope it goes down to the wire or in this case PR in June.

I am in favor of abolishing the superdelegate system entirely.

For now, I say keep the representative delegate system, but it needs to be set up more scientifically. The number of delegates awarded to each candidate needs to be based upon the popular vote. Delegates in any given state would be awarded based on math, nothing to do with regions, etc. For example if Clinton wins 1/4 of TX she could get 25 delegates. If Obama were to win 2/3 of Texas, for example he would be awarded 75 delegates.

This idea would keep some of the current system and revamp the old.
again, I would throw the superdelegate system in the trash can of history.

From an Obama supporter

Cynthia,
The downside to ‘winner-take-all’ is the less populated states would never see a candidate. It could also create a scenario where a nominee got selected and won significantly fewer states. The scenario you describe is how the electoral votes are distributed during the Presidential election - which the Repubs exploited perfectly the past two times.
Hoot

I have to agree fully. After toying with the “delegate game” here on CNN, according to the “game”, it would take a sizable win today for Clinton to advance enough to continue.
I’m not so sure the margin is being studied as much as it should be.
According to my less than professional calculations, I see no way that Clinton can pull off the nomination.

He could get more delegates because it is set up to represent the people and how many of them are in each particular county. It is all geared to be representative of the peoples voice.

Cindy,
If that were the case (winner take all) Obama would be the winner right now. Go Obama!

David,

The problem with your article is that you assume the vote will be close in both states. Hillary Clinton will not only win tonight but will win huge. She will win Ohio by the requisite 20 points tonight and she will win Texas by 10 to 12 points. This will not only allow her to emerge with a significant delegate count tonight but the monemtum created by tonight will destroy Obama’s campaign. I am an Obama supporter but Clinton is the Democratic nominee for this cycle. Obama should drop out of the race tomorrow morning because after tonight not only will the superdelegates flock to Clinton Obama’s superdelegates will begin abandoning him tomorrow.

GREAT reporting! Sounds like you have a good intern! Looking forward to your commentary tonight on this race. The few African-American, husbands, fathers, and college educated supporters of Hillary are ready for a victory for her and this country!

Have you any idea how hard it is to be my demographic and support Hillary? It does not help that so many of her white female supporters look down on African-American men like me at her events.

One would think they would be glad we are there supporting her. Let me tell you, there is nothing more menacing than………..

I am completely opposed to the winner-take-all route, but the explanation I’ve heard of how this delegate splittling can be accomplished has to do with the population density of what district the voters are representing.

It’s a disgrace that the media insists on propping up the Clinton candidacy like this. She’s lost eleven in states in a row - if it weren’t for the pundit’s willingness to be bullied by her political machine, the Democrats would have a nominee by now and be focusing on November.

David,

Jonathan Alter has just written a column on Newsweek - it basically says that even if Hillary wins ALL remaining (16) contests and wins them by large margins AND if she wins all four contests today, she will STILL be behind Obama by about 50 odd pledged delegates. So, it basically argues that the math just isn’t there for Hillary even if she does the impossible.

Not sure if I can post a link here (the article is called ‘Hillary’s Math problem’ and it is on Newsweek’s website), but what do you think about his assessment?? Is it truly already over??

More broadly, my concern, as an Obama supporter, is this: After today’s wins in Ohio and Texas, Senator Clinton will be viewed as being “back in the race”, having interrupted Senator Obama’s string of victories. With little on the horizon until Pennsylvania, some six weeks away, the media will spend way too much time talking about Senator Clinton’s resuscitated campaign. She’ll likely win Pennsylvania, which will reinforce the image of her great comeback. Presumably, Senator Obama wins North Carolina, Indiana, and Mississippi, but will the media say those wins are too small or too little, too late? Then, Senator Clinton becomes the Democrats’ nominee, which alienates many of the folks who supported Senator Obama and which galvanizes the Republican right (and Republican fundraising), leaving the Republicans with a great reason to head to the polls in November while disenchanted Democrats stay home. President McCain?

Seems that Obama cannot win the big states convincingly. It is compared NJ against ID, but in the General election ID wont matter as is a heavy red state, instead NJ will matter for the Electoral College. Sorry, but I think Obama wins where it does not matter.

Patrick…will you pass whatever it is you’re smoking?

Hillary will not win by huge margins in either Ohio or Texas.
I think the basis of the article is sound; there is one outlier however. The article neglects the fact that this “gap” was substantial in the past few weeks. Sure Hillary has shown a little growth in the past 2 -3 days, but little growth over the weekend is nothing compared to the amount her campaign bled after losing 11 in a row.

She’s got money now - whoohoo, so does Obama. Money can’t cover up years of well founded public mistrust.

Hillary, you want to start mending some fences? Release your taxes already, even I know how to send my hubby to H&R Block!

patrick from indianapolis has some very rosey glasses he’s wearing!
we’ll see tonite!

David,

This is a very interesting article. Even if Senator Clinton wins Texas and Ohio, all indications are that it will not be by huge margins. However, she may also take RI, where does this put her momentum then? From everything we can see Senator Obama will take VI handily.

So, we have a virtul fifty-fifty on two states, and a one and one on the other two. That would put us at a tie for the night. What will that mean moving forward?

Does this mean that the deligate count will be virtually the same as it is now only closer to the final number?

For some reason my gut tells me we are going to know a little bit more than that after this evening plays out…

R-Dub KC

Already put my chip in for Obama…in MO

Counting delegates always seems to be a crap shoot, and that is only one portion of all the primaries/caucuses that needs to be reviewed. I truly feel time has come for some kind of unified voting system, people just get too confused. Like how Clinton won the Nevada caucus, but got a lower number of delegates.

However,on another note, has anyone even noticed that the states that Obama has won are actually “red states” (republican) in November? Clinton has won a larger percentage of the states that are “blue” (democratic). We’ll see what happens.

Even with wins in both Ohio and Texas, I don’t understand how Hillary can come back. Mathematically, any come back on the pledged delegate count is highly unlikely given that this is a tight race and Barack already has a 100 or so delegate lead. Furthermore, the notion that super delegates will flock back to Hillary because she narrowly won a few states, and is still far behind in pledged delegates, is a bit of stretch. Those super delegates are politicians and they know all too well what will happen if they go against the will of the voters and the pledged delegate leader. Maybe you can tell your friends in the press to stop spreading the delusion that Hillary has a plausible road to winning the nomination. Or, if that’s too much, maybe you could explain how it is even likely that Hillary could win, because from my perspective the odds of her winning are slim at best.

Cindy: If it were winner take all, then the odds would go in Obama’s favor yet again. By my calculations, Clinton would still trail Obama (730 pledged delegates to his 805). The reasoning behind proportional delegate distribution is to keep states with large delegate counts (i.e. CA, NY, NC) from sweeping every nomination process. “X number of delegates for the candidate that won X% of votes,” seems fair to me.

In either case, I agree with Gergen:”Watch the margins”…and watch Obama win! (Had to put that in.)

I think the way the democrats count delegates should be trashed. Especially the caucuses. You get one activist in there and people will vote for their nominee just to shut that person up. And the caucuses do not measure the will of all the people.

Lastly, I saw Howard Dean on either CNN or MSNBC and he was asked about Florida. Then the analyst said that the governor of Florida would consider a second primary since it was a Republican legislature that changed the primary. Howard Dean said that was a possibility but expensive and that there were other options but they needed to be presented to the DNC. In my opinion, that seemed to be an opening up of the Florida delegates counting. What do you think?

The only way the Ohio and Texas primaries are of any consequence is if either candidate wins big. Polls indicate that this is not going to happen. The upcoming primaries are all favoring Obama (demographics and constiuents) which will give him three to four more wins before Pennsylvania. The popular viote is great, but delegates are what count and right now, Hillary needs to discuss with Mike Huckabee about that “Miracle Math” he loves so much. Because that is exactly what she needs!

David, that is quite fatalistic. Numbers don’t lie. It will be VERY difficult for Hillary to catch Obama in the delegate column. Very difficult. It’s Hillary’s own fault for not running harder in the small states…or maybe, Obama just outcampaigned her there, and basically everywhere else. His organization has been nearly flawless. In my eyes, this speaks to how he can run the country. There is growing evidence that Hillary’s campaign has been very loosely run, and poorly strategized. If she won, I would hate for that loose organization to be a harbinger of a Clinton2.0 Presidency. Go Obama, go.

I’ve been watching this as well and something I also want to point out is how the delagtes per state are given out. Bigger citiesand areas with college campuses tend to get more county delegates that smaller and more rural areas. It could be a harsh reality for the Clinton camp who doesn’t do as well as Obama does in the bigger, delegate rich areas. He has historically lead in these more populated areas and gets the attention of the people there. Hillary thus far has aimed at getting the mexican vote in Texas and the working class votes in Ohio excpet that may not benefit her in the way she thinks it will based on the counties she focuses on. We’ll have to see how it plays out!

don’t ya’ll just love it when someone throws in “I’m an Obama supporter” in their posts?.. just to say he should drop out despite the fact that HE IS WINNING?.. You just got to LOL.

All humor aside, today is a big day for America. Hopefully, we’ll be choosing the eventual democratic president. Either of them will be better than anyone else on the conservative side. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize and not lower ourselves and the party to petty bickering.

Do ya’ll really want to risk 4 more years of Bush policy… or even leave it to somebody even OLDER?

The method the Democrats use to calculate the delegate count is insane. I will never understand why our elections aren’t decided by the popular vote of the people.

When the general election comes around, the same is true of the Electoral College. It should be the popular vote which decides the winner.

The most important point on which Clinton has been promoting herself is “experience”, “35 years of public service” and “ready on day one” theme, finally culminating into the “tease the sentiment” with the “3am phone call” ad piece. Why has not anyone (including Obama) squarely and pointedly asked her what experience is she talking about? Does just being the president’s wife make someone experienced for a president’s job or does the “1st lady type social hobnobbing” with world leaders (and that too mostly their spouses and children) make her better eqquiped to sit opposite to other world leaders. Why has not this been addressed squarely in debates and media?

I would like to ask if anyone knows where the popular vote stands? I would also like to know why one candidate can get more popular votes, yet less delegates? How is this representative of the people? I don’t think either candidate should drop out until after all of the primaries are completed in June. And even then, if it is still close, let it go to the convention. And if the Superdelegates are to be truly representative of their constituency, they should vote the way the popular vote goes.

I can’t fathom why someone would think it’s unfair that a huge win in Vermont would matter more than a squeaker in Ohio.

It’s the *people* that count, folks. If the margin of victory in Ohio is 10,000 votes and the margin of victory in Vermont i 20,000 votes, that means *more people voted for Obama*.

The inane “winner take all” system that we use for the general election is anti-Democratic, and it’s what gave us President George W. Bush.

Patrick in Indi…..

That’s a lot of wishful thinking. Obama’s support in TX and OH is too strong for her to win by that much, if she wins at all. I don’t think her 11th hour theatrics have worked as much as you might think.

Obama 08!

I agree that the margins are critical. However, if Hillary actually wins the popular vote she’ll be deemed a viable candidate which will matter greatly. One, she will be able to hold onto her superdelegates in the final crunch for the nomination. And two, Hillary would also be able to say that most of the big states critical in the Presidential election would go for her. A big get!

wow
great story

hrc is running out of states .

peace

Well with the winner take all they could also move up how many delegates that it takes to win therefore giving all states a say in the election. Double or triple the number if they had to but the way it is now is crazy!!

Cynthia, Covington, Ga.

Jeremy’s right. All you guys should listen to your research assistants.

Texas is more likely to provide a solid margin of victory than Ohio because of the way they award their delegates. Texas also contains two advantages for Obama that’s not likely to be reflected in the polls. The first is the oft mentioned Texas two-step; Obama does better in caucuses and a sizable number of delegates will be wone there. The second advantage is that more delegates are distributed to districts with high numbers of Democratic voters. That gives more clout to cities like Dallas and Houston where there are more African Americans live. And vote.

I’m surprised you don’t mention the media battle. You said psychology trumps math, and you’re right, but you didn’t say whose psychology. In primary politics, the spoils go to whoever the news considers the winner.

We have all been so excited that we are lucky to have two wonderful choices to vote for President ! You guys are ruining all of the fun by talking about Hilliary needs to quit before the party is torn apart. Please!!!
If George 1 and 2 couldn’t destroy a party I think we are safe.
What is happening though is The Hardball team is getting me so upset for the last two days. All oif the talk about how Hilliary is throwing the Kitchen sink. That is just asking the questions that needed to be ask.

You are telling me that you wouldn’t want more answers. The answer to the question is the press harder on Clinton absolutely yes!

How can you keep saying to save the party she has to get out.

We have the Super delegates now let us see what they are all about
Nancy Greenburg from Gresham, Or. 97080

I hope Hillary wins today in either Ohio or Texas by even a small margin, and the popular vote remains close in the other State. That should prove she still has the edge where it counts, in States where a democrat can win in the fall.
It surprises me how quick the pundits and insiders have been to announce Hillary’s upcoming funeral, when she is obviously still very much alive.
Obama is still a virtual unknown. The romance generated by his spring rhetoric could wear pretty thin by summer, especially if he doesn’t handle the scrutiny coming his way very well. We already know Hillary has flaws, and they are a part of what makes her who she is, a fighter who genuinely has a heart for the people beating inside her.
I don’t think the electorate is through deciding this race yet.
Hillary should not even consider getting out now!

I think there is a lot to be said for what Huckabee did - he stayed in the race on the GOP side even when the math was against him to allow the voters to at least have a choice or an option to send a message that they didn’t want McCain.

I think win or lose Hilliary and Obama should stay the course until one of them gets the magic number of delegates needed; after all there are still more primaries scheduled. It would be a shame for the people who will vote in those primaries not to have a voice in picking the nominee. Not much incentive to vote if there is only one person on the ballot.

And while Obama has won more states some of those states are Southern states which in the general election has voted GOP since the 1960s. The wins in those states in the end may not mean much for the Democrats. In Alabama at least there is every indication that the state will go with the GOP again this election year. If that is true for the other southern states then Obama’s wins there don’t mean much in the end.

Annie Kate
Birmingham AL

David,
Love the reference to the London Tubes. When we were stationed(Military) in Europe and visited London, it took me a whole day to (one) understand what that recorded voice was saying and (two) figure out what it meant. I’m not saing I’m ignorant, just a mid-west girl wondering why they wouldn’t just say, “watch your step” or “watch the giant space at the edge of the door”.

So, I am a Hillary supporter, and thus I am very, very pleased with Tuesday II results. I have made phone calls, I will make more and am considering going to Pennsylvania to ‘roll-up my sleaves’ for my candidate. I will add, leaving 3 little kids behind with a grandparent to fend for themselves…..THAT’S HOW IMPORTANT it is to me.

A week ago, I used CNN figures for all of the states posted on the ticker, and did the math with the total popular vote, I then asked if CNN woud post a running tally (like they do in the general elections) of the total popular vote. I UNDERSTAND that both elections are actually determinded not by the popular vote but by electoral votes (general) and delegate votes (primaries). However, I think (by your comments in this piece) you think it is important too. SO PLEASE use your influence at CNN and ask them to put up the total popular vote tally from here on… It is a significant piece of data that should not be overlooked. Thanks David, and I look forward to more of your bloggs.

Hillary has always had my vote here in Texas, and I am so very proud of her ability to hang in there and stay strong. That is an enormous attribute for a leading a strong nation, after all a country as a whole benefits or suffers based on its leadership. We definitely need a strong leader to revive our current woes. She is the “man” for the job. Obama needs to loosen his arrogance and pay attention to how a real commander in chief shows leadership. In my opinion he is big on messages and on exploiting inexperienced youth, but would be far lacking in delivering on his messages. Rock on Hillary!

I found myself getting discouraged the more I watched the news coverage last night. It is inconsistent. Before the primaries, they said that Hillary needed to win by a sizable margin in order to change the momentum in this race. She did not. They acted like she won by a landslide. They kept referring to the fact that she makes a strong statement that she can carry the larger states. Hello, the margins were not that big. Barack can make the same statements. If you take the voter turn out for Barack Obama in Texas and Ohio, it was still more than the Republicans combined. Hillary, out of her desperation has played upon the fears of, let’s face it, white America who is one negative ad away from reverting back to the same old Jim Crow mentailites that blacks are not to be trusted or accepted into mainstream America. She has lost my respect. With that said, keep the faith. Barack did not make it this far because he was weak or inferior. His message of change is widely accepted. His ability to cross racial boundaries to appeal to the humanity of men is still powerful and alluring. He will recover from this and regain the so called “momentum” without stooping to her level and her bottom feeding antics.

Get over it Hillary has pulled out a upset Obama thought he had it signed, sealed, & delivered just to be shown not yet. Media wake up and start asking the questions that matter. Why didn’t he “know” what his top adviser was doing concerning Canada. Why he won’t answer questions about his connection an business transactions with the slumlord. How the first time he is put under pressure he can’t even respond to the questions posed by the news. Why his wife Michelle didn’t think she could actively support Clinton if Hillary beat her husband. Why Michelle says this is the first time in her adult life she has been proud of America. Why if Obama had good judgment he went into business with a slumlord. Why he has yet to return all the money from special interests and the slumlord. Why he hasn’t denounced the racist group that supports him. Oh and that is just the start. As for me I agree that the bias of media is showing they have already spun last night as Obama win,lol. The “NUMBERS” don’t add up for Clinton nor Obama so stop with the number count it is stupid and put there just to sway voters to vote Obama so he will win Which no one knows yet, if we look at the super delegates Hillary has a jump on Obama. Hillary has won the states I think matter when it comes to the election votes in Nov. AS A VOTER I’M TIRED OF EVERYTIME SOMEONE SPEAKS PRO HILLARY CNN CUTS THEM OFF OR JUMPS ON THEM. Let’s get real. I don’t see pro Hillary people interrupting nor just being plain out rude.

I want Hillary to win that’s all I can say! I cannot believe that Americans have fallen for the MOVEMENT campaign. I live in Illinois and what has he done? The Southside of Chicago is a mess! Drugs, unemployment at an all time high. I’m an africian american and chicago doesn’t offer that much for our youth on the southside. Again what has he done in the state that he represents now. Oh, sure the guy is educated and good looking but what CHANGE has he done in the position he holds at this time.

Hillary now has the overall popular vote out of all the primaries that have voted so far. What will the DNC do if she ends up with the overall popular vote but Obama ends up with the most elected delegates?

What about Hillary’s argument that she is winning the big democratic states, where Obama is not winning the big states that will help in the general election?

This is off thread. But did you hear that Senator Mccain offered his wife up during the sturgis South Dakata speech to be in the Buffalo Chip beauty pageant? It’s a topless woman pageant, that some times the women end up bottomless to! He said his wife could be the first lady for the white house, and the Buffalo chip queen for the beauty pageant at the same time! People are out raged over it! She looked so embarrassed, with a frozen smile on her face while beer belly men, and dope heads, old vets and Hell’s Angels Bikers and chick Bikers all cheared and cheered him on to say more about his wife! How bad can his campagne get?