Clinton cruises to easy win in Kentucky

May 20, 2008

As expected, the moments the polls closed in Kentucky, the networks called the state for Hillary Clinton. The votes are still being tallied, but it’s not close.

That said, it probably won’t be a landslide on par with West Virginia. With about 48% of the precincts reporting, Clinton’s lead over Obama is about 20 points, 58.4% to 37.9%. The margin may yet increase, but I kind of thought Obama would lose by a lot more.

As for the exit polls, they weren’t encouraging for the party.

A majority of voters in Kentucky said they would be dissatisfied if Obama is the nominee, including nearly 8 in 10 Clinton voters. By contrast, half of Obama’s supporters say they would be dissatisfied with Mrs. Clinton.

Just 1 in 3 Clinton voters said they would vote for Mr. Obama in a general election. About 4 in 10 of them said they would vote for John McCain, the likely Republican nominee. And nearly 1 in 4 said they wouldn’t vote at all.

In contrast, 7 in 10 of Obama supporters said they would back Mrs. Clinton against Mr. McCain in November.

And there’s this: About 20 percent of white voters (and almost 90 percent of the voters were white) said race was an important factor in their vote, and nearly 9 in 10 of them supported Mrs. Clinton.

Most voters in Kentucky also said that Mr. Obama shares the views of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. (though just about 2 in 10 think he shares them a lot). About half do not think Mr. Obama is honest and trustworthy and slightly more than half said he does not share their values.

I’ll be back in a bit with more.

Update: This is far more in line with expectations — with 87% of the vote reporting, the margin of Clinton’s lead is up to 35%.

Living in San Francisco it is a long way from living in the “Real World” judging by what I’ve been witnessing lately. I really feel sorry for some people who have such sheltered minds.

  • I am working in GA this week and some KKK klown down here has said that Obama is going to get a bullet in his head…either now or if elected, without a doubt. It was on the nightly news last night.

    This is the world we live in.

    What did the WV voters say? He’s not all American. Or, to quote Sir Mixalot’s little diddy, (s)he’s just so BLACK.

    This truly is AmeriKKKa. Disgusting.

    Live Frankly

  • What’s discouraging? The odds of the Democrat winning Kentucky in November is zero, no matter who the candidate is, so who cares what these voters think of Obama? Clearly their views are not shared by the majority of Democratic voters and independents in states that Obama won or narrowly lost. Kentucky won’t be a swing state in the general election, but Obama can win without it.

    Incidentally, it looks like he’s going to lose by much more than 20 points. The gap is now at about 34 points in Clinton’s favor.

  • This is another article with stupid fractions. Not just fractions, but stupid ones.

    So, you get 7 in 20 of Democratic Primary voters won’t vote for the Democratic candidate!

    About half of voters don’t think either candidate are trustworthy!

    It’s all just made to feed the trolls, it is.

  • MSNBC did not correct Clinton’s lie that she won the most popular votes.

    IT’S A LIE!.

  • Democrats and Progressives have reaped what the Clinton’s race baiting and McCarthyism has sowed.

    And now she has the fucking gall to claim victum to sexism. She is a gutter snipe corrupt to the core.

    They are a sickening pair, and have destroyed their reputation

  • Could we just swap with Cuba—make them the 50th state, and renounce KKKentuKKKy as a state sponsor of terror[ac]ism? Their race horses keep dying, their whiskey is worse than piss-n-vinegar, and we don’t even really need Fort Knox to keep all of our gold in any more (since it’s all in Paul $$$ anyway)….

  • Chris, she just said that her vote count was higher than prior years.

    …Which is true. It doesn’t also point out that Obama also has more votes. But he’s running this year.

    That’s how much Democrats are energized.

    Think about it.

    Accept it.

    Accept her issues.

    Win in November – even with Obama on the header.

  • Crissa,

    She said…and I quote…”We’re winning the popular vote.”

    At the risk of being redundant, IT’S A LIE!

  • What’s discouraging? The odds of the Democrat winning Kentucky in November is zero, no matter who the candidate is, so who cares what these voters think of Obama?

    Exactly.

    Obama’s victory in the Fall is more cold icing on the Stars-and-Bars.
    More than anything else, his win will force more snaggle-tooths to accept the 21st century.
    A black eloquent and elegant man… not for dinner… but for President!
    On the tube… every night.
    Oh my how that will impact all those soiled brains.

    A few will of course wave the Confederate Flag more vigorously.
    But they won’t matter anymore. The coming Democratic majority will simply drown them out.
    These spiteful few will have no recourse but to grow up… It make take them another 30 years, such is the nature of human recalcitrance, but ultimately they will get there.

  • Before the lying liars start proclaiming that clinton is candidate of white folks and that somehow they are more important than other reporters – here’s how they stack up in the “whitest” of states:

    In fact, let’s look at the whitest states in the nation according to recent Census estimates:

    1. Maine (Obama)
    2. Vermont (Obama)
    3. West Virginia (Clinton)
    4. New Hampshire (Clinton)
    5. Iowa (Obama)
    6. North Dakota (Obama)
    7. Montana
    8. Kentucky (Clinton)
    9. Wyoming (Obama)
    10. Idaho (Obama)

    Gosh – Obama is crushing her… So much for kkkarl rove’s talking points – but every dem knows he is full of crap – well, now shillary quotes him as speaking the word of God himself.

    And shillary is not ahead in vote counts – just more dishonest rhetoric from the most racist campaign since george wallace. Funny how now clinton wants to scream “sexist”.

  • Yes, she and her surrogates have been making the claim. The only way that math works if if FL gets the current split of votes, she gets all her votes from MI while Obama gets none, and, most elegantly, if you don’t count Iowa, Washington, Nevada or Maine, caucus states that didn’t report popular totals.

    This is what the talking heads should call her on: she whines about making very state, every vote count, but she can claim a win only if she excludes 4 states who held caucuses approved by the Democratic party. It’s complete bullshit.

  • Joshua Marshall, TPM, puts the lie about popular vote to rest fairly clearly:

    Even if you change the rules and fully seat Michaigan and Florida and count them for the popular vote totals and don’t count any portion of the Michigan “uncommitted” (which were understood a the to be for Obama) vote for Obama, Hillary is still behind in the popular vote total. The only way she moves ahead in popular vote is if you do all that and don’t count four of the caucus states.

    Some stuff is just too ridiculous to let pass.

  • Terry McAuliffe has been all over the news tonight repeating the same line [that Clinton is winning the popular vote]. Here’s what Josh Marshall at TPM had to say in response to this nonsense:

    “Even if you change the rules and fully seat Michaigan and Florida and count them for the popular vote totals and don’t count any portion of the Michigan “uncommitted” (which were understood a the to be for Obama) vote for Obama, Hillary is still behind in the popular vote total. The only way she moves ahead in popular vote is if you do all that and don’t count four of the caucus states…Some stuff is just too ridiculous to let pass.”

    In other words, as Chris so succinctly put it, IT’S A LIE!

  • As others have noted, Clinton and associates are lying about the popular vote count. Why? If she plans to close her campaign down in early June and join forces, then why make this argument?

    Mere speculation, but here I go…

    1. She doesn’t plan to shut the campaign down in June. Throughout the summer, she’ll continue to lobby the supers to overthrow the results of the votes that she’s desperately believes should be counted. She hopes the pundits won’t call her on this “I won the popular vote” lie, and she’ll continue to use it in her never-ending campaign.

    2. If she doesn’t get the nomination, she wants to create a backlash among voters who might believe the lie and, even if true, believe that it’s relevant in what the rules say is a delegate hunt.

    3. She wants to create a backlash if she doesn’t get the VP spot.

    What a nightmare.

  • Mrs. Rayburn – thanks for bringing it up. Its a lie that gets thrown around here far too often. The vast majority of the readers here, like you, are aware of what’s going on.

    A few like to come and throw temper tantrums.

    While clinton’s racist campaign and endless whining is bad enough (remember, gang, she was the run-away favorite when it started) – now she is “catapulting the propaganda” for kkkarl rove – one of mclame’s strategists.

    If we learned anything from 2000 & 2004 – they don’t need to “win” at the poles. They just need excuses, distractions, and rational to explain away a mclame “victory” as a result of election fraud.

    That’s the larger problem and why we need to hammer the clinton crowd now – the lies they “catapult” now are the lies that will be used by the MSM to explain how mclame won even though 80+ percent of the American public wants change.

    This is not NASCAR – America was never meant to be ruled by bush-clinton-bush-clinton monarchies.

  • CJ – another possibility note that she has kkkarl and rush rush limpballs and kkkarl is also advising the mclame campaign.

    The negative campaigning is not going to sway most voters – that is not why they do it. The purpose is to:

    (1). Decrease turnout (research consistently shows this)

    (2). Provide the necessary “talking points” when mclame receives another stolen election so that he can be the “third term” for the most unpopular president in US history.

  • WTF is with ron paul anyhow? If he had any integrity, he would not be running as a rethug anyhow! Especially after the way he has been marginalized (and probably cheated) by the entire party.

    I am so sick of hearing people proclaim he is the “real deal”. He is a hack – certainly would not be any meaningful change if he somehow won – he’s just another republican that knows how to play the media.

    He could never do the things he dupes his supports with and he knows it. That’s why he is a, you know, still a repug.

  • Yep, whiners like little bear and Mrs Rayburn won’t be there in November, so I don’t really care what they say.

    It’s okay for there to be misogyny supporting their candidate, it’s okay for him to be a wishy-washy centrist who uses Republican talking points.

    Yeah. Sorry, I’m over with Mrs Edwards. You guys are just making fools of yourself screaming bloody murder about Clinton without looking at the actual positions and actions of the politicians who we are choosing between.

  • In contrast, 7 in 10 of Obama supporters said they would back Mrs. Clinton against Mr. McCain in November. — CB

    To be sure, it’s easier to be magnanimous, when you’re on the winning side… 🙂 I think, what they’re really saying is that they *would have* voted for her, not that they would. Because the chances of their being called upon to do that are as close to zero as makes no difference; there’s no way in hell she can win the nomination *honourably*.

    PS Terry McAuliffe is an idiot; deficient both in logic and in math.

  • Did Crissa call me a misogynist? Me?

    For what? Calling Hillary on a LIE? That makes me a misogynist?

    What does the implication here? That women can lie with impunity?

    No Crissa. If you lower the standards of character and honesty for women, then the misogynist is you.

  • “If you lower the standards of character and honesty for women, then the misogynist is you.”

    Precisely.

  • crissa – shillary has supported the chimp virtually EVERY step of the way. She is kkkarl and rush’s choice.

    She’s wrong on the issues

  • I think its pretty obvious that Hillary Clintons wins in both Kentucky and West Virginia, were based more on race. Even though, I agree with Donna Brazile statements it is disgusting how….people still hold on to the oppressive ideas of racism.

  • I think its pretty obvious that Hillary Clintons wins in both Kentucky and West Virginia, were based more on race. Even though, I agree with Donna Brazile statements it is disgusting how….people still hold on to the oppressive ideas of racism.

  • I’m in the “Candy Stripe” state, where the caucus was AWFUL and the Obama supporters were intimidating. Less than 40% of the votes were even counted. Hillary won the primary– where the votes were counted. I sincerely hope that the DNC will count the votes in the Florida primary, and fairly allocate the votes in the Michigan primary.

    You might want to review the article if you believe that each state broke the rules (their legislative bodies were majority REPUBLICAN):

    http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/80993

    OK…..

    Now I’m hearing that the panelists are saying that Senator Clinton should say to all that she doesn’t want racists voting for her since the “Race Card”– is HER Fault….

    GET REAL!! Tim Russert called Senator Obama on a 4 page memo that his campaign staff (NOT Obama’s campaign guru David Axelrod and AKG Marketing Inc?? They helped to elect the governor in MA, and tried to get Edwards elected in 2004- so much for Axelrod and Edwards falling out!) had sent out in South Carolina, which basically fuelled the flames of the comments – which were true and NOT Inflammatory.

    Please review the link for that ordeal, and much of the 2008 Election:

    http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Winter08/PDFfiles/2008Election.pdf

    At the very least say that African Americans have been polarizing as well! I’ve been in the thick of it (I am African American), so I know I’m not too popular regarding this matter since I support Hillary. It’s never been a popularity contest to me (aside from most of the media sadly), it’s been about who has had the issues of concern first- besides Iraq. Obama during the debates said that “Hillary is right”– however he’s the better candidate. Go figure!

    You can review the earlier details I mentioned here:

    http://connect.hillaryclinton.com/member/ChangeISGood/post/15672

    Thank you for the opportunity to post.

  • …Hey, little bear, how many votes on those issues she’s wrong on did Obama vote differently?

    Yeah.

    If she’s wrong on the issues, what is Obama? Two-faced? C’mon, I wouldn’t even make that assertion. But apparently you would.

  • crissa – you don’t even know shillary’s voting record yourself – post what you want, but people can see that you are just the latest lying clinton shill.

    Iraq War: Clinton YES, Obama NO
    Bancrupsy Reform Clinton (DID NOT VOTE AND GOT TONS OF MONEY FROM CREDIT CARD INDUSTRY), Obama NO

    Not that you care about facts – here’s a link to check records for people that do:

    http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/g_three_sections_with_teasers/legislative_home.htm

  • Why is the only focus on ‘Obama’s problems’ attracting white conservatives? Hillary’s problems attracting voters are more stark, and disastrous in a national campaign. She gets virtually no support from blacks, young voters, college educated, and independents. A Democrat can’t win without those voting blocs. Those groups are so offended by her campaign, they will sit out the election. Does anyone honestly believe African-Americans, after all her racial comments, are going to forget that and go to the polls and vote for her? Absolutely not.

    She consistently pulls more votes among uneducated, conservative white voters who are frankly voting against a black man, not for Hillary. Her strongest base of support will obviously vote Republican in the Fall – they will vote for a white woman over a black man, but they will not vote for a white woman over a white man. I come from a white working class background. I know these people. They are my friends and family.

    Let’s be honest – she has a far bigger problem with more voting groups than he does.

  • Crissa, Mrs. Rayburn’s pointing out that Clinton’s popular vote claim is simply false is not whining. It’s really surprising that you would even make that argument.

    Congratulations to Clinton on her Kentucky win.

  • The truth is; Race is a big player in this election. Obama didn’t get 85-90% of the black vote because he’s a better candidate. He got it because he’s black. Just like there are some that voted for Clinton because she IS a woman.

    Another truth is; Obama is so far to the left, that there are many democrats who will vote for McCain or not vote at all if Obama becomes the nominee. He hasn’t won a single significant Democratic Strong Hold State. He can’t win against McCain.

    Another truth is; Clinton can beat McCain. She is middle of the road enough for all those who want a change from the last 8 years will vote for her. Including many republicans. The democrats complained like crazy when Gore lost to Bush because of the electoral vote vs the popular vote. Well, here is the same situation where Clinton has more popular vote support than Obama, yet because Obama is Black, the DNC won’t side with Clinton. They don’t want such division. They’d rather lose the presidency than to let Clinton have it. If neither candidate had the required number of delegates, and Obama was a white man, they would have no problem saying Clinton would be the better choice and the better chance of winning. Instead, they will go with Obama even though his 2 strongest supporters; Blacks and Youth are not that significant come the general election. Blacks are too small of a percentage and the youth won’t show up to vote. Plus, he’s so far left that many Clinton Democrats would rather vote for McCain. This is the truth.

  • Mike is a total concern troll.. Ignoring the fact that clinton started off with more of the black vote but lost them as she campaigned.

    Saying Obama is far to the left is also another case of ignoring the facts (Clinton and Obama voted the same way on most pieces of legislature). The “most liberal” designation is hardly more then a group of people just deciding to proclaim him as such..

    The last paragraph is so full of distortions/lies it’s not even worth responding to. I mean seriously trying to claim Clinton is winning the popular vote when the math clearly says no (not to mention that some caucus/primaries that Obama won didn’t list numbers) just further proves my concern troll comment.

  • pointing out an error i read here that kentucky is always a red state . most of their legislators are dems and BILL CLINTON won this state on Both of his runs for the white house. i live close to kentucky in indiana and i have lived from coast to coast in this country and racism is in every state of the union as is sexism BTW and the most sexist people i have found are white higher educated college men like the ones doing the Newsbroadcasts . now indiana is a red state and her win here meant nothing in general election unless she had Bayh as a running mate then she might win it however that is doubtful as well . the biggest farce in the democratic primarys are that they arent all primarys . caucases cater to the ones who dont have a rough life who arent working 2 jobs arent older and lean more towards college kids who have lots of free time if the so desire and are experts on everything and dont mind voicing their opinions and wealthy people who can manage their schedules and people who dont have to work a caucas doesnt represent the will of the people in any way shape or form. that being said i like Barack Obama i just like Hillary more and im sure i will vote for him if he wins however some of the most vocal people he has attracted to his campaign make me sick and could make me change my vote based on association.

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