Indiana, North Carolina Overnight Open Thread

May 6, 2008

There was a small chance that the race for the Democratic nomination would effectively end this evening, in the event of an Obama upset in Indiana. Similarly, there was a small chance that Obama would be left reeling in the event of a Clinton upset in North Carolina.

As far as we can tell, neither of these surprises is going to happen. Obama was declared the winner of North Carolina almost immediately after the polls closed, and with 58% of Indiana’s precincts reporting, Clinton is leading in Indiana by about 8.5 points. It’s likely to get a little closer as the Indianapolis-area precincts weigh in, but Clinton is expected to get the win. (CBS News was the first to call Indiana for Clinton, about an hour ago.)

This means, of course, that the race will probably continue, as expected.

Consider this an overnight open thread for everyone who wants to weigh in on the results. Are you surprised by the numbers? Pleased with the outcome? Did you see anything especially annoying in the networks’ coverage tonight?

The floor is yours….

Did you see anything especially annoying in the networks’ coverage tonight?

I don’t watch unless I have to. My blood pressure can’t take it. :-p

  • Clinton was supposed to win Indiana on a big margin…what happened Hill?

    Can we end this now?

  • Why are people still voting for her? Man, this is annoying. Indiana, you suck.

  • I am really not so sure on the Indiana results. Obama still has a lot of votes out there and he has been outperforming in a lot of counties. He will probably still lose but this is absolutely going to be a nailbiter. I know CBS called it but that seems way premature to me. MSNBC went from “Too Early to Call” to “Too Close to Call” probably for exactly the reasons I cited. He really still has an outside shot at this.

  • Agreed with brent; with 71% reporting in Indiana, Clinton is up by a mere 4%. Even if she ends up scraping out a victory, I don’t see how that translates into a rationale to keep her campaign going.

    On the other hand, Obama’s lead in North Carolina is down to 16% with 45% reporting. Still respectable, but quite a drop from his early 30-point lead.

    Bottom line: Clinton’s argument about Obama’s supposed unelectability was torn to shreds tonight.

  • Hannah, yes, MSNBC parsing the racial split of votes. It’s disgusting, IMHO.

    And Pat Buchanon is a piece of shit. But what else is new?

  • Steve: “Did you see anything especially annoying in the networks’ coverage tonight?”

    Two words: Donna Brazile.

    Can anybody here please tell me what she brings to the Democratic Party besides her questionable judgment and lack of common sense? If circumstances ever required us to zig, and I can most always count on her to zag.

  • As usual, I find NYT the best/most responsive source to check.

    At 21.27 (it’s now 21.30 and will be later by the time I’ve typed the info) the numbers were:

    IN 52.8 (C) to 47.2 (O), with 69%reporting (still nothing from some of the bigger cities, which are likely to pare Clinton’s edge some more)
    N.C: 38.9 (C) to 59.1. (O), with 33% reporting (some cities are in, some are not)

    So, in Indiana, Obama is holding his own as well as could have been expected, while, in NC, Clinton is getting buried, far beyond what the recent polls had been indicating (closer to the original poll predictions from weeks ago). I thought today was going to be — more or less — “a wash”. But it doesn’t look like it, at he moment,

    If the numbers hold, I hope that tomorrow morning someone asks Clinton to clarify her “game changer” comment regarding NC.

  • libra,

    CNN.com is showing 52% reporting in NC, with Obama holding a 16% lead. Who’s wrong? I.e., is the NYT behind, or is CNN making things up?

  • Tim Russert is attributing Obama’s success to the gas tax issue. Chuck Todd says Obama needs about 55% of the remaining votes in Indiana to pull off the upset.

  • Can anybody here please tell me what she (Brazile) brings to the Democratic Party besides her questionable judgment and lack of common sense? — Donald, @9

    Her common sense and judgment (not to mention integrity) are no worse than those of Begala or Carville (not to mention McAuliffe and some others floating in Clinton’s orbit). I’d take her over those bozos *any time*. She can stay at “my inn” whenever she wants, while I wouldn’t give those jerks a sandwich except, maybe, on Christmas Eve.

  • NYT, @ 21: 49:

    IN 52.1 (C) , 48 (O), with 74% reporting
    NC 41.5 (C), 56.4 (O) with 55% reporting

  • Russet just said that this may give him the popular vote, too…one less thing Hils can spin.

    A major update in 10 minutes, apparently.

  • One of the talking heads on CNN said ‘quit’ wasn’t in the Clinton dictionary.

    Some other words that are also not in the Clinton dictionary:

    Integrity
    Honesty
    Is

  • Here’s a link to the “Politico’ website, that has a running tally that refreshes frequently.
    It seems to report more reporting that what I’ve seen mentioned here.

    http://www.politico.com/

    78% and 58% respectively reported. Obama getting closer to Clinton in Indiana.

  • I think the lesson we take away from this is tha Obama is feminine, Hillary is masculine, and feminists are to blame for my lonely, dateless existence.

  • doubtful: One of the talking heads on CNN said ‘quit’ wasn’t in the Clinton dictionary.

    Be that as it may… her trolls seem to be hiding their heads in the “quit” sand.

  • […] Obama is feminine, Hillary is masculine, #24,

    True, at least in some languages (like Polish). But any language (like Polish), in which the word “man” (mezczyzna) is of feminine gender, is beyond crazy… You guys, whose first (and perhaps only) language is English have *no idea* how easy you have it 🙂

  • WTF happened to Timmeh…he’s gushing over Obama

    I am at work so have not seen Russert tonight. BUT, I watched Obama on Meet the Press Sunday, and I noted that Obama mentioned Russert’s “famous father,” Big Russ, as an embodiment of middle class decency and the American Dream. I thought to myself, “Aha, maybe this tip of the cap to Big Russ (and an acknowledgement that Obama knows that Russert wrote his book as a paen to his dad – rather than simply an attempt to cash in on Brokaw’s Greatest Generation pay day) by Obama will earn him points with Tim.” I was joking, but who knows?

  • PS: I know Russert’s book was just a grab at the Greatest Generation payday, as does, undoubtedly Obama. But, he gave a little stroke to Russert. Perhaps that goes a long way…

  • Watching Rove on Fox Critique Obama’s speech. Turdblossom says some things I agree with and some stoopid stuff. Then he may have tipped his hand when he said Obama may have made a mistake by saying that in the general he will be the only candidate who will be honest with da people. Big Mistake because it creates an opening ……

  • Poor clown…
    She can’t come out and address the IN crowd in shrill tones….
    Because she is limping horribly at the finish…

    How delicious is that?

  • CSPAN just called IN for McClinton.
    They said tonight was a “split decision.”
    Glad to see the media still can’t count.

    He routed her in a state that has far more delegates.
    She eked out a victory in the state with less delegates.

    That’s a split decision?

    Well at least this keep my faith up in regards to MSM stupidity.

  • In Indiana, with 84% of the vote counted, Hillary has a lead of only 4%. However, Gary, IN hasn’t been counted yet, and that is expected to be an Obama stronghold. Amazingly, Indiana could wind up with a tiny margin to win for either one of them; perhaps even a tie!

    Clinton surrogates are going on and on (again) about Florida and Michigan…and sounding really desperate. I smell a lawsuit coming. They are blaming Obama for the refusal of FL and MI to hold recounts. Hell….I live in Florida, and it was the legislatures (Dems) who decided against it.

  • This is what SurveyUSA had to say yesterday:

    24 hours untill votes are counted in the Indiana Democratic Primary, Hillary Clinton defeats Barack Obama in the symbolically important popular vote, and possibly by enough to pick up more than a trivial number of net Convention delegates

    On the eve of the North Carolina Democratic Primary, with 25% of votes already cast, Barack Obama has no breathing room in his hope to defeat Hillary Clinton in popular votes

    So much for their credibility.

  • Earlier today, I wondered out loud whether Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” was having an effect after listening to him on the radio today as he continued to encourage his listeners to go and vote for Hillary to keep the Democratic race going.

    It turns out that it would be reasonable to believe that, assuming she does win in Indiana, it will have been Rush Limbaugh that handed her the victory.

  • Rush Limbaugh is a traitor to this country.

    He calls for riots in Denver and no one does shit about it.

    He openly calls for screwing with democracy and no one does shit about it

    I called Durbin and bitched about it…and no one does shit about it.

  • 4% edge for Clinton in IN (still no Gary results) and 14% edge for Obama in NC… Even if both states had equal numbers of delegates to apportion (and NC has more, not fewer), it’s a defeat for Clinton; Obama almost caught up with her in IN, while her ability to close up the gap in NC was much less.
    An interesting “wrap” from Nagourney in NYT:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/us/politics/07assess.html?hp

  • Hillary just has announced that Indiana is the tiebreaker…like a meager 4% margin and the state still not called is somehow a victory. Doesn’t this seem odd considering the precincts (like those in Lake county) that have yet to report are likely Obama strongholds?

    She’s gonna take this to the end…sigh. She loses NC by 14% and at best will win IN by 4% and still she persists with this lost cause.

  • MsJoanne, @40

    Limpdick is a gasbag and not worth getting all het up over. It would be kind-a intresting to see riots in Denver… quelled by police, like at the Repub convention in NYC. Beat up at the polls and beat up by the police.

  • She’s gonna take this to the end…sigh. She loses NC by 14% and at best will win IN by 4% and still she persists with this lost cause.

    Yes…it’s obvious that her winning the nomination (which is mathematically impossible at this point) is more important to her than her party or the country. Just what we need…another self-centered egoist in the White House.

    We can only pray that the superdelegates have decided she’s as crazy as many of us have.

  • Hmmm…she just said that she will support the nominee whoever that may be. Glad to hear that conciliatory tone. Perhaps there is hope that the party can unite.

  • Chris — Thanks for the link. One doesn’t want to come across as a sore loser, but I’ve been wondering about the impact that Limbaugh Losers might have had in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. The numbers your link provided only serve to confirm my worst fears…that pill-popping windbag and his brainless listeners have had an impact in each of those states.

    Speaking of double-standards, consider how much a Democrat or Democratic apologist would be demonized in the media if he or she advocated the same thing in order to wreak havoc in a Republican primary. Yet the traditional media has been virtually silent on the Limbaugh’s charge to his followers…to Hillary’s benefit, of course. Disgraceful.

  • Let’s not forget that she still owes the $5million she loaned to her campaign (to herself). No wonder she made a fundraising call in her “victory” speech tonight.

  • There she goes with Florida and Michigan again. Oh man…she’s really going to drag this out.

  • I was also just looking at Gary (Lake County) with 0% votes in according to the New York Times. Clinton leads Obama by 42000 votes (4%). Lake County had 65000 people vote in the 2004 primary, which was 19% of that county’s registered voters (Indiana’s Elections site lists Lake county as having 354000 voters). The population of Lake County is 25% African-America.

    If 50000 democrats in Lake County went for Obama two-thirds to one-third (wild-assed guesses there), he’d end up with nearly 49% to Clinton’s just over 51%.

  • I laughed when Hillary mentioned that Barack “outspends” her in each state. When people contribute significantly more to his campaign, it’s a luxury he can (and should) afford. But don’t take my word for it, I’m an elitist economist…

  • It’s not just Lake County that’s not in yet. The county with Indiana University in it is still largely out, I think.

    Very, very, very interesting…

  • Apparently, Lake County is counting 11000 absentee ballots!!!!!

    They had 5% and 7% absentee ballots in the 2004 primary and general election, so they could have had a stunning turnout today.

  • What impressed me the most, just like with all these primaries, was the voter turn-out. Check out the numbers in both NC and IN:

    http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/06/nc-and-in-primary-results/

    At the time of this post, the combined numbers from both states are approximately:

    R: 875,000
    D: 2,615,000

    Total democratic turnout is **almost three times as big** as total republican turnout. Damn. Just…damn. If the democrats lose *this* one in November, I swear I’m giving them the finger and leaving the party entirely. Only someone completely incompetent could ever flub this one when the odds are so much in their favor.

  • I don’t think turnout, at this point, is as meaningful as before as McCain is the presumptive gooper nominee. Goopers don’t feel the need to vote now – unless they want to do a Limbaugh and mess with democracy.

  • Ugh – Clinton just spoke. More of the same. “Thanks for barely keeping this campaign alive! Now send me more money! On to the White House!”

    Please.

  • Whoa! Now what’s gotten into Tweety? He did a Shame On You shoutout to all the people who were involved with Limbaugh’s antics to mess with democracy and that people died for us to be able to vote and said he hoped they would take it with them for the rest of their lives.

    What aliens invaded Timmeh and Tweety tonight??

  • Wow, it’s down to 51-49 percent now, with 91 percent reporting. The margin is down to 20,000 from 40,000. Sweet!

  • As of 8:55pm out here in El Lay, the reports are that there are only 40,000 votes between Obama and Hillary and Lake County is unlikely to report fully before midnight out here. The mayor of Gary is saying the city went 80+% for Obama, so there is a very good chance that Mrs. Billy-J is about to trip over her shoelaces as she reaches for the “victory” garland in Indiana.

    And any win of less than 10% (and that is definitely not going to happen) in Indiana is a loss for her.

    Damn! Am I glad to see the “reg’lar Hoosier folks” can detect bullshit as well as everyone else.

    She not only lost, she made a fool of herself this weekend, and the Clinton Party apparatchiki made bigger fools of themselves jumping over the cliff to prove their loyalty to her with their attacks on the “elitist economists.”

    I think Clintonism died a messy death tonight.

  • He is within 21,000 now…
    with only 28% of Lake County reporting.

    Oh my…

  • What aliens invaded Timmeh and Tweety tonight

    REALITY finally set in….Hillary has no shot time to jump off the bus..finally

  • Holy crap!!! Lake county is going almost 75% for Obama! Currently showing 9500 for Clinton and almost 28000.

  • Does this mean we might be able to stop reading Mary’s rants? 😀

    No.

    She’s going to go on to NH, and south carolina and all the way to the white house….

    Yeeeehaaa!!!

  • Eeek! The whole night might rest on Gary, Indiana’s shoulders.

    pinch me!

    She might just lose the state– hell, even if she wins she has lost the expectations game that she has worked so hard to play.

  • With most reports in (91% IN, 98% NC), as per NYT’ front page:
    http://www.nytimes.com/
    Obama held onto his 14% lead in NC, while Clinton’s lead in IN dwindled to a measly 2% (hi, Greg! Care to retool your numbers according to reality instead of wishful thinking?). She may not be toast, according to her campaign and her own perception but, sure as sure, it’s not caviar that’s piled up on that piece of semi-burnt bread,..

  • If Obama holds his current 75-25% lead in Lake County through the entire ballot count, I think he will win the state by a 20,000-30,000 vote margin. Not a blowout, but a great embarrassment to the Clintons.

    The only other “out” county is Union County on the Ohio line, which only has about 7,500 inhabitants.

  • Not a blowout, but a great embarrassment to the Clintons.

    More so because of her “victory” speech.

  • Timmeh said that Hillary has cancelled all of her upcoming tv appearences because the delegate math is now an insurmountable fact that she can no longer ignore.

    Let the Hillary Countdown commence….

  • I haven’t kept up with other comments on this thread so I don’t know if others have made this point, but have any of you looked at the Republican results? McCain is running solo on the Republican side, but in both Indiana and North Carolina, county-by-county results are showing that 20-30% of Republican primary voters are voting for a combination of Romney, Paul and Huckabee. This a pretty high P.O.’d rate of Republican voters voting for candidates that dropped out months ago. The fact that these people took the time to go to the polls and and vote in the negative is a factor that will be a big part of the electoral equation come fall.

  • Little bear I’ve been offended by some of your posts but that picture of ass is the worst of all. 🙂

    No more shillary to kick around.

  • My friends,

    Try not to lose too much sleep waiting for more from Lake County, Bloomington, and the rest. Doesn’t matter. Obama is our nominee (and has been since he “closed the deal” in Wisconsin).

    YES. WE. DID.

  • Dale – that is rush in his full glory, morphing to show the world who he really is.

  • Little bear: This is pretty annoying…

    I’d rather a link to tubgirl doing goatse with Bill watching.

    Ms J: Does this mean we might be able to stop reading Mary’s rants?

    Honey… you didn’t actually read that stuff did you?
    Don’t you have a down arrow?
    But to answer your question: No. She has always been a republican troll. Now she can just make it official. Same with the rest of the ilk that has pushed the “black-man-can’t-win” theme with right-wing zeal.

    Quote of the night (no need to add any emphasis):

    “Not too long ago my opponent made a prediction; he said I would probably win Pennsylvania. He would probably win in North Carolina. And Indiana would be a tiebreaker,” Mrs. Clinton told supporters in Indiana. “Well, we’ve broken the tie, and thanks to you it’s full speed on to the White House.”

  • It would be great to be able to have a dialog about something other than shillary – yes, I admit the bush-clinton-bush-clinton may get old for some, but it is an important message.

    People need to wake up and realize that change will not happen by electing another bush/mclame or another clinton.

    Most people I know quickly see what’s happening when they realize that we could have 28 years (or even more) of bush-clinton-bush-clinton/mclame=bush in the White House.

    THAT IS TOTALLY AGAINST WHAT THIS COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED ON.

    But I will be grateful if she is now ready to admit that the country wants change and not more of the same – she needs to drop out so we can all start hammerin’ mclame.

  • I switched over to FauxNews just in time to hear Karl Rove say “it’s over.”

    Amazing. I guess he is physically capable of telling the truth.

  • ROTFLMLiberalAO, tubgirl doing goatse (with full-streaming orange glory and a “wide stance” would be MUCH MORE than annoying.

    Unless you are bill o-LIE-ly, then it just might be your cup of orange juice or whatever enema tubgirl uses to impress the likes of bill.

  • The results are clear. Now is the time to remember when we were determined to have anything but the sickening path of Cheney/Bush. – Anything, almost.

    How many people died around the world this year? How many lost their homes or were separated from their loved ones?

    In the end ‘Politics’ is about all of us. At its best it is about life, love, hope, and aligning ourselves to a future course that seems brighter, either by small steps or by great leaps, than the course we’ve been on.

    At times I’ve heard that from Hillary and Bill Clinton over the last few months. Those times have been fewer and far between – but… They’ve connected to dreams of mine and the dreams of all of us.

    A large dose of gratitude and thanks is in order.

    For the dreams we share and the determination we’ll all need. They’ve got it.

    If Cheney engineers an attack on Iran we’ll need ‘determination’ in spades, by the boatload, ignoring the Machiavellian / Rovian ‘reality’ that has beset our world and wounded our dreams.

    Here’s to Hillary! Hurrah!! A woman who forged a path no one would have believed possible in America – Hurrah!

    Democrats are breaking glass ceilings, and we’re about to open up the sky – to unbind dreams from the finite – to reach for the sky.

    Those dreams are why Obama supporters get tears in their eyes when someone they are sure is a supporter of old dreams turns out to be a supporter of new dreams.

    It’s been a long time since Bobby Kennedy won Indiana. Indiana still holds onto dreams.

  • T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). The Waste Land. 1922.
    I. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD
    APRIL is the cruellest month, […]

    Well… TS Eliot may have been off by a month but, all the same, it’s still “good night ladies, good night sweet ladies, good night, good night, good night”…

    I shall have a restful and peaceful sleep tonight, knowing that the worst is over. Tomorrow or the day after, I shall start on a pair of silver wire lace earrings for our next First Lady.

    Shanti, shanti, shanti

  • ROFL, I forgot about all the icky black man stuff. (sigh)

    Yeah, I have a down arrow which I use most times. Sometimes I just can’t help playing Whack-a-Troll ™ – maybe I am a glutton for punishment but it’s just fun sometimes.

    And bear, please…don’t bring Tappy McWideStance into it. Ugh! 😉

  • After Lake finishes reporting, we might be sitting around waiting for Union County’s results to figure out who actually won. I want an Obama victory to psychologically wrap this sucker up. A 7-point victory, Guam-style, would do just fine.

  • Damn – where’s greg and mary? Guess that’s proof – just repug/neocon trolls hoping we were stupid enough to take their shillary crap.

    If you want a good laugh – head over to DEMOCRAT UNDERGROUND where some moron posted this: WIPEOUT!!! 35% reporting in Indiana: Clinton up by 14points!

    Too funny, he even said: Breaking News: Obama to concede nomination at midnight (lost his mojo)!

    http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132×5847583

    LOL

    Scroll down and see what people have been saying – been getting interesting now that it looks like IN is actually AN OBAMA WIN!!!!!!!

    People are “kicking” that thread to the frontpage, now out of pure snarkin’ joy!

  • It’s so-o-o-o-o good to be from Indiana !!!

    16K vote difference.

    last NW indiana blog I checked – 7K votes to go. Hillary will barely eek out a win.

    recount?

  • It’s so-o-o-o-o good to be from Indiana !!!

    16K vote difference.

    last NW indiana blog I checked – 7K votes to go. Hillary will barely eek out a win.

    recount?

  • Ms. J – are you saying that mclame is actually goatse?

    Wow – that’s gonna really piss off the conservative base, but I bet his preacher supporters love it – after all, aren’t the conservative ministers all really gay?

  • and there are still some write ins that haven’t been counted either…from students yet!

  • No, bear…Tappy McWideStance is Craig.

    But since conservatives are so into everyone else’s bedroom and all…they’re just jealous that people can actually get some without paying for it.

  • One quickie that nobody is mentioning. Let’s say the Gary vote gets thrown out, the whole Lake County vote is too tainted — and I could see Obama being the one to make this point. Let’s say Hillary ‘wins Indiana’ by 40,000 votes. (And lets ignore the Limbaugh factor which balances any hanky-panky in Gary.) This gives her what? Two more delegates than Obama, maybe 3.

    BIG F*CKING DEAL

    It doesn’t do anything but give her yet another talking point. It does a lot more for Obama in what counts, the delegate race. And he got how many more than she did in NC?

    (Meanwhile, that point about McCain losing 30% of the vote when the race was over makes a point that I have been saying right along. He doesn’t have the support of his base — which doesn’t just matter in votes, but in GOTV, in money, in enthusiasm. He is heading for a Goldwater-level disaster.)

  • Crap, the Lake County difference ended up at only 55/45 for Obama. Not quite enough. Phooey.

  • Well, CNN is projecting that Clinton has won Indiana. Gary County has gone about 55%-45%…not enough for Obama to overtake her lead in the state, but definitely very very close. Looks like about 15,000 vote difference. This is very good news for Obama. He gains in delegates and the popular vote. His popular vote advantage will increase by about 200,000 votes.

    Where will Clinton move the goalposts now?

  • Congratulations to Rush Limbaugh and dittopricks everywhere for a not-so-hard fought victory tonight.

    As others have observed, people fought and died for their right to fuck with another party’s elections. No doubt, Limbaugh’s sheep are quite satisfied with themselves right now.

    Of course, Hillary will take ’em any way she can get ’em.

  • Where will Clinton move the goalposts now? — independent thinker, @101

    Home, wherever it happens to be (NY? Arkansas? Scranton, PA?). At 4% edge (in IN), she was still saying “full steam to White House”, in her victory speech. Once the count got more precise and her “win” was whittled to 2% (while Obama’s, in NC, edged up to 15%) we heard that all her appearances on the CM (corporate media) scheduled for tomorrow have been canceled. I think she’s re-grouping and getting ready for the big announcement of “don’t cry for me, Argentina”.

    I feel a bit sorry for OR, KY and W VA; they may end up — yet again — being “no count” in the larger scheme of things. Which is why I most sincerely hope that Obama goes there to campaign, even if it’s no longer strictly necessary for the primaries; it’s a courtesy that’ll pay off in November.

    Oh, frabjous day! 🙂

  • For what it is worth. Hopefully Hillary will finally see the writing on the wall, or at least admit to it and gracefully ‘suspend’ her campaign and allow Obama to become the Democratic nominee.

    If not… here’s a side note from where I live in Oregon. The ballots arrived in the mail today (mail-in for Oregon) In the Bend ZIP codes (97701 & 97702) Obama has raised funds to the tune of 5-to-1 against Hillary here.

    I personally know several Republicans who have changed party affiliation in order to vote for Obama. As a matter of fact, there have been so many party switching people that our district became ‘democratic’ for the first time. It will be interesting to see how many people remain registered as Democrats after the Primary is over.

    Unfortunately I also know a few Republicans who love listening to Limbaugh and they intend to vote for Hillary, to make sure the battle continues.

    I sure hope that this time my vote does NOT count in the primary, as is usually the case for the State of Oregon, because that means a candidate has already been decided upon.

  • Did I see anything annoying in the TV coverage last night? Well, how about this?

    The results from Lake County in Indiana come in very, very slowly — much later than most (but not all) of the rest of the state. Finally 28% of the vote in Lake County — almost all of that 28% from Gary, an African-American-heavy community — comes in and Obama suddenly closes by 20,000 votes. But there’s still another 70% outstanding.

    More time slips by, and CNN and other networks start wondering about Chicago-style hanky-panky in the county. More time slips by, and CNN brings on a Hillary-supporting mayor from Hammond, another city in Lake County. And he brings up the possibility that maybe something sinister is happening in Gary. Except Gary’s already reported their results.

    More time slips by, the results tick up to 50% reported, and Hillary maintains her narrow lead. Then the black mayor fo Gary comes on CNN (on the phone), and explains that the vote counting is taking time. King and Blitzer and Anderson tag team the Gary mayor about why the results came out late, and why they’re still incomplete, and he says it just takes time. And this goes on and on and on, and each of the reporters walks right up to the line of saying that maybe something crooked is going on.

    At which point they realize that they can have Hillary’s Hammond mayor do it for them, so they go that route, and it gets a little ugly. Then, suddenly, John King rushes to his magic election board and announces that 98% of the vote is now in in Lake County, and that Hillary Clinton is still holding her lead. And as Wolf Blitzer starts repeating the obvious, King also points out that almost all of the votes that just came in were from the southern, more Republican and white part of Lake County.

    So, my question: what the hell were all of those white guys doing hassling the mayor of Gary about votes that were from part of the county outside Gary? And why didn’t any of them have the class to apologize? The insinuations were disgusting, tinged with racism, and without any substance whatsoever, yet the reporters plowed ahead. When the insinuations proved to be without merit — Clinton held her lead, and Gary had nothing to do with that latest reports — no mention was made of those facts.

    P.S. As you’ve probably realized already, Steve, the race is not going to continue on as it has. Hillary had all three of her testicles crushed in NC, and her very weak showing in Indiana has more than one pundit delcaring her finished. She can fight on, she can try to pay off Mark Penn by begging for more money from her supporters so Bill doesn’t have to dip into their own millions, but to quote James Carville: “This thing is done.”

  • D Pecan: “It’s been a long time since Bobby Kennedy won Indiana. Indiana still holds onto dreams.”

    That made me want to cry. I was 11-going-on-12 when Bobby Kennedy was murdered. I live in Los Angeles, down the street from what was the Ambassador Hotel and will now be a public high school. We haven’t forgotten Bobby.

    I’m a 51-year old white woman, and I still have my share of Martin Luther King’s dream, and Bobby Kennedy’s great change of heart, and the hope that is ours to share with Barak Obama, in trying to clean up the gosh-darn mess that has been made in our names.

  • From Josh Marshall:

    NBC just reported that Hillary Clinton is holding no public events tomorrow. We’d earlier reported that she’d cancelled her morning show appearances. But that’s not that surprising. There’s not a lot good to talk about. But canceling all public appearances, if that’s what they’re saying, is a different story.

  • As the Munchkins sang:

    Ding Dong! The Witch is dead.
    Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
    Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
    Wake up – sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
    Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead.
    She’s gone where the goblins go,
    Below – below – below. Yo-ho,
    Let’s open up and sing and ring the bells out.
    Ding Dong’ the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
    Let them know
    The Wicked Witch is dead!

  • Miss Fitz;

    I was a young man when Bobby Kennedy was shot. It followed the assassination of too many – another Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, – the list is too long, the list of dreamers. It moves me that my few words moved you.

    We face so many challenges and need so many dreams, and to make them concrete and very real dreams for so many.

    We’re entering a ‘new energy era’ – not just a new energy economy, or a renewable energy economy, or an era of more energy from new sources…. We’re entering an era, an era we have not yet fully imagined.

    That’s Obama’s message – the unleashing of the creative spirit in all of us.

    Mark Penn channeled Lee Atwater and Karl Rove – the era when some would live and others…. well, we didn’t talk about that. Obama realizes that we cannot survive if the model stays the same. If only some survive the economic meltdown, the end of fossil fuel, the end of dependable water and food, we validate death as necessary and rational. We validate torture and war as inevitable.

    When Obama supporters see an Obama sticker they smile, they feel hope, they sometimes cry. That’s the spirit that motivates. We need those dreams now.

    And we need to persuade those who feel that attacking our ‘enemies’ is a path to a golden future. We need to persuade them that hope, love, and peace are still potent forces in the world.

  • Hillary’s future rests on persuading the Dem rules committee to break the rules. Funny how these elites play the refs. America’s greatness now rests on cheating? Nice message to send to the youngsters. But that is how the Clinton’s have played the game from the get go. How about those stock trades?

  • Not much left for shillary to do except start running ads calling obama OSAMA, using “N” word, and proclaiming her candidate will save us from an uppity so-and-so that will give the country to his masters at al-quada.

    She doesn’t have any issues to run on or anything else to try and appeal to the majority of Americans than playing the victim, racism, lies, and a dirty-trick, negative campagne.

    I am sure our trolls (that probably vote for mclame anyhow) mary and greg would agree – clinton has nothing left but the LOW LOW road.

    And she can always rely on election fraud too.

  • oops – I forgot lou – your right, she can always fall back on stealing the nomination by pulling strings with the party and throwing the rules and process out the window.

    She knows all the corrupt, democrat-in-name-only hacks – in fact, her entire campagne is run by them.

  • As a final aside, I’m seeing that the DNC is identifying a shortfall in cash flow—due in no small part, methinks, on the anti-Dean campaign that She-Unworthy-of-Naming seems to be mounting. The stench of “payback” is getting somewhat thick, but it fails to consider that Obama alone has outraised both McPhony AND the DNC—combined. This is a goal that She-Unworthy-of-Naming cannot even dream of attaining. It is why Obama must, for the sake of the Republic, the People, and the Party, be the nominee.

    I believe that the supers will begin to see this as well in the coming days. In accordance with the Obama decree: “This thing will be over by June 4.”

  • While I think the writing might be clear enough even for Clinton this morning, I would love to see her stick with this at least through West Virginia and Kentucky. The pandering would be absolutely priceless. I’m thinking bib overalls and the banjo boy from “Deliverance.”

  • I stopped donating to the DNC when it didn’t withdraw sponsorship of debates that excluded Kucinich and Gravel.

    I can expect that bull from CNN and Fox, but my own party isn’t supposed to tell me which Democrats I can hear from and which I can’t. Gravel and Kucinich were the left-wing voice and Dean allowed them to be silenced and gave the policy the DNC stamp of approval. Was Gravel’s exclusion with tacit DNC approval partly to blame for his defection to the Libertarians? Will his candidacy do more damage than would his having had his say during the primary season? If so, the DNC can share the blame with Edwards and Clinton for wanting a smaller stage so early in the game.

    I’m in a holding pattern on the DNC. I do not believe in winning at all costs like certain candidates. I think that when you win, there needs to be something left of your soul that’s worth the fight.

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