Primary for 20th May in Kentucky and Oregon

[Invictus ChiKen]

With only 16% there calling a 30 point win for the Hildebeast based on exit polls...

[Hawkwings]

It would probably help to mention that they're calling Kentucky for Clinton, and it's a 5% lead so far with 16% in (From CNN).

[Dominus Atheos]

Isn't it only 7pm in Kentucky? I thought the polls close at 8.

Anyway, I got my ballot two weeks ago and filled it out immediately, but since it requires a stamp, (all the credit card offers I get always have prepaid return shipping, why can't my ballot?) I have to drive down to a library sometime today to return it. Obama of course.

[Crossroads Inc.]

listening to Billeralies "victory" speech right now in Kentucky... Anyone know where she gets off saying she has "More people voting ofr her then anyone in history" ?

[Terralthra]

listening to Billeralies "victory" speech right now in Kentucky... Anyone know where she gets off saying she has "More people voting ofr her then anyone in history" ?

She's still counting the Michigan and Florida voters, not counting any of the voters there for Obama, and she's only talking about the primaries, not the general election.

Tonight was the first time I heard her say "Senator Obama and I both agree that we need to unite behind a Democratic nominee." That seems to be an admission that she won't win, to me.

[chitoryu12]

Clinton made it through 60-30. Is it time for us to tell her that Kentucky doesn't matter?

To be honest, though, I've never really been fond of them anyway.

[Haruko]

Clinton made it through 60-30. Is it time for us to tell her that Kentucky doesn't matter?

CNN says 65% to 30%, with 97% of the vote in.

Interesting but unsurprising to see that Clinton's landslide did not include the two most populous cities, which both went to Obama by several points. The other two cities, one being the capital, went to Hillary, but in comparison to the ones that went to Obama they're barren wastelands.

I think her team's probably quite interested in the over 200,000 popular vote gain from this state. They'll want to use this in their argument "We win the popular vote! Elect Hillary, supers!" But then again, with Obama slated to win comfortably in Oregon, Montana, and South Dakota, will West Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico (keeping in mind that this last one, not being a state, having each citizen count for only half a vote) really have her even come within 10000 in the overall popular vote totals even accepting her team's silly math that includes Michigan and Florida, and says all the caucuses don't count, when the final primaries polls close in 3 June?

[Invictus ChiKen]

What is the word from Oregon it's all Kentucky Kentucky!

Also there is THIS! It seems Kentucky doesn't count!

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky: Hillary Rodham Clinton secured an expected win in Kentucky — one of two primaries Tuesday — in a victory of scant political value as rival Barack Obama edged closer to claiming a milestone moment in their battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama, his duel with Clinton moving inexorably in his favor, headed into the races in Kentucky and Oregon on Tuesday slightly more than 100 delegates shy of clinching the Democratic nomination. He was expected to win Oregon, which was holding a unique mail-in vote. But even losses in those two contests would still allow him to finish the night with a majority of all elected delegates at stake in the Democrats' 56 primaries and caucuses.

With votes counted from 72 percent of the Kentucky precincts, Clinton was gaining 65 percent support, compared with 31 percent for Obama, who is already turning his attention to the general election campaign against Republican John McCain.

The contests were overshadowed by the news that liberal Democratic icon Sen. Edward Kennedy, the 76-year-old sole surviving son of America's most storied political family, had been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

Clinton, speaking to cheering supporters in Louisville, praised Kennedy as "a lifelong champion for social justice and equality" who paved the way for her and Obama's historic presidential runs.

She vowed to carry on her campaign through the last primary contests on June 3, saying that this "is one of the closest races for a party's nomination in modern history."

Even so, she commended Obama as well as his supporters, and said whatever their differences, "we do see eye to eye when it comes to uniting our party and electing a Democratic president this fall."

Interviews with Kentucky voters leaving their polling places showed almost nine in 10 ballots were cast by whites, and the former first lady was winning their support overwhelmingly. She defeated her rival among voters of all age groups and incomes, the college educated and non-college educated, self-described liberals, moderates and conservatives.

Though Clinton has had a strong run through the late primaries, Obama has steadily outpaced her where it counts, in the race for national convention delegates.

With her Kentucky victory, Clinton picked up at least 28 delegates, with an additional 15 to be awarded. Obama won at least eight delegates.

Overall, Obama has a total of 1,925 delegates, with 2,026 needed to become the first black presidential nominee of a major party. The former first lady had 1,750.

Regardless of the results of the night's two primaries, Obama decided to mark a victory of sorts. He arranged an evening appearance in Iowa, site of his critical triumph in the lead-off Jan. 3 caucuses, to claim the majority of elected delegates at stake.

Obama, who was still nine delegates short of the symbolic milestone, was expected to fare better in Oregon, where the deadline to vote was 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT).

"The question then becomes how do we complete the nomination process so that we have the majority of the total number of delegates, including superdelegates, to be able to say this thing's over," Obama told The Associated Press in an interview.

Clinton could console herself by waging the strongest presidential campaign of any woman in U.S. history. Although she had little chance of catching Obama, given the remaining number of delegates at stake in the three final contests, her campaign continued to hold out hope that it would secure the lion's share of the delegates in Florida and Michigan.

Those two state were stripped of their delegates by the national party for holding their contests too early, and Democrats have struggled to find some way to have those states represented at the national convention in August.

Campaigning with his wife in Kentucky, former President Bill Clinton dismissed Obama's inevitable claim on pledged delegates without taking into account those from Michigan and Florida.

Kentucky, where Hillary Clinton concentrated much of her efforts in recent days, had 51 convention delegates at stake.

Oregon, where Obama invested his time and drew a crowd estimated by police at 75,000 over the weekend, had 52. The state also had the distinction of staging the only contest without a designated polling day. Instead, under a vote-by-mail system, election officials tallied all ballots received by 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT Wednesday) on primary day.

The only primaries remaining are Puerto Rico, on June 1, followed two days later by South Dakota and Montana.

Increasingly, Obama has been concentrating his campaign on McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, rather than on Clinton.

Clinton, too, has jettisoned the sharp attacks against Obama that characterized the race only a few weeks ago, although she bristled on Monday at his decision to focus on the November general election campaign. "You can declare yourself anything, but if you don't have the votes, it doesn't matter," she said in an interview with an Oregon television station.

Increasingly, Obama has been concentrating his campaign on McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, rather than on Clinton.

Clinton, too, has jettisoned the sharp attacks against Obama that characterized the race only a few weeks ago, although she bristled on Monday at his decision to focus on the November general election campaign. "You can declare yourself anything, but if you don't have the votes, it doesn't matter," she said in an interview with an Oregon television station.

As recently as May 6, Obama trailed Clinton among superdelegates, the officeholders and party leaders who will attend the national convention by virtue of their positions and are free to vote for any candidate regardless of the primary or caucus results.

But in the days following his convincing victory in the North Carolina primary and his narrow defeat in Indiana, Obama has gained the support of at least 50 superdelegates and taken the lead in that category. Clinton has gained nine over that period.

Obama also has picked up the endorsements of former Sen. John Edwards, who dropped out of the race in the early going, two labor unions and NARAL Pro-Choice America. The abortion rights advocacy organization had supported Clinton throughout her political career.

Fundraisers for the two campaigns have held quiet discussions on working together in the fall campaign.

Additionally, Obama's top strategist, David Axelrod, disclosed he had contacted Clinton's former campaign manager about joining forces for the general election. Patti Solis Doyle confirmed what she called informal conversations about how she might help the Illinois senator if, as expected, he secures the presidential nomination.

[Hawkwings]

Oregon starts counting ballots in half an hour. Don't expect news until two hours after that, at least.

[CmdrWilkens]

What is odd is that I was pretty certain that Edwards was still suppossed to be on the ballot in KY and despite getting 7% of the vote in WV he gets only 2% here. That honestly seems odd as he should be polling much higher (yes I know he's out but he was out last week and stll garnered 7%)

[Dominus Atheos]

Oregon starts counting ballots in half an hour. Don't expect news until two hours after that, at least.

That's not how Oregon does it. Relevant portion of Vote-By-Mail FAQ:

When are the ballots counted?

As I previously stated they are stored in a secure location until election day. On election day they begin counting ballots at 8:00 a.m. This means that many times by the times "polls" close at 8:00 p.m results are almost immediately available.

[Strider]

I can guarantee that after the Puerto Rico vote, Clinton will bitch and moan to have their votes count as full votes in the Delegate count (and thus their delegates roughly doubled, I would guess) if it can inch her closer to stealing the nomination. She'll CERTAINLY count them as full votes in her wack-tacular "popular vote (no, really)" metric.

[CmdrWilkens]

I can guarantee that after the Puerto Rico vote, Clinton will bitch and moan to have their votes count as full votes in the Delegate count (and thus their delegates roughly doubled, I would guess) if it can inch her closer to stealing the nomination. She'll CERTAINLY count them as full votes in her wack-tacular "popular vote (no, really)" metric.

Puerto Rico does get full voting rights. In fact it has more of a delegate slate than 27 other states plus DC and actually gets mre delegates than populaiton alone would account for (it has more delegates but less populaiton than 3 or 4 states KY, SD and at least one more I can't recall off the top of my head).

Now if you are talking about MI and FL then she has never strayed (in the last 4 months) from pretending they should count in full.