Super-Everything must GO! Tuesday!

[Flagg]

Why is Clinton seemingly so popular? I don't understand the appeal. It's a bit depressing.

She reminds people of the not-as-shitty days of the Clinton years and she's got the potential to be the first woman president. My only issues with her are her unreasonable and intellectually dishonest attacks on games and gamers, and the fact that she's a "centrist". Which in the rest of the world makes her right wing.

I'm not a huge fan of Obama, but with Edwards out of the race, he's the next best candidate for the nomination. He's not as big of a corporate whore as Clinton, basically.

As an extension of this, the Clintons are kind of an established brand name among devout Democrats. Hillary tends to draw heavy support among the Democratic base, as it were.

I'm a fan of the Clinton presidency despite its many flaws. The nation was doing much better then than is has been for the last 7 years. I'm still going to vote for Hillary if she's nominated, but I'd rather vote for Obama. He's getting his support from the people, not the lobbyists.

[Coyote]

Well, I literally just walked in the door from the Idaho caucus. It was a complete and overwhelming victory for Barack Obama. It was, in fact, such an embarrassing defeat for the Hillary camp that they pretty much packed up and left en masse. Well, what masse there was anyway.

It was (approx) 85% Barack Obama, (approx) 11% for Hillary. They were "non-viable" from the start (the rest was divided up between Edwards, who still had representation there somehow, and "undecided").

I stayed to sign up as a delegate to the state convention, hopefully that will go my way. We were packed into the "Qwest Arena", where the local hockey team plays. It seats about 4,000 or so and only half the people could get in (estimates run from 6,000 to 8,000 showed up). Again, they completely underestimated the turnout. Pretty much everyone commented that they had no idea there were that many Democrats in the state of Idaho; the line to get inside literally looped a city block.

A good night was had by all. Now I have to go to work in the morning!

[Spin Echo]

Hmm. Didn't wake up to the landslide victory for Obama I was hoping for.

[Falkenhayn]

Welcome to 4 more years of republican presidency.

Hillary: I'm ready to be Commander in Chief from Day 1!!1111!!

McCain: Wow. You've been a Senator for about as long as I was in Solitary at the Hanoi Hilton. Fancy That.

*Cue Fritz Mondale Theme Music*

[Flagg]

Well, I literally just walked in the door from the Idaho caucus. It was a complete and overwhelming victory for Barack Obama. It was, in fact, such an embarrassing defeat for the Hillary camp that they pretty much packed up and left en masse. Well, what masse there was anyway.

It was (approx) 85% Barack Obama, (approx) 11% for Hillary. They were "non-viable" from the start (the rest was divided up between Edwards, who still had representation there somehow, and "undecided").

I stayed to sign up as a delegate to the state convention, hopefully that will go my way. We were packed into the "Qwest Arena", where the local hockey team plays. It seats about 4,000 or so and only half the people could get in (estimates run from 6,000 to 8,000 showed up). Again, they completely underestimated the turnout. Pretty much everyone commented that they had no idea there were that many Democrats in the state of Idaho; the line to get inside literally looped a city block.

A good night was had by all. Now I have to go to work in the morning!

Sounds awesome, you poor potato growing bastard. I voted a few days ago, as we do mail-in ballots here.

I'm not shocked that Obama is doing well out west and in the midwest for some reason. Though California is a bit of a surprise, I think the margin will narrow as more votes are counted.

[Master of Ossus]

Why is Clinton seemingly so popular? I don't understand the appeal. It's a bit depressing.

She reminds people of the not-as-shitty days of the Clinton years and she's got the potential to be the first woman president. My only issues with her are her unreasonable and intellectually dishonest attacks on games and gamers, and the fact that she's a "centrist". Which in the rest of the world makes her right wing.

Obama doesn't exactly seem like he's that much friendlier towards gamers than Hillary, although he has the advantage of not having sponsored all of those stupid bills of hers against it. Wasn't he the one who promised that his administration would act against gaming if the industry didn't?

[Flagg]

Welcome to 4 more years of republican presidency.

Hillary: I'm ready to be Commander in Chief from Day 1!!1111!!

McCain: Wow. You've been a Senator for about as long as I was in Solitary at the Hanoi Hilton. Fancy That.

*Cue Fritz Mondale Theme Music*

Hillary: And I'm here to ensure that doesn't happen to any more of our fine service members!

Well, that would require a spine, so I doubt she'd say that.

[Uraniun235]

Also cannot Edwards give Obama his votes or delegates or however this thing works?

Edwards cannot order his delegates to vote for Obama. Once they're released from being obligated to vote for him, they can vote for whomever they like. However, him urging his delegates to please vote for Obama may carry considerable sway among his delegates.


Interestingly, although Hillary has a greater overall lead, she's just barely edging him out in the pledged delegates; it's the superdelegates that are making up most of her lead, and with so many delegates left to go, that lead could very well be overtaken in the future.

That said, I really, really wish she had lost big.

In fact, absentee ballets are a concession to the fact that the voting takes place on days that significant enough portions of the populace cannot vote that a wholly alternative method needs to be created.

I never get other American's blind adherence to the systems, as if they are immutably unflawed. Practicality has always seemed to me to be a much better American virtue than dogmatism, so why the fear of changing things to work better?

Personally I think Oregon's totally vote-by-mail system is superior to the current mish-mash seen in most states. Some cite our need to register to vote some weeks in advance as a disadvantage; I don't see a huge problem with it since voting should be serious business anyway. Every year there's some grumpy old man editorial about how we've been robbed of the civic joy of all going to the polling place and coming together as a community for that special day of democracy, but that's a crock of shit.

[Flagg]

Why is Clinton seemingly so popular? I don't understand the appeal. It's a bit depressing.

She reminds people of the not-as-shitty days of the Clinton years and she's got the potential to be the first woman president. My only issues with her are her unreasonable and intellectually dishonest attacks on games and gamers, and the fact that she's a "centrist". Which in the rest of the world makes her right wing.

Obama doesn't exactly seem like he's that much friendlier towards gamers than Hillary, although he has the advantage of not having sponsored all of those stupid bills of hers against it. Wasn't he the one who promised that his administration would act against gaming if the industry didn't?

I don't recall him being out front on the issue. If he did, then that's a knock on him considering how comprehensive the ESRB is. I could see him saying something about Hot Coffee or something, but I'm not aware of him taking the "Hillary/Lieberman School of Issue Whoring" stance on it.

[Coyote]

Also cannot Edwards give Obama his votes or delegates or however this thing works?

When a candidate bows out, they usually endorse a remaining candidate. But his supporters are not obliged to follow that recommendation. They basically become free agents again and can do as they please.

It doesn't help that both Edwards and Richardson owed out of the race and didn't endorse anyone left in the ring. They're waiting to see what happens later, maybe even the day after Sooper Toosday, to make a suggestion.

So far it looks like Obama and Clinton are still close enough to fight-- no one's been definitively defeated.

[The Original Nex]

Mike Huckabee carries the south. Who could have known?

Well, he pretty much locks up the veep nod. McCain needs him to have even a shred of legitimacy, and even then it's a stretch.

That, is a very... VERY scary thought... because if Huck joins McCain, many of the Fundi Evangelic Republicans, who MIGHT have stayed home due to being fed up with thier choices, will turn out in droves to vote for Huck, wwhich will in essence put a Young Earth Creationist in a spot to make decision in the VP spot...

Question is, if McCain gives in to the Fundies by giving them Huck, does he scare away those moderates and independents who think he's one of them?

[Illuminatus Primus]

As an extension of this, the Clintons are kind of an established brand name among devout Democrats. Hillary tends to draw heavy support among the Democratic base, as it were.

This argument infuriates me more than anything else. Its the perfect bullshit. Not only is it implicitly undemocratic and anti-feminist, it is also total doublespeak; its having your cake and eating it too. She gets to claim her husband's credibility, but no one will hold her responsible for his mistakes? You should not be able to claim credit for something without being responsible for what was bad about it. Not to mention the Clinton-canonization is just the symptom of the Democrats being utterly pathetic and circling the wagon of any Democrat who can win two elections, not that he's objectively great.

[Shroom Man 777]

Man. I can't believe Obama lost

[Illuminatus Primus]

Its not over yet.

[Metatwaddle]

I stayed to sign up as a delegate to the state convention, hopefully that will go my way. We were packed into the "Qwest Arena", where the local hockey team plays. It seats about 4,000 or so and only half the people could get in (estimates run from 6,000 to 8,000 showed up). Again, they completely underestimated the turnout. Pretty much everyone commented that they had no idea there were that many Democrats in the state of Idaho; the line to get inside literally looped a city block.

The same was true when I went to an Obama rally in Delaware on Sunday. There were 20,000 people in a state with some 700,000-800,000 people (though there were some from PA and south Jersey, including RedImperator who was with me), and the line looped around some three city blocks until they realized we couldn't all get into the area enclosed by security, and they let us crowd around the fence to try to get a good view through it. Obama always seems to draw huge crowds.

I don't know if tonight's results necessarily mean Obama is done, though. Don't count him out - we've still got more primaries to go, and you can bet he'll win in Louisiana and possibly Nebraska as well. After that is Washington, which will be tougher, but not impossible. A big day is going to be next Tuesday, when Maryland, Virginia and D.C. vote.

[Stravo]

Just as I'm sure you have blacks voting for Obama just because he's black there are a host of women voting for Hillary because she is a woman. I read one excerpt from a voter in NYC yesterday who states "I had to vote for Hillary, she's a woman and I felt like I couldn't look my future granddaughter in the eye if I didn't." Now, even though it bugs me that no matter how bad the candidate is you feel like you have to vote for them due to some higher principal (which of course boils down to - because she's like me) I can't deny that it is a powerful urge and there are far more women than there are blacks so if people vote just along those lines its going to suck for Obama.

Frustration at seeing one of the best Democratic presidential candidates to come down the pike in my memory being shoved aside by a fucking political opportunist and hack like Hillary will make this hard for me when/if she wins. For the first time in my life I would have to sit out a presidential election and that stings me. I don't know if I could stand the barrage of pro-Hillary political ads that will run for the rest of the year if this race is decided in her favor.

[Pu-239]

CNN claims that Obama still has more pledged delegates than Clinton (603 vs 590).

I'll be fucking pissed if it comes down to superdelegates giving it to Klinton

[DarkSilver]

if Edwards endorses Obama, and his delegates follow proper suit (at this point) I still hold out hope that Obama can win the DNC.

I truly do not want Shillary as a candidate - I didn't even like her as first lady for some reason, much less want her as president. She's as, Stravo so affectionately calls her, a political hack.
If I'm in-state come the 9th (Louisiana's Primary date) I'll be participating in my first Primary (there was other democrat in the past ten years which made me want to vote for them so much), and it'll definatly be a vote of Obama. The outpouring of support for him in LA I've seen will all but assure him a victory here.

[Rogue 9]

Fuck, it looks like the Indiana primary might actually matter this time out. I might have to actually register Democrat so I can vote in it; usually I wouldn't bother because we don't have our primary until May 6th, which is usually well after there's enough delegates pledged to somebody or another for it to not matter a damn.

[Darksider]

I certainly hope hillary doesn't win the nomination. She is the only democratic candidate that I cannot vote for, and I will not vote for a republican.

I don't want to sit out on the first presidential election I can actually vote in.

[Noble Ire]

I certainly hope hillary doesn't win the nomination. She is the only democratic candidate that I cannot vote for, and I will not vote for a republican.

Why? I would much rather have Obama in the Oval Office, and I think he has a better shot at winning, but I'm still going to vote for Hillary if she gets the nomination. I dislike the way she's conducted her campaign so far, but her policies are still far better than those of any of the candidates across the aisle.

[That NOS Guy]

All this talk of Obama losing is a bit premature from where I'm sitting. The man has pretty much held his own against Shillary (not that I would've minded a blow out), and that's an encouraging sign. Saturday, he may very well break out of the stalemate as he goes to a southern state (with a very high black population), a plains state (where he's kicked serious ass), and the NW Pacific coast, where I think he can do very well.

There's still a lot left to go, and the next round looks to be in highly in his favor. It's not over under Hillary cries at losing the nomination.

[JME2]

Hmm. Didn't wake up to the landslide victory for Obama I was hoping for.

I'm dissapointed too, but at least it's not ever yet. Better Obama than Clinton.

[D.Turtle]

Man. I can't believe Obama lost

I can't really understand the pessimism here.

Clinton lost a huge nation-wide lead. Obama won 13 out of 22 states. He has as many pledged delegates as Clinton has. The next several states are all trending towards Obama, Obama collected three times the amount of money Clinton collected, and so on.

If anything this is a huge victory for Obama. they were hoping to be within one hundred delegates of Clinton, and instead they are tied. Also, don't forget that the superdelegates can change their vote at any time. Many of the superdelegates endorsed Clinton a long time ago when it seemed inevital that she would be the democratic nominee. If you look at the major endorsements in the last few weeks, the vast majority went for Obama. And if it becomes clearer that Obama will win the primary, you can expect man to jump ship.

In short: this is far from over for Obama, instead it is actually Hillary Clinton's campaign that is in deep trouble.

[Xisiqomelir]

I just woke up. A margin of +/-20 delegates is huge for our boy. Remember that he has more donors total b/c of internet fundraising, and hardly any of them have hit cap yet, unlike Hildawg's small group of corporate whores, who've all hit caps for themselves, spouses, poolboys and gardeners already. The longer this goes on, the better it is for Obama.