The official results are pouring in and they back up the anecdotal reports from the caucus floor. Barack Obama now leads Hillary Clinton by a 2 to 1 margin, 67% to 32%, with 57% of precincts reporting. Obama’s support isn’t just deep, it is broad, with the Illinois senator leading the delegate count in every county reporting thus far, most by better than 60%.
Meanwhile, similar results are coming out of the Nebraska Democratic caucus, where Obama now leads 67-32 with 74% of precincts reporting. The Clinton camp talked down expectations heading into this weekend’s contests. Good thing too.
But perhaps the bigger news coming out of WA today was the size of the turnout; preliminary projections suggest over 200,000 people caucused with the Democrats today, more than twice the previous record set in 2004. That’s simply amazing, and aside from the complaints from the whiners at Slog, I think it’s a testament to value of the caucus system. Yeah sure, it was hot and messy and crowded and confused and inconvenient and noisy… but that’s the way democracy should be, as opposed to sitting at your kitchen table alone with a Bic and beer, picking the candidate whose ads you disliked the least or whose name you’ve heard the most times.
And on the Republican side… well… I haven’t heard much from the Republican side. With 16% of precincts reporting Huckabee and McCain are neck and neck, with Paul not far behind. No official word yet on turnout, but anecdotal reports cite it as “moderate” at best. Nationwide, Democrats have turned out over Republicans by about a two to one margin; that says a lot about how excited the two parties are about their respective candidates.
Now if only we still had a local liberal talker on the air tonight, instead of just relying on these damn blogs…
UPDATE [7:15PM]:
Obama now leads Clinton 67-31, with 94% of precincts counted. The final in Nebraska was 65-33, and Obama leads now leads in Louisiana 53-39 with 45% reporting. That’s a clean sweep for Obama, and by big margins.
UPDATE [7:35PM]:
With 37.1% of precincts reporting: Huckabee 26.4%, McCain 22.9%, Paul 20.3%. Not surprising from a state GOP that once went for Pat Robertson.
According to the fishwrapper, Democratic caucus participation was up 75% from 2004. The Republicans? They’re still trying to reach their “high water mark” set in 1980.
WSRP is a dying weed whose leaves have withered.
The conservatives’ last hope is Huckabee — the guy with no money, no staff, and no organization.
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
It’s Hail Mary time for the wingers.
Clinton Leads Early LA Returns
King 5 News says Clinton currently leads in Louisiana, 41% to 40%.
“It’s Hail Mary time for the wingers.”
Dear God, that is scary stuff, RR.
In light of all the damage these wingnuts have already wrought on this country…
It’s time to quintuple the size of Gitmo and fill it with the froth mouthed Repugs, until there is a time they can again be trusted to be amongst civilized society.
Say, six or seven decades should suffice.
Squee!
http://youdecide08.foxnews.com.....cus-sites/
Even in heavily Republican Lewis County, the Republican caucuses at W.F. West High School in Chehalis drew only about 15 people, compared to more than 160 at a Democratic caucus elsewhere in the school.
“The only choice is McCain,” Maria Easley, a 40-year-old financial analyst from Chehalis, who was first to arrive with her 12-year-old-son Clay in tow. Like many Republicans, Easley isn’t enthusiastic about McCain, a maverick known for bucking his own party. “McCain is a bit wishy-washy. I’m not sure where he stands from day-to-day. But I don’t think that Huckabee can go the distance.”
Roger, it’s a completely surprising result that Clinton has surged in Louisiana, it appeared she was going to be routed by 20% or more. Exit polls predict that Obama will still pull it off, but not my much – it looks like it’s going to be an even delegate award in Louisiana, which will deflate the totality of his as-expected ‘trifecta’.
Anyone seen any polls on the Maine caucus tomorrow?
You guys should go over to (un)SP. It’s hilarious how full of hatred they are for McCain.
Some old trolls I haven’t seen here for a long time like Surreal Mark (for McCain) and zapporo (for Huckabee) make an appearance.
I’m so enjoying this!
Roger Rabbit @ 5
More precincts are reporting in Louisiana, and it is 51% for Obama and 36% for Clinton.
More importantly, looks like Republicans are TOAST this year. Democratic turnout in Louisiana is more than twice the Republican turnout. And Louisiana is a so-called RED STATE which voted twice for George W. Bush, has 6 out of 9 Republicans in its congressional delegation, and a Republican Governor (and 5 out of 7 Republican statewide elected officials).
MSNBC Suspends Rightwing Reporter Over “Pimp” Remark
MSNBC staffer David Shuster’s on-air remark about Chelsea “pimping” for her mom was a calculated (and unauthorized) attack on the Clintons by a guy with deep rightwing credentials who’s a veteran foot soldier of the right’s anti-Hillary campaign.
” … Shuster … left CNN in 1994 to become a political reporter for the ABC affiliate KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas, covering the Whitewater scandal. Little Rock’s KATV station manager, Dale Nicholson, officially retracted several reports filed by Shuster concerning Whitewater. …
“From 1996 – 2002, Shuster was a Washington, D.C.-based correspondent for the Fox News Channel … [who] led Fox’s coverage of the Clinton investigations including Whitewater, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the Starr Report and the Senate impeachment trial.
“Shuster left Fox News for MSNBC/NBC in 2002 … he was in California for two months for MSNBC’s television program Hardball with Chris Matthews as lead correspondent on the 2003 California recall election …. In 2004 he led the show’s coverage of the presidential campaign ….’
” … During the trial relating to the Plame affair, Shuster blogged for Hardball on Hardblogger about the Lewis Libby trial and about other political matters. …
“On September 24, 2007, Shuster interviewed Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn while filling in on Tucker Carlson’s show. When Shuster asked about her response to the MoveOn.org ad campaign concerning General David Petraeus’s Iraq war testimony, he followed up by then asking her the name of the last soldier from her congressional district who had been killed in Iraq; she was not able to name the soldier. Shuster mentioned that it was 18-year-old Jeremy Bohannon, and asked Blackburn why she was not able to recall the name. A further investigation alleged that Bohannon was not actually from Blackburn’s congressional district …. Subsequently, Shuster apologized on air to Blackburn. …
“That incident was not the first time Shuster has sparked controversy. Shuster has been criticized for inserting political commentary into his coverage of news stories ….
“On February 7, 2008, while hosting an MSNBC program, Shuster discussed Chelsea Clinton’s campaigning for her mother, Hillary. When his guest, Bill Press, pointed out that Bush’s daughters did the same for their father, Shuster responded: ‘There’s just something a little bit unseemly to me that Chelsea’s out there calling up celebrities, saying support my mom … doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?’
“The Clinton campaign demanded an apology and stated that Clinton might not participate in any further debates on MSNBC. Shuster was temporarily suspended from all future NBC News and MSNBC appearances for his comments, other than to issue an apology. Before the suspension Shuster had engaged in a heated email exchange with a Clinton staffer in which he defended his remarks.”
Quoted under fair use; for complete article see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shuster
DustinJames @ 8
I think Clinton will be routed by 15% or more in Louisiana. 10% of the precincts are in, and Obama is leading Clinton by 52% to 38%. Not only that, but these 10% of precincts do not include a single precinct in large parishes with heavy Black populations, such as Orleans (New Orleans), East Baton Rouge (Baton Rouge), or Caddo (Shreveport). When all the precincts in Louisiana are in, I expect Obama will be defeating Clinton somewhere in the 20% range.
after voting in 12 presidential election i finally have someone who i can vote for instead of voting against the other side. obama is the one.
@6 I think we should tie ’em to a stake, blindfold ’em, give ’em a last cigaret, and wait for ’em to die of lung cancer.*
* Just kidding! This joke brought to you by Ann Coulter Gags, LLP — no royalties paid.
@7 Chehalis has a financial analyst? I never woulda thunk!! I didn’t realize Chehalis is big enough to have a financial analyst. I thought all they had there was loggers, car dealers, and wet sandbags.
congrats, goldy, you got linked by atrios. hope your server is up to the task.
Lousiana now has 15% of precincts reporting, and Obama is beating Clinton 54% to 37%. And there are still no precincts reporting from likely Obama strongholds in Orleans, East Baton Rouge, and Caddo parishes.
@9 The unsounders hate the GOP nominee? Who woulda thunk!! haw haw haw
RichardPope @ 12 – I’m looking at the exit poll data across a couple of different sites, and I’m thinking it’s going to be closer, more 5-10%. But again, these are just guesses based off exit poll data.
Leave it to wingers to flock to a slimeball like Huckabee! Exactly what you’d expect of them.
I guess McCain isn’t a big enough warmonger for those guys. Nor a big enough war hero — after all, he cracked under torture and signed a “confession.” They’ll never forgive him for that.
@15
It’s actually a nice little town with a McMenamins owned pub not too far away.
http://www.mcmenamins.com/inde.....#038;id=91
I ran into a buddy of mines parents at my caucus, the last time they voted big D was for McGovern.
Hillary Clinton does at least have one bit of good news out of Louisiana. Clinton may be losing by 15% to Barack Obama down there, but she is receiving more than twice as many votes as Mike Huckleberry, who is the apparent GOP primary winner.
the AP just called LA for Obama. And the Virgin Islands. Obama gets a 4 for 4.
@11…RR…
Old news, Rabbit. Puddy and I discussed that story at length two days ago.
The Piper
@24…RP…
“Mike Huckleberry…”
Curious…how did you used to mangle and mock the names of Democrats when you were a Republican? And when was that? Why, this time last year – later, even – weren’t you still touting yourself as a card carrying member of the GOP? Until you couldn’t get any traction with them, so you switched to a party that is giving you even less traction.
What’s next? The Greens or Dr. Benjanin Spock’s old People’s Party.
Got any more zingers? Many more and you can pair with Lee as a modern day version of Lippy the Lion and Har-De-Har-Har.
The Piper
Not exactly what you would call a meeting of minds.
Both the Washington Democrats and Washington Republicans have caucus results posted on their respective websites.
The Washington Democrats have 95.9% of precincts reporting, and Obama with 67.51% of precinct delegates, and Clinton with 31.2%. The Washington Democrats also have a breakdown by county of their results.
The Washington Republicans only have 37.1% of precincts reporting, with precinct delegate results as follows: Huckabee 26.4%, McCain 22.9%, Paul 20.3%, and Romney 18%. The Washington Republicans do not have a breakdown by county of their results.
Wonder why Washington Republicans have barely a third of their results reported, when Washington Democrats practically all of their precincts reporting? Especially when the Democratic turnout was probably at least three times as high as Republican turnout?
Also, Washington Republicans have not broken their (alleged) caucus results out by county. These results are also not available on the CBS News website either — which apparently gets its data from the state Republican party.
Somehow I seriously doubt that the Washington Republicans will ever provide complete results of the presidential caucuses that were held today. Moreover, I doubt that they will even reach a 90% reporting level. With some luck, they might provide a county-by-county breakdown at some point.
Well, maybe my last prediction will be proven wrong. The Washington Republicans now have updated to 78.3% of precincts reporting. (It is still taking a VERY long time to report results.) McCain is in the lead with 25.4%, followed by Huckabee with 23.8%, Paul with 21.1%, Romney with 16%, and uncommitted with 12.5%. Somewhat underwhelming for the nominee-in-waiting.
200,000 or not, the caucus system still disenfranchises thousands if not tens of thousands of people who had to work today, were traveling, infirmed or who for any other reason couldn’t make it.
The system sucks.
@22
I spent the first 20 years of my life there. It’s a horrible little shit town.
My prediction of a 20% Obama win in Louisiana may well come true. Obama is ahead 56% to 37% right now, with just under 90% of the precincts reporting. However, practically all of the missing precincts are in Orleans, East Baton Rouge, and Caddo parishes, all of which have very substantial Black voting populations (especially among Democratic voters).
On the other hand, McCain may catch up to and beat Huckabee in Louisiana. The Republican voters in Orleans and East Baton Rouge parishes are strongly favoring McCain over Huckabee, while those in Caddo are favoring Huckabee by a somewhat smaller margin. McCain is only 2,700 votes behind Huckabee at this point, and there are plenty of GOP voters (especially in East Baton Rouge) that could reverse this margin.
Regardless of whether McCain or Huckabee wins Louisiana, the GOP winner will only end up with about half as many voters as the Clinton.
Went my Democratic precinct caucus, today. I got a call last week and I agreed to be chair for my precinct. It was pretty intense. We met in a local church, the same one where the same four precincts met four years ago. At that time we had the highest turnout anyone remembered — 120 people. This time we had 600! There was a lot of energy. My precinct is sending 6 delegates to the county convention for Obama, one for Hillary.
I can tell you I’m psyched when I was at my caucus in North Seattle the auditorium we were in looked as if it filled to 85% of capacity, My precinct alone had 61 people attending (it was only 15 people the last time I participated) My precinct was 3-2 in Obama’s favor another one was 4-1.
#19
DustinJames says:
“RichardPope @ 12 – I’m looking at the exit poll data across a couple of different sites, and I’m thinking it’s going to be closer, more 5-10%.”
Try 21%, Dustarado. It is almost like you revel in being an idiot, Dusty. It makes for great comic relief.
You are like the energizer bunny of stupid. You just keep blathering, and blathering, and blathering, and blathering, and blathering, and blathering, and blathering, and on and on and on and on.
My son, attending his first caucus, soon to cast his first vote, swayed the undecideds in our caucus by telling them Obama has gotten him and his peers involved in the process.
And he was selected as a delegate to the county convention.
WHAT TIME IS YOUR SHOW AGAIN.OH THATS RIGHT THEY FIRED YOUR ASS.
@ 37. Bill says:
“I can tell you I’m psyched when I was at my caucus in North Seattle the auditorium we were in looked as if it filled to 85% of capacity, ”
Hey Bill, was that Wilson Pacific? If so, WHY didn’t you say ‘Hi’ to me? Ships passing in the night or something? sniff
In another thread Gordon’s nuts drew up into his body because his’ pissed about Michelle Obama thinking about supporting Heilary.
Gordon – Here’s the deal. As a black the problem you don’t understand is what Heilary and Billybob did and said to and about her husband in multiple stops along the primary season. These putdowns of which you can’t understand Gordon are the issue. He has been negatively attacked by the Clinton Crime Commission Proletariat. A strong wife can not just forget that roll over.
Pud- I do not believe I have agreed with anything you have ever posted. That said, as a white boy from the suburbs, I left the Clintons for good after Bill in S. Carolina.
OBAMA!
Posted elsewhere, my soon to be 18 year old son converted undecided’s when he told them Obama could bring his peers into the process.
OBAMA!
I keep hearing about how the Clintons win where it counts…those big states. Surely they must be the better candidate if they can carry those huge blocks of land.
Take a gander at ALL the numbers so far:
Super Tuesday
TOTAL VOTES CAST
Clinton: 50.2% (7,427,942)
Obama: 49.8% (7,370,023)
**Clinton wins this category by 57,919
http://www.time-blog.com/swamp.....teres.html
Figures below do not include American Samoa and Virgin Islands as site does not have data. Clinton won AS, Obama won VI 3 delegates each unconfirmed.
Overall primary vote
Clinton 9,060,808 – 870,303 (FL) – 327,419 (MI) = 7,863,086
Obama 8,598,013 – 575,794 (FL) = 8,022,219
Obama wins this category by 159,133
Total States won
Clinton – 10
Obama – 18
19 primaries
Clinton – 9
Obama – 9
New Mexico too close to call? Both site have Clinton leading, but neither has awarded a win, not sure why.
http://uselectionatlas.org/RES.....5&f=0
10 caucuses
Clinton – 1
Obama – 9
Earned delegates
Clinton – 877
Obama – 908
Obama wins this category by 31
Superdelegates
Clinton – 223
Obama – 131
**Clinton wins this category by 92
So the Clintons, by focusing on the big states has managed to win the super Tuesday popular vote by 57,000 and the unearned superdelegates by 92…and THAT’S IT.
So please…someone tell me why they are showing they are winning?
Data site:
http://uselectionatlas.org/RES.....1&f=0
Delegate data site:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/20.....orecard/#D
K – Glad to see you see the Clintons as whom they really are. Too bad it took S. Carolina to slap you side the head.
So does this mean Heilary will lose Maria Just CantThinkWell and Patty Where’s My Sneakers Slurry StupidDelegates or not? Do the political forces force Slurry and CantThinkWell to the Obama side? Or are they like the standard donkey we see everywhere and do what they damn well please?
I bet they stay Heilary StupidDelegates. That’s the donkey way.
It will be interesting to watch if the Democratic Party policy of Super Delegates will disenfranchise all of the voters who have voted for Obama. Time will tell!
It is also interesting that the Democratic Party has such a system with delegates that are not beholden to any voters by any process!! Time for a change!
Caucusing as Sport
Yesterday I kept thinking about how Goldy talks about the pleasure of Caucussing.
I can see why.
The Caucus is DL grown big. There is wonderful feeling of chaotic democracy .. a festival of free speech.
I spoke for BHO at my precinct, BRS was PCO.
in my brief moment, I tried to tell people why I support BHO, emphasizing his record as a community activist as compared with HRO’s record as a raimaker for her husband and corporate attorney. I praised her for her wide knowledge and expressed my dream that BHO and HRC would work together as true patriots.
This went over well though I dubt it chnaged anyone’s votes. Afterwards I did have a goof discussion with one neighbor over the healthcare plans though another neighbor seemed to want to dook it out over BHO’s beoing absent on a Iran vote.
How could this be improvgedon?
1. Beer.
I happen to like the caucuses. I get to meet my neighbors – including the little old ladies that rarely get outside. I get to meet fellow democrats. We get to discuss (in a fairly civil manner our preferences – while agreeing that we are all democrats) – and then we get to re-vote and watch as the undecideds shift to Obama.
That happened after I read Obama’s speech in 2002 vs Hillary’s speech in 2002 (on the senate floor) on the Iraq war.
I love the Hillary has experience argument (what experience – certainly not any foreign policy experience?).
or the Hillary is tough and battle tested (then why has Obama come from way behind to surge ahead?)
or Hillary has a better health care plan (then why can’t she explain how it will be mandatory?).
or the what has Obama done argument (in two years he has voted the right way on earmarks, cluster bombs etc. – what has Hillary done and how has she voted (wrong on the above issues)?)
Face it – poeple just don’t trust Hillary to make the right decision over the politically expedient decision.
@49: SJ
I concur wholeheartedly with your analysis. Caucuses are a unique form of democracy. And the only think missing is….beer.
I like to think of Will Rogers who once said:
“I don’t belong to any organized party, I am a democrat”.
Gee – Where is Dustin James?
Do you still think that Chris Gregoire’s endorsement of Obama will hurt her in the general election?
Especially since only 1/3 of Washington democrats went for Hillary?
“Progressive” Seattle latte liberals,
Thanks very much for your contribution in beating the hell outta Hillary yesterday. The sooner she is sent into obscurity, the better! (And she won’t have to pimp Chelsea anymore!)
Thanks again!
The post says 200,000 people showing up is “a testament to value of the caucus system.”
I disagree: it’s a testament to those 200,000 people. It’s great that they showed up.
The caucus system, on the other hand, is unfair to many groups (disabled, workers, Eng as 2nd lang), and generates at best about 25% the turnout of a primary. Also, the caucus system probably gives different results than a primary that counts (like upcoming Repub primary).
The caucus rewards more motivated voters. So did the poll tax.
@ 45 It’s easy – Hillary has won: A majority of the overall popular vote, the majority of the delegates, and the majority of the primaries (Including New Mexico, even though they haven’t called a winner, it’s been the same results for over 2 days and I don’t see it flipping again).
Barack has won: the majority of the caucuses, including states that have absolultely no chance of voting democratic in the next presidential election (say what you want, but he has NO chance in carrying Idaho or Utah in november in the presidency, and I’d still put my money on Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, and Alaska voting republican statewide.)
@52: Yes I still see it hurting her. Again, what happened in Washington was a caucus, where working class people who were working on Saturday, or people who don’t understand / are intimidated by the caucus system don’t participate. These include a lot of members of the working class base of the democratic party.
I kept hearing about scenarios “The physician at my office closed his doors for 3 hours so we could all go caucus.” Well excelent, I’m sure Safeway and Jack in the Box wasn’t going to let people off like my sister for 3 hours so she could go caucus (and they didn’t), let alone pay her for those three hours she needs to make the ends meet.
So yes, Gregoire’s endorsement – as my sister deadpanned to me on Friday when I talked to her – “It just really shows Gregoire doesn’t understand people like me.”
As the New York Times recently put it:
Obama resonates loudest with people with college education, Hillary resonates loudest with people with high school education. Count me and all of my working class family in the latter.
@55 DustinJ
Lets keept he facts straight:
Pledged (elected delegates .. Obama is (slightly) ahead. form 2 to 30 depending on how this is calculated.
Total Popular Votes … Obama again is ahead
Clinton has won in the more populous states.
As for who is more representative of the lower and middle class:
HRC was born into privilege, she has only held a non corporate or non gevernmint job for 1 year of her carear.
BHO,l was born into the lowe middle class at best, excelled in an atmosphere very adverse to people of his background, chose a life of poverty advocate and, until the leats two years has that or civil rights law as his main source of income.
Her policy speeches in re poverty are pretty much synonymous with his.
Well, then you go talk to the people from the working class who are clearly for Hillary. Obama loses the Blue Collar votes over and over. I haven’t seen his plans to help the working class voters, well, I’ve seen the plans, just not the details, because that’s what Obama has – plans and no details.
You know what sort of things resounds with working class voters? I’ll throw one out: A moratorium on Housing Foreclosures. Hillary says Yes, Barack says No.