Leading up to the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, three obvious scenarios were discussed by analysts: Obama would win both states, Clinton would take both states, or they would each win one. The latter was thought to be most likely. Well they did each win one state by CNN estimates, but somehow it wasn’t quite that…at least if you were following the results as they came in.
In North Carolina, the polls closed at 7pm, some of the exit poll data was being parsed by analysts, and anchors and reporters were afoot about possible outcomes. Normal fare. Then some 30 minutes after the polls closed with little precinct data: Obama was declared the winner by the networks; the results later giving him a win by 14%. Neat and all wrapped up like a nice chicken burrito.
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton claimed victory in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, beating out Sen. Barack Obama after a bruising seven-week campaign.”It’s a long road to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and it runs right through the heart of Pennsylvania,” she told supporters in Philadelphia. I’m in this race to fight for you … You know you can count on me to stand up strong for you every single day in the White House.”
Clinton commended Obama and his campaign, saying they are in many ways “on this journey together.” Tuesday’s projected victory follows Clinton’s wins in other big states such as Ohio, New York and California. Her campaign said that should raise new questions about whether Obama, who leads Clinton in the overall Democratic race, can beat presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in November.
“The tide is turning,” Clinton told cheering supporters. Chelsea Clinton’s eyes welled with tears as she watched her mother speak.
With about 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton was leading Obama by 10 points. Clinton will pick up a majority of the state’s 158 delegates.
(CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama claimed victory in Mississippi’s Democratic primary Tuesday. “What we’ve tried to do is steadily make sure that in each state we are making the case about the need for change in this country. Obviously the people in Mississippi responded,” Obama told CNN after his win. Mississippi had 33 pledged delegates up for grabs, which will be allocated proportionally. The state’s Democratic voters were sharply divided among racial lines, exit polls indicate. As has been the case in many primary states, Obama won overwhelming support from African-American voters. They went for him over Clinton 91-9 percent. The state has a larger proportion African-Americans (36 percent, according to the 2000 census) than any other state in the country. And black voters make up nearly 70 percent of registered Democrats.
But Mississippi white voters overwhelmingly backed the New York senator, supporting her over Obama 72 percent to 21 percent. According to the Associated Press, only two other primary states were as racially polarized — neighboring Alabama, and Clinton’s former home state of Arkansas. The exit polls also indicated roughly 40 percent of Mississippi Democratic voters said race was an important factor in their vote, and 90 percent of those voters supported Obama. In Ohio, roughly one in five voters said race factored into their decision. About 60 percent of those voters picked Clinton over Obama. Clinton’s campaign issued a statement congratulating Obama on his win, and said they “look forward to campaigning in Pennsylvania and around the country as this campaign continues.”
Pennsylvania is the next battleground for the Democrats. It holds its primary on April 22 and has 158 delegates at stake. CONTINUE READING
BARACK OBAMA POSES WITH UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING MASCOT PISTOL PETE
PHOTO: EMMANUEL DUNAND FOR GETTY IMAGES
CHEYENNE, Wyoming (CNN) — After losing Democratic contests in the delegate-rich states of Ohio and Texas this week, presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama won the Wyoming Democratic caucus Saturday. Obama led rival Sen. Hillary Clinton by 61 percent to 38 percent, with all of the precincts reporting. The caucus thrust the state, which has only 12 delegates, into the spotlight because the close race between Obama and Clinton means that every delegate counts.
Although Wyoming typically is not a stop for Democrats looking for delegates to clinch the party’s presidential nomination, its numbers could make a difference this year because of the delegate deadlock. With slightly more than 600 delegates left at stake, every remaining contest is crucial to both candidates. The two are separated by fewer than 100 delegates, CNN estimates, with Obama leading Clinton 1,527 to 1,428. CONTINUE READING
(CNN) — Democrats faced the prospect of at least six more weeks of tough campaigning after Hillary Clinton’s Tuesday night wins in Tuesday’s primaries in Ohio and Texas as she escaped a knockout blow by Barack Obama. Both Democratic contenders are eyeing Pennsylvania — the last heavyweight state on the primary calendar — as the next major battleground. The state votes April 22, after Democratic caucuses in Wyoming on Saturday and a Mississippi primary March 11.
“Ohio has written a new chapter in the history of this campaign, and we’re just getting started,” Clinton told supporters in her victory speech in Ohio. “More and more people have joined this campaign, and millions of Americans haven’t spoken yet. In states like Pennsylvania and so many others, people are watching this historic campaign, and they want their turn to help make history.”
After winning the biggest prizes in the February 5 Super Tuesday contests, the New York senator and former first lady dropped 11 straight primaries and caucuses to Obama and watched her leads in Ohio and Texas dwindle to single digits in published polls. Obama supporters began calling for her to quit the race in order to head off a more divisive endgame, and even her husband — former President Bill Clinton — told supporters she would be unable to win the nomination without victories in those states. But Clinton hit back with a television ad aimed at raising concerns about Obama’s experience, an ad juxtaposing a sleeping child with a late-night emergency call to the White House.
Her campaign also jumped into the controversy over an Obama adviser’s meeting with Canadian officials to discuss trade policy as the Illinois senator was calling for changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement, accusing him of telling voters one thing and the largest U.S. trade partner another. The attacks appeared to hit their mark: About one in three voters in the Texas and Ohio primaries made up their minds in the last week, and those who did broke heavily for Clinton. CONTINUE READING
Senator Barack Obama got a major boost Tuesday with victories in the Democratic presidential primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Obama remains in a tight race with Senator Hillary Clinton, but the Illinois senator is favored to add to his delegate lead in next Tuesday’s contests in Wisconsin and Hawaii. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington. Experts were struck by the margins of the Obama victories on Tuesday, especially in Virginia and Maryland where he won 64 percent and 62 percent of the vote respectively. Obama benefited from strong support from African-Americans and a burning desire for change among many voters like this man in the nation’s capital.
“I just want to see change in the world and I think this primary can bring about change, specifically on Iraq and health care,” he said. Obama has now won eight contests in a row against Clinton and hopes to build unstoppable momentum with victories in next Tuesday’s primary in Wisconsin and a Democratic caucus in Hawaii. “It is about whether we are looking backwards or whether we are marching forward,” said Obama. “And when I am the Democratic nominee for president, that will be the choice we have in November.”
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Many voters in Saturday’s Republican contests showed they’re not yet ready to support Sen. John McCain as their party’s nominee while Sen. Barack Obama cut into Sen. Hillary Clinton’s lead in the race for Democratic delegates. Obama claimed victory in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington on Saturday, as well as in the Virgin Islands. “The stakes are too high and the challenges are too great to play the same old Washington game with the same old Washington players and expect a different result,” Obama told a hugely supportive crowd of Democrats at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Richmond, Virginia. “People want to turn the page. They want to write a new chapter in American history.”
Clinton has 1,100 delegates and Obama has 1,039, according to CNN calculations. Obama leads in pledged delegates — 908 to 877 — but Clinton’s superdelegates — 223 to 131 — give her the overall lead. “If I’m your nominee, you will never have to worry that I will be knocked out of the ring, because I do have strength and experience to lead this country, and I am ready to go toe-to-toe with Sen. McCain whenever and wherever he desires,” Clinton said Saturday. [ READ MORE » ]
Results are still being finalized, so I won’t be able to post a full rundown of percentages and what-not until tomorrow, but according to a post on Barack Obama’s blog via his official website, the Illinois Senator has been named the winner of Super Tuesday by his campaign manager David Plouffe.
By winning a majority of delegates and a majority of the states, Barack Obama won an important Super Tuesday victory over Senator Clinton in the closest thing we have to a national primary. From Colorado and Utah in the west to Georgia and Alabama in the south to Senator Clinton’s backyard in Connecticut, Obama showed that he can win the support of Americans of every race, gender, and political party in every region of the country. That’s why he’s on track to win Democratic nomination, and that’s why he’s the best candidate to defeat John McCain in November.
UPDATE: The results have been finalized, and although Barack did win the most states, he DID NOT win the most delegates from Super Tuesday, which contradicts this post. But it was pretty close, as Hillary only beat him by 9 delegate votes. As far as the overall race goes, Sen. Hillary Clinton currently has 823 delegate votes, while Sen. Barack Obama only has 741 delegate votes.
But just to clarify, BARACK OBAMA DID NOT WIN SUPER TUESDAY!
According to CNN, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are only separated by less than 1% when it comes to the votes cast on Super Tuesday.
NEW YORK (CNN) — Just how sharply are Democrats divided between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton? Of all the votes cast on Super Tuesday for the two candidates nationwide, they are only separated by 0.4 of a percentage point. By midday Wednesday, 14,645,638 votes were reported cast for either Obama or Clinton on Tuesday. Clinton had won 7,350,238 of those votes (50.2 percent) while Obama captured 7,295,400 votes (49.8 percent).
Most precincts had reported 100 percent of their votes by Wednesday, though some districts had yet to complete their count. Many of those votes are in in New Mexico, where CNN has yet to declare a winner, and in California, where a sizeable number of absentee votes have yet to be tallied.
The race is getting tighter and tighter with results from “Super Tuesday” still flowing in. So far, Sen. Barack Obama has taken the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, and Utah, bringing his total win (for Super Tuesday) to 10. And Sen. Hillary Clinton has won the following states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, bringing her Super Tuesday total win to only 7. But results are still coming in, and technically, Hillary Clinton is still winning (overall in the race), since she has the most delegate votes. So far she has 825 del. votes, while Barack only has 732. Only time will tell who’ll have the most delegate votes after every state who participated in Super Tuesday reports 100%.
All of the polls are closed, and the results are swarming in with over 20 states reporting results from “Super Tuesday!” So far, Baracka Obama has won Georgia, Illinois, and Alabama, while Hillary Clinton has taken Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee. These are just the definite wins. Polls are just now closing on the west coast, so throughout the evening/morning, I’ll be posting results as they come in. CNN should keep you covered ’til then…
Sorry I couldn’t get this up sooner. My internet connection has been acting up all weekend…
Not even two weeks ago, if you were to take a poll in South Carolina asking voters in the Democratic party who they would be voting for in the January 26th 2008 primary, HIllary Clinton probably would’ve had slightly more votes than Barack Obama. Over the past two weeks, that has dramatically changed! I don’t know if it was the comments regarding Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or Bob Johnson showing us that he’s a living, breathing Uncle Ruckus, but something changed the black vote in South Carolina! Over 70% of the African American vote went to Barack Obama! And when it came to the entire state of SC, Senator Obama had well over 50% of the vote! I actually took part in this primary and casted my vote, so the results actually mean something to me. If you haven’t done so already, I’m not asking, I’M TELLING YOU to register to vote! You can’t participate in the primaries, but you’ll definitely be able to participate in the general election this November.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senator Barack Obama won a commanding victory over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday, drawing a wide majority of black support and one-quarter of white voters in a contest that sets the stage for a multistate fight for the party’s presidential nomination. In a bitter campaign here infused with discussions of race, Mr. Obama’s convincing victory puts him on equal footing with Mrs. Clinton — with two wins each in early-voting states — and gives him fresh momentum as the contest plunges into a nationwide battle over the next 10 days.
Former Senator John Edwards, a native of South Carolina who was trying to revive his candidacy, came in third place but vowed to keep his campaign alive, despite failing to win a single state so far. With 99 percent of the electoral precincts reporting, Mr. Obama had 55 percent of the vote, Mrs. Clinton had 27 percent, and Mr. Edwards had 18 percent. [ CLICK HERE FOR MORE! ]
If you haven’t been keeping up with the results of the Democratic primaries, check out the results thus-far after the cut! CONTINUE READING
It baffles me how these prominent black leaders (Bob Johnson, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the list goes on) are supporting a white woman over a black man. Not that Hillary isn’t a great candidate or anything, but c’mon! This is our chance to get someone of color into the White House, and he actually has a chance AND the credentials! Unlike when Al or Jesse ran. Maybe that’s why they’re a little bitter. But hey, at least we have Oprah. She has her head on straight. These other fools? Eff them!
Not to mention Uncle Tom Bob Johnson created “BET,” which is known for exploiting the African American race and showing us in a negative light. And on top of that, he sold it to VIACOM! Negro please… I wonder how big that check that he got from the Clintons was. Black people better wake up, and fast!
I guess Bloomberg was wrong in their prediction for Tuesday’s New Hampshire primaries.
Hillary Rodham Clinton proved Tuesday that more than one Clinton can be “the Comeback Kid.” “Over the last week, I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice,” Clinton said at a victory celebration after her win over Barack Obama. “Now, together, let’s give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me.” Clinton, whose husband used a second-place finish in New Hampshire in 1992 to propel himself to the White House, had trailed Obama in recent polling. In the last days, though, she overhauled her campaign operation here and took a new tone to the trail. Aides, meanwhile, executed the long-laid ground game that even rivals acknowledged was masterful. The New York senator and former first lady hugged both former President Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, before taking the podium and saying, “thank you, thank you so much” repeatedly.
“I come tonight with a very, very full heart and I want especially to thank New Hampshire,” she said. “For all the ups and down of this campaign, you helped remind everyone that politics isn’t a game. … We came back tonight because you spoke loudly and clearly. Tomorrow, we’re going to get up, roll up our sleeves and keep going,” Clinton said to enthusiastic applause. In the end, though, key voting blocs were there for Clinton in New Hampshire — or weren’t there for Obama, depending on how the campaigns frame it. According to exit polling conducted by The Associated Press and the networks, far more women voted than men; Clinton won 45 percent of them compared to 36 for Obama. Also according to exit polls, fewer younger voters turned out in New Hampshire than in Iowa, depriving Obama of crucial support. CONTINUE READING
