Liveblogging Super Tuesday

12:50AM
I can't shut up. MSNBC is adding the delegates like so: Clinton 837, Obama 841.

12:43AM
One more thing... MSNBC calls Alaska for Obama. And this from Markos:

Obama will likely win the battle of the states 14-10. He actually managed to make California unimportant.

12:37AM
Okay, that's all for tonight. Thanks everyone! MSNBC is calling Obama the "apparent winner" of Missouri.

12:30AM
MSNBC reports that the Romney people will be having some "frank discussions" tomorrow.

12:24AM
Obama is going to win Missouri, again defying expectations and polls. Even with CA going decisively for Clinton, this is still a winning night for Obama based on the polling and expectations leading into the week. Obama won several surprise victories while Senator Clinton lost some states she was winning in the polls -- CT, MO and MN. Here's the thing... Clinton is way behind in cash. Obama can maintain his present clip for much longer and could potentially spend the Clintons into the ground.

12:22AM
CNN's Most Excellent Giant TVs Ever Made Wow! Team has this delegate count: Clinton 306, Obama 235.

12:16AM
CNN says California is still competitive based on their data. For what it's worth, their delegate count for CA is 22 Clinton, 12 Obama.

12:15AM
CNN calls Arizona for Senator Clinton [mistake corrected].

12:12AM
MSNBC calls California for Senator Clinton. The present gap in votes is shocking. It's 55-33 right now.

12:05AM
Whichever wire service called Missouri for Clinton was premature. Obama is now leading in Missouri.

12:04AM
"We are the ones we've been waiting for." Brilliant.

11:59PM
Another amazing address by Senator Obama. By the way, MSNBC hasn't made a call on Missouri.

11:55PM
This from TPM made me a little nauseous, partly because I'm Italian and partly because it's very sad:

I became involved in the NJ campaign after one of my friends told me that his extended Italian family were voting for Hillary cause she was preferable to the black guy. Their votes were being driven by race. We turned some of them around, but with others the racial enmity prevented any rational discussion.

11:52PM
Missouri goes for Clinton and Colorado goes for Obama.

11:42PM
McCain is talking and Obama is almost ready to talk. Whoa. MSNBC might... cut away...? And Olbermann wraps it and MSNBC goes to Obama.

11:29PM
Delegate count by request... Clinton 170, Obama 128 according to NBC. And as for the superdelegates, they're not even worth paying attention to. The only reason they exist is so the party can maintain some kind of leverage in terms of who wins the nomination. ALL of the superdelegates could be pledged to one or the other candidate and it wouldn't matter. Whoever 1) lasts the longest, 2) doesn't run out of cash, 3) doesn't drop out, 4) keeps the lead in popular vote/caucus delegates... will win the superdelegate count. The superdelegates will shift to whoever the presumptive nominee becomes. AND... this will not go to the convention.

Now the seldom discussed "Super Monsters Of Rock Delegates" are a different story. No-one knows about them but they'll crush us all with their super-ness.

11:20PM
CNN's Super Rad Explosion Of Politics And Happy Greatness, Yessiree! says that according to their exit poll, Obama is winning the white and black vote in California. Clinton is winning the Latino and Asian vote.

11:18PM
Clinton appears to be leading in CA, but it's too close to call. Obama leading in Colorado.

11:07PM
As Chucklebee talks with Chris Matthews, a brief observation on the Democrats. In the strictest sense, Senator Clinton has not won any surprise victories tonight. Obama has won at least 2 surprise victories in MN and CT.

11:02PM
The biggest shocker of the night! McCain wins Arizona! Break out the lawyer jokes!
Obama wins Minnesota. Olbermann says Obama was 7 points down in MN six days ago.

10:56PM
Some perspective on Obama's CT victory. Here's the Quinnipiac poll from November 8: Clinton 45%, Obama 19%. ARG from February 1: Clinton 48%, Obama 35%.

10:51PM
Senator Clinton is talking now with some wicked mic feedback.

10:43PM
Huckachuckle wins GA. Also, Aravosis at AmericaBlog further clarifies the Massachusetts situation (see my remarks at 9:12PM):

Hillary has always been ahead in Massachusetts. She was 11 points ahead only 2 days ago. For the pundits - especially Chris Matthews - to keep trumpeting Hillary's victory in Massachusetts as an "upset" is absurd. Yes, she won - and kudos to her for that. But it was expected for the past 14 months. It wasn't an upset.

10:36PM
The Romney Unit is talking on the TV. If you listen carefully, when he gestures, he makes that C-3PO servo motor sound.

10:28PM
MSNBC says Obama wins CT!

10:26PM
Terry McAuliffe on MSNBC. I so hope that Clinton wins the nomination so we can observe the cavalcade of the same old Democratic operatives.

10:22PM
It's looking more and more like McCain and Huckabee are going to team up as a unified front with the Romney Unit not lasting much longer. But it looks as if Obama and Clinton will continue forward, still fighting despite the increasingly congealing Republicans. Even though I strongly believe that the Democrats won't take this to the convention (it will never happen -- NEVER), for every week in which the Obama and Clinton camps are bitterly fighting, the Republicans will appear comparatively more civilized. That's not good.

10:18PM
MSNBC says Obama wins Kansas caucus. Obama is also leading strongly in Colorado.

10:13PM
Huckabee and Miss Teasdale from Duck Soup making with the talk and humorous quips.

10:05PM
Obama wins Utah. Obama is leading significantly in Minnesota and Idaho. Idaho! Pedro and Summer should be conceding at any moment.

10:01PM
Utah goes to the Romney Unit.
Obama wins North Dakota.

9:58PM
CNN just ran a commercial in which a guy eating breakfast and a hummingbird are both killed by an exploding meth lab. I'm not making this up.

9:53PM
To recap...

Hillary Clinton
NY, TN, OK, NJ, MA, AK

Barack Obama
DE, GA, IL, AL, KS

Huckabeer wins Alabama and Arkansas. The Romney Unit has only won MA tonight.

9:48PM
On a serious note...MSNBC reporting wicked tornadoes in TN. People trapped in a dorm. One fatality.

9:37PM
Scarborough says: a tie tonight goes to Obama. Everyone send some good vibes to Rachel Maddow for putting up with Joe and Pat Buchananan.

9:34PM
Chubby little loser Karl Rove on FOX again. Here's a song for Karl:

9:28PM
MSNBC delegate count for tonight: Obama 46, Clinton 112. Obama is leading in Napoleon Dynamite's home state of Idaho. The Republicans have also won some delegates and votes -- Huckabee leading in Missouri. The concensus is that McCain, though winning, is suffering from a weaker showing than expected.

9:25PM
Request from the comments... Something for Obama supporters... Obama wins Alabama 64-34!

9:21PM
MSNBC calls NJ for Clinton. Exit polls were wrong on this one too.

9:20PM
The Democrats will not go all the way to the convention. The party will never let it happen -- unless the GOP does as well and that won't happen. McCain wins NY.

9:18PM
MSNBC delegate tally for tonight only: Clinton 93, Obama 43

9:15PM
CNN hasn't called MA for Clinton yet. Wolf saying that they're waiting for votes from Boston. I can't imagine there are enough votes to make a difference, but then again I'm not a member of the CNN Awesomest Political Bottlerocket Of Ice Cream And Delegates Team 3000.

9:12PM
The exit polls were wrong on Obama in MA. The Clintons are calling MA "the biggest win of the night." I thought the Kennedys basically split three for Obama, three for Clinton -- and I thought Clinton was leading in the MA polls. But okay.

9:03PM
CNN"s John King has blue ink shooting from his fingertips like magic. And Obama wins Delaware.

9:01PM
Who selects the little photos of the candidates? The MSNBC Huckabee photo looks like a wacky boardwalk caricature of Kevin Spacey.

9PM
Clinton wins NY.

8:57PM
Clinton wins big in MA. Someone on the MSNBC crew yelled "oh shit" on the way into the break. I don't think these items are related.

8:50PM
So far the exit polls are matching the projected results on the Democratic side. However, everything can go wrong at any moment.

8:46PM
FOX News is showing an exit poll graphic that looks like a Super Mario level that takes place on a psychadelic lazy-susan.

8:38PM
Karl Rove on FNC with Chris Wallace. Nothing to see here except forehead.

8:36PM
McCain wins Delaware.

8:31PM
MSNBC graphic shows AK results: Clinton 0%, Edwards 0%. Seriously.

8:25PM
Obama appears to be leading in CT and Clinton is leading in MA. Someone from The Greatest Goddamn Election CNN Explosion Of Politics And Turtles just spent four minutes saying something that was entirely obliterated by the loudness of cheering Obama people.

8:23PM
Huckabee's lead over McCain is expanding in GA. Matthews: "Huckabee has trouble DYING. Ha!"

8:19PM
Okay so MSNBC projects TN for Clinton. Not sure what happened just then. Matthews and Olbermann were temporarily baffled by something.

8:14PM
MSNBC's too close to call list for the Democrats: TN, NJ, CT. Obama leading TN 46-44, but too close as well. Olbermann amazed at Obama's showing in TN.

8:02PM
The Greatest Goddamn Election CNN Explosion Of Politics And Turtles projects Obama wins IL and Clinton wins OK.

7:59PM
CNN has Huckabee leading McCain by a few hundred votes in GA.

7:56PM
On CNN, David Gergen is extra turtly tonight -- you know, for the Turtle Club. Turtle! (I swear I'm not drinking. Yet.)

7:53PM
Olbermann: "Three-way Republican event in Georgia." Huhuh. Three-way. Republicans.

7:51PM
Rachel Maddow seems really sad sitting next to Pat Buchananan who, by the way, just said that President Clinton will be blamed for Obama's "landslide in Georgia."

7:49PM
Chris Matthews: the Democrats are female. Something about a "socio-metric overlay."

7:43PM
This is really superficial but flipping around tonight, I'm noticing that MSNBC's production values are about a gazillion times shinier than FOX News which appears dull and dark in comparison. MSNBC isn't paying me to say that. Meanwhile, Georgia is too close to call for the Republicans. McCain and Huckawacky are separated by a hundred votes or so.

7:28PM
From the second wave of exit polls... Obama leading in GA, AL, CT, IL, DE, MA, MO, NJ, AZ, NM, UT. Clinton leading in TN, NY, AR, OK, CA. Don't expect me to be able to keep up with the exits, but I'll do my best. Besides, we don't know what they ultimately mean in terms of delegates which involves pundit heads exploding.

7:23PM
This morning CNN had some voters rigged up to brain scanner electrodes. Now, whenever they hear Lou Dobbs' voice, the voters tackle Wolf Blitzer.

7:20PM
Let's get this thing started. Obama wins Georgia. We know this. Obama gets 43% of the non-black vote which is significant.

/joke/ Note to President Clinton -- Jesse Jackson won Georgia in 1988. Haha. You can use that. /joke/

Comments

[mamamay]

Has anyone paid attention to MSNBC's Pat Buchanan? He appears to hate it that anyone does better than he did when he was running for Pres, espec Obama. It also appears that Pat has problems accepting that Obama is doing so well among whites. This frees up Pat to now go pick on McCain. Joe S seems to go with the flow, whatever Pat says.unless, Joe gets the chance to score a spiel over Pat. Obama will win and America will be proud.

[belladawna]

what the hell?!?! i thought Missouri went to clinton?!?! are we going to have a re-count like gore/bush eh? lmao
honestly, this is gonna be mccain vs. hillary... i'd still like to see her as the boss and obama as vice president. then him as president after 8yrs. i mean how awesome would THAT be?!?! this country would seriously be in for some serious "change" then eh?

[mamamay]

Folks need to raise the bar on themselves. It is one thing to think that Obama is just someone out there talking you are very mistaking. Obama is not just a good old boy who lacks education, decipline,and the will to follow tricky bill,et al,as in the Past. Obama is one who has many years of preparedness for this challenge of President. He speaks kindly, eloquently, and to the text that even a child can understand. We know that most adults really understand that they are not voting for a good speech, they are voting for a qualified leader and for one who will be cautiously involved in resolving our issues, not one who will appease folks just for a grandstand. We need to look at how close in every state, that Obama has closed in Hil's attempt to pull a landslide. Hil's lost the momentum to coast, now. The people are inspired to unite and roll up their sleeves in unison to restore America. They find this inspiration in Obama. Yes, we can put Super Tues behind us and roll on in a more fired up manner to win this nominee. We can overcome the racist rhetoric which will be left to the Past. We will continue to vote for Obama and resolve the issues, together. We are moving on from the Past,How about You?

[broadbrush]

CALIFORNIA IRREGULARITIES
independent voters of which there are 800.000 in LA county alone had to face hurdles in order to get a DEmocratic ballot in yesterday's primary election, and even if they were able to get them in order to have them counted they were unbeknownst to them require to fill out a special form requesting that their ballot be counted in the Democratic primary--- STAY TUNED

[patrickjkiger]

Obama managed to make California unimportant? Look, man, I'm an Obama supporter, but that's just ridiculous. California is the most populous state in the U.S., and Hillary won it by a solid 10 percentage points.

[Herrington]

True sports aficionados may quibble, but I am beginning to think of the 1964 Heavyweight Championship fight between Sonny Liston and Mohammed Ali (then Cassius Clay).

Liston had such punching power that many contenders feared to enter the ring with him. It was said at the time that Liston could break a normal man’s back with a blow to the stomach. A young Cassius Clay, fresh from an Olympic Gold Medal in boxing, challenged Liston. The betting line put Clay at a seven to one underdog.

The fight took place in 1964. No one had ever seen the style of boxing Clay employed to get a TKO in the seventh round over Liston. Clay moved more quickly than the eye could register, both feet and hands. He cut, bruised and crippled Liston, while staying out of reach of the Liston lumbering power. In the end, a boxing legend was born. Fighters all over the world copied Clay's style. Few were as successful, perhaps "Suger Ray" Leonard.

The metaphor is this. Liston was favored because of the destructive power of his punch. Clay made that punch useless with his athletic gifts and style.

The reader may attribute which of Obama and Clinton these legendary fighters most resemble.

[msfiskvletterman]

2/6/08
2:50pm
Alexandria, VA

Glad to see CT went for Obama.

[Gratitude101]

The disparaging of legitimate (and obviously viable) candidates (whatever you think--or don't-- about them) is an inelegant and unproductive endeavor.

Last night was a win for both candidates on a number of levels, but the real race starts from now...

Thank God for MLK and his legacy--that we in this country are FREE to think, to differ and to vote based NOT on identity politics, but on a range of considerations beyond that which can be reduced to (and distorted by) sound bites.

Brought to you by a CALIFORNIA (and in close proximity to Hollywood) native, who voted based on the issues, not celebrity endorsements (love for Oprah notwithstanding), viral music videos (go will.i.am!) or the "all Black people need to just shut up and get in line" harangue.

[jbstonesfan]

Obama would rather lose than have his supporters back Hillary and as a Hillary supporter I feel the same towards him. The racist politics he has played to his advantage is disgusting!!! 85% of the black vote goes to him, but that's not racist!!! His wife won't support Hillary! He is getting such a free pass...IN the end, the DNC ius with Hillary and remember, delegates or not, she won Florida huge as well as Mich....no way is he getting the nomination. He is a very deceptive man whose hope and dreams are OK as long as he is winning.

[wmbear]

TO MY FELLOW MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATS...

What are you, idiots? Why? Why?? WHY???...

[ceu]

Some of you people really need to KNOCK IT OFF!! All the name calling is ridiculous! What's more important to you - to have your man or woman be the nominee or to take back the White House, the Constitution, and the country in November? Don't we plan to unite behind whoever the nominee is? Do you honestly think that calling people Hillbots or Obamites or whatever will make the uniting easier? 'Cause it won't. Name-calling, insults, etc., will just cause antagonism and it makes people forget that we're all in this together! Seriously, Obama's & Clinton's stances on the issues are not all that different from each other, but they are opposed to the Republican candidates!
Unless, of course, you want the Republicans to retain the presidency and have at least four more years of our young men & women being killed & wounded in Iraq, nothing being done to advance energy independence or alternative energy sources, nothing being done to help the working poor, those without health insurance, the lousy education system, and the rest of the world's declining respect for America. In which case, carry on!

[wmbear]

O'S GOT THE MO...

And the mojo. Definitely....

[adzeman]

Yes Obama had a decent night. But... where the big battleships squared off, California, HRC took Obama out. He outspent her, controlled media, had effective ground game but got whipped.
I still like his chances, but the huge time lead HRC had in developing state campaign staff shows. I know this is way early, but this ability for effective infrastructure by Clinton bode ill for Obama in a convention floor fight?

[julianne]

There are over 1,000,000 dead Iraqi civilians and who knows how many millions wounded or maimed for life. There are over 4,000,000 homeless Iraqis. Tons of depleted uranium are scattered throughout Iraq and will be blowing across the Middle East for centuries. Tens of thousands of our family members are dead, maimed and/or psychologically ruined, far beyond the statistics promulgated by our fundamentalist generals in our new, white trash, lying Pentagon. The financial base of the U.S. has been destroyed along with its reputation throughout the world. Russia and China have aligned themselves militarily. How can anyone possibly vote for her?

[Mahavishnu]

MR said:
... Its over. Period. Over. You dont lose New York,California, Florida and Michigan (not to mention New Jersey, Okla. and Tenn.) and win your party's nomination for President. You just don't. ...But its over.

Wise words. People open your eyes, let your emotions get out of the way...wake-up tot he reality...