Liveblogging the Kentucky and Oregon Primaries
7:03 (all times are EDT)
Even though the early returns are tight, it's clear that Senator Clinton will win Kentucky by a West Virginia-sized margin. Speaking of which, I didn't liveblog last week's West Virginia primary, but my post mortem was basically: Senator Obama lost with only 25 percent of the vote. However, on February 5, Senator McCain lost West Virginia, too. What was Senator McCain's percentage of the West Virginia caucus results? One. One percent. Why aren't there any questions about Senator McCain's "white working class problem"?
7:08
And by way of tradition, here's my prediction for tonight's results:
7:10
Kentucky results so far:
Clinton 52
Obama 45
Everyone has called Kentucky for Senator Clinton.
7:11
Back to the "white working class problem". The subtext is that white Appalachian voters are racists, regardless of party, because they refuse to vote for a black candidate. Other white Appalachian voters are stupids because they've been duped into believing these ridiculous e-mails about the Senator's religion. So my question is: Why is this a problem for Senator Obama and not a problem for the racist/stupid white Appalachian voters?
7:14
Terry McAuliffe on MSNBC now. "Let everyone vote" -- this is an interesting talking point from the Clinton campaign. Correct me in the comments if I'm wrong, but even if Senator Clinton had dropped out, wouldn't her name still be on the ballot in the remaining primaries? Meanwhile, McAuliffe just said that he believes Senator Clinton will have more delegates before the convention. Yep.
7:21
McAuliffe is fear mongering now: "Who's going to keep me safe? Who will be the best on national security? And if you look at the exit data, Chris, you know -- it's not about race and gender, it's about who they best think can deal with these economic issues and keep us safe." OLBERMANN: "Isn't that essentially a Trojan horse you've brought in on Senator McCain's behalf?" McAULIFFE: "Hillary beats John McCain on these national security issues." So much for the so-called cease-fire.
7:31
Kentucky margin:
Clinton 58
Obama 38
7:35
Chuck Todd: Oregon is only 3 percent African American. By the way, Oregon is also 3 percent Roloff.
7:46
Plug! Plug! Cliff Schecter is liveblogging over here. We'll be stealing each other's snarky observations tonight.
7:48
Cliff reminds us that Alex Castellanos is on CNN again tonight (and looking especially Robert Goulet-ish, by the way). For those of you unfamiliar with Castellanos' race-baiting work... Watch this:
Why does CNN allow Castellanos on the air when they know that race is an issue in this election?
7:55
Following up on Castellanos' creepy Goulet vibe:
7:56
Senator Clinton to make with the talking any minute now.
8:15
Senator Clinton speaking now. Some kind words for Senator Kennedy -- "one of the greatest progressive leaders in our nation's history."
8:19
"We're winning the popular vote." No she isn't.
8:26
Via the comments... Josh Marshall on the popular vote argument:
"Even if you change the rules and fully seat Michaigan and Florida and count them for the popular vote totals and don't count any portion of the Michigan "uncommitted" (which were understood a the to be for Obama) vote for Obama, Hillary is still behind in the popular vote total. The only way she moves ahead in popular vote is if you do all that AND don't count four of the caucus states...Some stuff is just too ridiculous to let pass."
8:35
MSNBC is projecting 29-14 delegate split in Kentucky. 1 delegate away from surpassing a majority.
8:36
Also, Gallup's tracking poll has Senator Obama now leading Senator Clinton among women and Hispanics nationwide.
8:43
Russert just noted that Senator Clinton's electoral math is literally drawn from Karl Rove's electoral map. Weird. To that point, it's worth noting that according to Quinnipiac's latest numbers, Senator Obama is only one point behind Senator McCain in Florida and Ohio. One point. That's statistically nothing. And it's only May.
8:46
Schecter at FDL: "Knocked Up is on HBO. But I'd rather be watching Candy Crowley."
9:01
Norah O'Donnell just reported that 9 out of 10 voters who thought race was important selected Senator Clinton. But, of course, that's Senator Obama's "problem" -- all that racism. His problem. Racist white people are his problem. Yeah. What the hell is wrong with people?
9:15
Matthews to Lisa Caputo: "Senator Clinton can't seem to win people who are educated. What's the problem?"
9:19
CNN reporting that Senator Obama has officially won a majority of pledged delegates. The Senator has reached 1628 pledged delegates.
9:23
Back to the Senator's so-called "problem." Put another way... If someone runs up to you right now and sucker punches you in the throat because of the color of your, say, hair -- is that your problem or the sucker puncher's problem?
9:25
Something I've learned during this process that really, really sucks: Some Democrats are still very racist. Others, who believe every e-mail they receive, are also not very smart.
9:39
Fun fact: Senator Dodd says the word "here" a lot.
9:52
MSNBC reporting that former Carter Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan has died after years of fighting various forms of cancer.
10:00
Before Senator Obama speaks tonight, here's a flashback to Senator Kennedy's endorsement speech.
10:04
SCHECTER: "Alex Castellanos is babbling again. It can be hard to talk when you're not used to talking through the blow-hole of a white pillow case."
10:05
And this video just in from Kentucky:
10:06
Russert saying that Senator Obama has won a majority of pledged delegates.
10:08
Whoever has the beeper/pager at MSNBC... Please stop it!
10:12
Senator Obama getting ready to speak.
10:19
Senator Obama declares that he has achieved a majority of pledged delegates. "Within reach of the nomination for president..."
10:22
SENATOR OBAMA: "We all admire her courage and committment and perseverance. And no matter how this primary ends, Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughter and your daughters will come of age, and for that we are grateful to her."
10:35
Schecter:
Obama is again hitting McCain on lacking the courage to sit down with our enemies. I love that frame. Because it is TRUE. And it is what we should have been saying for a while. It is the cowards who resort to violence immediately. They don't have the guts to work things out in a complicated world, instead of bombing people on false evidence....
10:36
That was a HUGE speech. I haven't seen that much energy from the Senator in months. That's not to say his speeches have been weaker, but this one was particularly strong in terms of his delivery.
10:42
CNN's John King just used his magic-marker fingers to draw what appeared to be a large bowel across "rural" Kentucky. That's about right.
10:55
Is it me or is Begala sounding more and more like Lionel Hutz? Speaking of The Simpsons, if you're planning on selling a monorail to a small rural town, check out the exit polls and find the towns that believe the Manchurian e-mails. Monorail... Monorail... Monorail...
11:03
Results coming in from Oregon. 11% reporting. Senator Obama leading with more than 60 percent in the counties surrounding Eugene and Portland. However, there don't appear to be many racists there so, naturally, these results don't matter.
11:09
MATTHEWS: "There's a problem here for Barack Obama... the Appalachian whites... He didn't even try to reach them..." RUSSERT REPLIES: "They were reachable in Oregon and Wisconsin...." Huh-what-now? Appalachian voters from Oregon? That's crazy! Appalachia is more enormous than I thought! But to Matthews' point -- yes, why can't Senator Obama reach the racist white hillbillies? What's Obama's problem!?
11:17
No exit poll news yet on Oregon's all-important Roloff vote.
11:20
29% reporting
Obama 60
Clinton 40
Also, on CNN, Gergen wondering why Senator Clinton hasn't told her voters (paraphrasing): if you're voting for me because you won't vote for a black candidate, I don't want your vote.
11:26
Chuck Todd: 115 of the 212 remaining undeclared superdelegates are from states that went for Senator Obama.
11:35
Schecter notes: "Rudy Giuliani got 1.5% of the vote [in Kentucky] and he has been out of this race since his old combover went out of style." Why can't Senator McCain win over all of Giuliani's voters? What's his problem?
11:48
Norah's exit polling... In 2004 32 percent of Kentucky Democrats voted for President Bush. The exact same number said they'd vote for Senator McCain over Senator Obama.
11:50
Video flashback to last week. The crossover rural white Democratic voter:
I'm selling Janice a monorail.
11:51
That's all for me tonight. Three more primaries to go. Speaking of which, I have two requests... Can we stop calling them "contests"? They're primaries and caucuses, and they're supposed to be important electoral events. A "contest", on the other hand, involves throwing a baseball at a clown in a dunk tank -- or betting your friends that you can go the longest without masturbating. Second request: now that the primary season is nearing a conclusion, can we stop calling the candidates "Barack" and "Hillary"? I don't hear anyone calling Senator McCain "John."
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Well I feel stupid. This is the first time I am checking out this liveblogging thing. LOVE IT!
Why is Chris Matthews saying that Clinton ahs won the popular vote, when she hasn't. If you don't count Fl and MI, Obama will be up by about 400,000 votes. She only wins popular if you count MI and FL, and don't give ANY votes to Obama.
So why?...
It's outrageous she does not count the caucus states. Most of the country is irrelevant to her.
If you don't vote for Hillary then you don't count is basically what she is saying.
It's outrageous taht he doesn't count 2.5 million voters. Most of the country is irrelevant to him.
He laughs everytime he says it......he
As an Obama supporter ever since I thought this from Gergen on CNN : "Gergen wondering why Senator Clinton hasn't told her voters (paraphrasing): if you're voting for me because you won't vote for a black candidate, I don't want your vote."....
He would have finished this contest a while ago...in his favor of course.
I must stick with my truce.....
Not even close to being the same. I see that you subscibe to Ferarro's belief that Obama has had it really easy because he is a black man. Hillary, on the other hand, has had it so much tougher because she is a woman
Okay, I am going to warn you that I misread you post. Sorry.
Well, black voters have been voting for White Democratic Presidential candidates for decades, as I recall. Given that they are one of the most faithful sections of the Democratic party they don't have anything to prove on that front.
"Also, on CNN, Gergen wondering why Senator Clinton hasn't told her voters (paraphrasing): if you're voting for me because you won't vote for a black candidate, I don't want your vote."
Sadly, that's just the sort of nobility that's been missing from the Clinton campaign. Instead, immorality by omission has been much more their modus operandi..
Perhaps you missed the part where Obama should do the same.
What's Hillary's problem?
WHY CAN'T SHE WIN THE YOUNG, EDUCATED VOTES?
What is it about education that makes voters across the wide USA shy away from Hillary Clinton?
And I know this is a bigger problem for Hillary than the white working class is a problem for Obama. WHY??
BECAUSE SHE IS LOSING THE NOMINATION!!
The Young Slacker Educated Voters have taken over the White Working Class Less-Educated Voters as the MUST-WIN DEMOGRAPHICS. These are the ignored population that Obama alone has been able to mobilize. And that's how Obama has been able to win over Hillary. And these new voters are overwhelmingly voting Democratic in the fall.
McCain's politics does not inspire the young and the vigorous and the newly politically active.
I am male with 7 years of grad. school and multiple professional master degrees and yet I support her.......
Your past comments sure don't sound like they come from someone with "multiple professional master degrees." I'm not buying it.
None of those degrees is in math, I take it.
"So my question is: Why is this a problem for Senator Obama and not a problem for the racist/stupid white Appalachian voters?"
Bob you just made one loyal FAN!!!
So sick of hearing about Obama's "problem." Nobody talks about Hillary's "problem."
It is his problem because this country lets any moron with a pulse cast a vote.
Did you not notice who received around 50 millions votes in the past two general elections? All of those people were actually stupid enough to vote for a moron, even after they had 4 years of evidence of how inept he was.
So, you see, we let everyone vote... and so if you want to win, it is your "problem" when they don't want to vote for you. Obama doesn't need to make them better people, he needs to get them to pull the lever next to his name.
This attitude that these people "aren't Obama's problem" is what has lost the last two elections for the democrats. But why should we have learned anything? Let's put up another arogant jerk and see how he does against a war veteran.
Stop it! Half the Democratic party is not made up of racists.
I don't think we're saying half of the democratic party we're talking about KY and WV two states, that aren't loyal democratic states and their outspoken willingness to say that race played a major factor in their vote. I really don't think people are condemning ALL of Hillary's voters, just a loud, outspoken view.
Maybe it is in the Appalachian area, we will see. There is definitely a problem in that area. That problem has one word: RACIST
I don't think it's all racist (besides the ones who said so on camera). According to MSNBC those voters normally vote for republicans even if they claim to be a democratic
Please tell me why when 90+% of blacks vote for Obama they are never termed as racists?
You whites need to get off your 'guilt of past racism' and get pragmatic.
Chris Matthews, et al (except Olbermann) saying that Obama should have more spent time and money in WVa and KY so the people could get to know him. WTF. This matchup has been going on for what, 5 months now with tons of media coverage, especially by the punditocracy. That's not time enough for the voters to get to know the candidates?!! WTF. What this boils down to is simply who exactly these ( I'm so sick of it "hard-working, less educated white") voters have been listening to. How about a guess. Here's a f****king hint: Fox Noise Fun House, Limbaugh, Ollie North, et al radio blatherers! Ignorance breeds fear and loathing. Wouldn't have mattered one iota if Obama had toured those states so these folks could "get to know him." He's black, and a muslim and his name is Hussein. Period. I am truly amazed that this man has done as well as he has in spite of the millions of ignorant, undereducated white folks. (Do you know how hard it has been for me not to mention "racist"? Oh, dear, just did. Not sorry.)
He isn't a muslim, but he is black. His name does have Hussein in it.
And you point is what.... I know you are kidding but it really is sickening.
I do agree with you about spending money on something that you can't have. Personally , that shows how smart he really is. Someone mentioned that these people would not vote for a black man if they put a gun to their head. This is not a swing state , this is a RED STATE.
If these people decide to vote for McBush over a black man then there is not much anyone can do about it. They are racist and they polled saying it. I am so sick of these people. It is almost over, Obama has already been attacked by Insane McCain and has handled it with intelligent conversation and a coolness that I would expect from Obama.
I wasn't very clear.....
He's only half-black. He's as much white as he is black, and why are we even having to talk about this in the first place? It drives me crazy. Skin color? I am white. What a bogus reason for deciding whether or not to vote for someone.
Chris Matthews , yes Chris Matthews said he was really shocked that so many exit poll voters in both W V and Kentucky were wiling to blatanly say that racedwas the reason they didn't vote for Obama. I would venture to say that perhaps they felt more comfortable being overt because Hillary ligitamized their feelings. Even if they were on the verge of looking themselves in the mirror and questioning old feelings she gave them permission. Hillary Clinton does not make mistakes. When she mentioned "hard working white Americans" it was with a wink and a nod to WV and Kentucky. I never thought I would ever witness this kind of divisiveness in the Democratic party. Hillary Clinton still will not be called racist among blacks and whites in her party , just an "opportunist". How fortunate she is to enjoy the understanding and compassion of a party she has so ravaged for her personal ambition. That is why I am proud to be a Black female Democrat.
That's baloney. Nothing Senator Obama could do would impress people hell-bent on keeping a black man out of the White House. Nothing.
You hear almost nothing about the threats Obama volunteers got while they were campaigning in some of these states. NPR did a story on it. Obama would not have been safe there. His supporters didn't feel safe there.
Yes, getting tired of hearing that Barack Obama has a problem with white working class voters. His problem is with the white uneducated racist white voters. It's not necessary to mention here the predominately white states that Obama has won...Oreg
Senator Obama when mentioning college financial assistance for students, in exchange for community service, should have a the top of the list a task to educate the uneducated in Appalachia et al.
Is miscegenation the answer to racial equality? Education certainly is.
I screamed at the television last night when one reporter , referring back to a lady in WV who said that "there are enough Husseins", had the nerve to say, "where do they get this stuff from?"
I screamed, "they learned it from watching you alright, they learned it from watching you.!"
Oye!
My guess is that they get it from his MIDDLE NAME.
UpstateNYer:
46% of WV and at least 20% of KY whites said "race was an issue in my vote."
Which is an euphemism for saying "yeah I took one look and I ain't votin' for no darky."
Not everyone is a racist, but those are pretty scary numbers.
The question is how many nationally will do exactly the same? Remember the 46% and 20% were among self selected democrats not voters as a whole. I would think more racist would be self selected republicans. So among voter at large nationally 20% (more strongly represented in repub states). Racist is a real fact of life in America.
fyi I will be writing in Ron Paul not for his color but for his support of the Constitution.
Great point on higher percentages amongst Republicans.
20% is just the percent who admit that they're bigots.
Damn scary.
It's Kentucky.
Bob, THANK YOU......
See Chris Weigant's Profile
About your 10:55 comment --
"Simpsonville, Kentucky" is right next to "Shelbyville, Kentucky."
I'm just sayin'...
-CW
Is there a Springfield nearby?
Oooohhhh..
What really gets me is that the media let's Hillary go off on her MATH without challenging her.
Every primary we all understand the MATH except Hillary.
Tim Russert: DELEGATES MATTER, that is how we have always picked a nominee.
The superdelegates will have to grow some cojones and make a decision. I think the Clinton's are running this show. If it was reversed Obama would have been gone along time ago.
I think the Superdelegates are waiting for the supporters to simmer down. Let's call a truce, when they start using that fuzzy math just skip over it.
Obama08! YES WE CAN!
Not all people who vote against Obama are racist.
I agree, not all are racist, but the astounding percentage of people in KY who said race was the reason they voted for Hilary, they expect Obama to be the nominee and when that happens they will vote for McCain...t
I was once a upstateNYer and there were NO black people where I lived. Funny thing I moved to the south and became NORMAL.
True, some of them are surprisingly bitter middle aged and older white women who feel that they are owed a female president and see every criticism of Hillary as sexist. As far as I'm concerned, it's a double standard that everyone is comfortable discussing sexism but tiptoes around racism as if it doesn't exist. Read this article and tell me that Hillary has experienced anything close to this degree of discrimination:
http://www
Of course they aren't and not all people who vote for Obama are black or socialists or cultists or liberals or even democrats!
Of course not, and I have never heard a single person say that.
Obama's got 61% of the vote....hm
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
