This is the thread to discuss all things election related this evening.
To kick things off: Obama wins Vermont, handily, as expected. From what I hear the other three are tight.
UPDATE: According to CNN, McCain has won Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island, thereby securing the Republican nomination. Guess Huckabee should have majored in math after all.
UPDATE: Clinton projected to win Rhode Island.
UPDATE: CNN is projecting that both my children are now in bed, Griffin having chosen a story about Hercules, while Huck chose Robin Hood.
UPDATE: Clinton wins Ohio, and at least at this stage (63% reporting), it looks like an ass-kickin’. Word has it rural counties report later, but still, this is a huge win for her.
UPDATE: Clinton on the Daily Show last night:
UPDATE: And they’re calling Texas for Clinton, 51-48.
This is a big night for her, and she’ll get a spin advantage for a while, but I still don’t see how she comes back from her pledged delegate deficit (say that three times fast). Are superdelegates seriously going to give it to her because she narrowly won these two particular states? A huge win in Philly might give her a long shot, but I’d say the odds are still against her.
UPDATE: Oh, and by the way, my younger son will be crushed to find out in the morning that his namesake Huckabee has dropped out:
UPDATE: And here’s Clinton’s triumphal victory speech:
UPDATE: And here’s Obama’s not-victory speech:
UPDATE: And here’s MSNBC’s Chuck Todd explaining why the seemingly big win for Clinton doesn’t translate to much movement in the delegate count:
There’s something a little twisted about the fact that you need an expert with a team of number crunchers to figure out who’s winning. Any chance we’re going to update our democracy for the 21st century any time soon?
UPDATE: Ohio is coal country. I wonder if this affected Obama’s fortunes there:
Until those [clean coal] technologies are available, I will rely on the carbon cap and whatever tools are necessary to stop new dirty coal plants from being built in America – including a ban on new traditional coal facilities.
As far as I know, Clinton has never hinted at a moratorium on new dirty coal.
Pennsylvania is even more coal-y. I’ll be curious to see if there’s any polling around the coal question there, and if primary voters are aware of Obama’s current positions.
