Monday, March 10, 2008

Did Obama Actually Win Texas, Despite What Our Media Friends Are Telling Us?

I'm posting this snippet from the Daily Kos because I've become a bit annoyed at how the media keeps telling a story of how Hillary won Texas, etc.

Now, it's not that I have much against Hillary. I'll vote for her if she is the candidate. No, this is more of a statement against our mainstream media and how those journalists do their best to under-report, over simplify, grossly distort and downright falsely report the news. So if Hillary is complaining about the treatment she is getting from the press, she should at least take solace in the favors they are giving her on this Texas thing as I'm sure this "victory" is worth at least a few hundred million in fundraising.

You'll remember the "Texas two-step," in which Texas voters participated in both a primary and a caucus. Under that system, two-thirds of Texas delegates are allocated according to the primary results, and one-third are awarded based on the caucus. Well, despite the fact that major media outlets called Texas for Clinton, the results of the caucus are still not in, and the final results may not be announced until March 29. That's because phone-in reporting from caucus sites was optional, and the majority simply mailed in their results. March 29 is the date that county chairs, who receive those results, are obliged to reveal them, according to the AP. But here's what we already know: in the primary, Clinton picked up 65 delegates to Obama's 61.

And Obama has a very solid lead in the caucus. As NPRreports,

If the numbers in the caucus vote hold up, then Obama will win 37 more pledged delegates to Clinton's 30. So Obama would have 98 delegates and Clinton 95 and he would leave Texas with three more delegates that Clinton.


That will mean that Obama wins Texas, just as clearly as he has won any other state that holds a caucus.

This is actually a huge problem for the Clinton, because she will have netted only eight delegates total on March 4th when you count Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. With the Obama victory in Wyoming yesterday, she's still behindby nearly 140 delegates. This is roughly where she was before March 4th, except that five more
states have gone by.
It turns out Texas really was a must-win state for Clinton, just like her husband said.

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