Super Saturday Election Roundup
| Obama won the Wyoming caucus today, wasn’t even close, scoring him 3 or 4 delegates over Hillary. According to the numbers from the Obama camp (which seem to be the most reliable), that is about the same amount Hillary won on March 4th (Obama won Texas, when you add the caucus results there, so he came up with 3 more delegates in Texas total than Hillary did). | |
The Obama camp also pointed out, following his Wyoming win, that Hillary has to win 63% of the remaining pledged delegates now, which would mean she has to get 68% or 70% of the vote in every remaining state. Obviously this is impossible, especially with a lot more Obama wins on the horizon. Even a big win for Hillary in Pennsylvania won’t make a difference.
On that same note, after they finally finished counting the ballots in California (crazy idea, I know!) Obama gained four delegates, and Hillary lost for, netting Obama 8 more delegates, more than she gained in what the MSM likes to call her “giant comeback” in Texas and Ohio. Of course there is ZERO mention of that in the MSM, and the delegate counts offered by the MSM don’t reflect the updated numbers. Typical.
Also, we still have heard nothing about the recounts in NYC, where Obama got ZERO votes in 80 districts. I know after his votes were counted her almost tied Hillary in a few districts, but I have been unable to find any information about how that has changed the popular vote and delegate totals. I’ll see what I can find though in the next few days.
So basically, the media way overexaggerates Hillary’s wins, while ignoring Obama’s wins, even though they have a larger impact on the delegate math.
But in the most important news of the night, Democrats in Illinois were able to take Dennis Hastert’s (former GOP Speaker of the House) district (IL-14) in a special election, in part thanks to help from Obama, who took time out of campaigning to cut an ad in his home state to support the Democrat Bill Foster, as well as providing organization support (while at the same time Hillary was running around the country trying her hardest to hurt Democrats in November). Here is the full story from georgia10 at DailyKos:
This was essentially the first proxy battle in the general election war between Obama and McCain, and Obama and the Democrats thumped McCain and the Republicans ON THEIR HOME TURF! The Obama Effect in action!Democrat Bill Foster has won the special election in IL-14, and by a stunning margin.
This is a red district. Former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert represented this district since 1987, winning reelection by huge margins.
This district includes the city of Dixon, which is the birthplace of Ronald Reagan.
This is a district that President Bush won twice, and in 2004 he received 56% of the vote.
The NRCC poured over $1 million here to hold onto this seat — nearly a third of its cash on hand.
John McCain actually took time from his presidential campaign to come to Illinois and hold a fundraiser for Oberweis and formally endorse him.
This was an important race. Despite the inevitable spin from the GOP tonight, the fact is that Bill Foster ran in a deeply red district, against an opponent and a Republican machine that blanketed the airwaves with attack after attack. Republicans fought tooth and nail to keep this district, and they lost.
Congratulations to Bill Foster, and to the team of dedicated volunteers both in Illinois and around the nation that pitched in to help turn this seat blue.
Barack Obama also deserves a shout out, not just for cutting an ad for Foster and helping with the GOTV effort, but also for proving that his coattails can help even a political newcomer win in a red district. If Obama is the nominee in November, this will be a key element of building on a Democratic majority throughout the nation.
Foster will be seated soon, and will face Oberweis again in November.
For now though, Foster’s win is sure to keep Republicans up at night. As DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen explained:
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said a Foster victory in the “rock-ribbed” GOP district would “send a shock wave through the political system that people are absolutely fed up with the status quo.”
Welcome the newest Democratic member of Congress, Representative Bill Foster!
First Donna Edwards, now Bill Foster, Obama is already trashing Republicans and helping progressives and he isn’t even our official nominee yet! Wake up Dems! This is what we need!!
