O'Reilly: hits a symbol with "deli-gaits"
Matthews: desperately wants to shut-it-down tonight
8:11 "Cheap identity politics" may have caused Ohio to run out of ballots in key Obama counties ...
8:15 Matthews continues to make the story just how much the Clinton campaign is "planned". Of course, that is fair game (and the right way to cover it); but does that mean that everything the Obama campaign does is "spontaneous" or "true"? When Obama came on TV after Wisconsin, was that ... an accident?
8:25 PM. 0% Reporting - these appear to be the boost from back-up-the-truck rallies in TX (maybe RI, too).... [waiting for confirmation] Update 8:44 pm: "750K already counted--huge margin for Obama." Update2: "Functionally, it means that Clinton must win on Election Day by 4-5% just to tie Obama in Texas."-Chris Bowers, OpenLeft [Now you know why I didn't make any predictions and ignored all the general polling being done ... you have to also make estimates about when the standard prediction model is broken]
From Kossacks:"Terry McAuliffe is high as a kite" Candy Crowley on CNN said that - and then quickly clarified - "in a spiritual sense."
The excitement of politics '08:
I so need a laptop. I can't be running back and forth between rooms. Or maybe I should have moved the computer for the primary season.
8:57 "The blessing of all blessings", used to describe breaking news on CNN (I don't know her name - Update: "Dana Bash"?) for possible Bush "endorsement" of McCain tomorrow AT THE White House. Oh, my!
8:48 MSNBC: Bush may actually campaign and fundraise for McCain ... "We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea."
8:49 American Idol covers Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"
8:58 Dick Army reports (on C-span) that some rock-ribbed Republicans he knows, some who even knew Hillary from her 1992-93 days, have voted for Clinton.
9:02 John McCain gets the honor of a lifetime. Good for him. FOX: McCain has only half the party behind him fully. (In "Texass", 46% to 45% think he is not conservative enough).
9:11 FOX: Mike Huckabee will leave the race tonight
[9:18 You can now see why Clintonistas are disappointed about Florida - mouse over Dade, Broward, etc.]
9:21 Huckabee/"Hucklebee" concedes, recalling George Brett: I wish that my last play, my last at bat, to run as fast as possible to first base, even if I'm thrown out. [Go with God. Thanks for the memories, and may your firstborn son marry a gay Marine.]
9:36 CNN: Rhode Island goes for Clinton, following the exit polls. Heavy voting in a slow state.
[Nothing will be known for hours, now. McCain will likely try to get on air before 11:00 news ...]
9:48 First Austin, TX vote counts arrive, with Obama in ~25K lead, in the first test of the night of "youth politics" as a meaningful swing demographic.
9:50 Everyone just looks at Cindy, while John McCain mouths something ... [off a teleprompter ...]
McCain's weekend off has given him, "The decision to destroy Saddam Hussein's regime." John, where are the weapons of mass destruction? It's like we're going to have another farcical election, in which we wink and nod at the obvious failures before us... Besides, "regime change" is not international law AND, historically, was the behind-the-scenes left-liberal reason to consider military action ...
Still, don't underestimate John when he has a good script. He exudes authenticity, in his own way, so it's a head-to-head on that trait with Obama ...
9:55 One of AS's readers notes the ... limits of latte liberalism. *sigh*
10:03 Clinton ahead [update: very early] in critical Cayahoga county, OH, on CNN figures (not verbally reported yet). WOW! Update: Final county count will not be in until 4:30 a.m. because of ... everything.
10:12 The numbers: Looks like VT will be +3 to +5 for Obama; RI breaking for Clinton with a decent margin, but too soon to say the two together will amount to a net pickup for Clinton (I think).
10:12 Halperin:
"Texas and Ohio are closer than Lassie and Timmy"
Also: "Obama's campaign lawyer Bob Bauer unexpectedly joins Clinton Campaign media call to challenge Clinton campaign's record of challenging caucus process" Ouch.
You have to say that this vote twice stuff really looks like a Primacaucusaurus .... [if you don't know, you have to pick them up by the ears ...]
10:30 The other races to watch, from SwingStateProject.
10:31 McCain campaign was "left for dead by the side of the road." - Brian Williams (same language on FOX)
10:06 AS promises to jump out the window and heads for a drink ... [Don't blame the Clintons, altogether. Obama would have exactly these problems against any GOP challenger, yes? He'll emerge strengthened, I think, win or lose - that sounds weird, I know, but growth in perceptions is not linear ...]
10:36 Obamites "fear" that Barack might have to dip into his anticipated "caucus reserve"
10:46 CNN guest/analyst talking about the insufficiency of delegate counts: "You can't win without the winning" [I think CNN is going to win the prize for tonight ...]
10:47 Rhode Island breaking wide for Clinton, 60-40 with ~90% reporting. That could translate into a slight, net Clinton gain, VT+RI, yes?
10:57 CNN Calls Ohio, already! HOLY Cow.
Obama is back up against the wall? It would be so much more ... refreshing to watch Obama-McCain.
11:05 Andrea Mitchell says Clintons will convene tomorrow to decide in-out posture. I can judge Bill, but not Hillary; and he's thinking about how to position the case to go on, not whether to make one. I'll go with that as the outcome.
Matthews: "Maybe she can go to Pennsylvania and not bring the kitchen sink with her."
11:20 Clinton talks - what else?
It's about me, no, it's about you, no, it's about me being about you.
"As Ohio goes, so goes the nation." humm... (not a winner, that)
Ohio is our National loadstone. (grrr....)
New York has become a "battleground state". *eyes roll*
It's "Day One" again. zzzzzzzzz Oh, make a donation [told you so!]
... waiting for rejoinder to McCain. Something tells me it isn't coming. *sigh*
"Stand up for what is right, even when it is hard." Oh, no, she didn't! She's in the deep water, now.
"Win the war in Iraq..." Her language is already a steep concession to McCain, right? We should insist on "End the prologued, violent Nation Building effort before it bankrupts us" or some such.
11:19 After Florida 2000, I don't trust the media organizations. Could we wake up to find out that CNN, et. al, got it wrong?
From Ambinder:
"11:24: Header of news release from the Pennsylvania Republican Party: " PA GOP: HIDE YOUR WALLET AND TAKE COVER! LIBERAL DEMOCRAT INVASION IS OFFICIALLY COMING TO THE KEYSTONE STATE" "
Thought before Midnight:
Will Democrats "vote the underdog" all the way to the finish?
11:46 Obama goes before Texas
He takes on McCain. This is so much more refreshing than Clinton's haplessly self-referential stuff. He's putting policy before himself.
For Clinton, they are too much intertwined, yes, even if you don't buy the "all about her" stuff that AS espouses? It's not just a style problem. She could get "lost" in the White House, after the first six months or so. The harder the battle that is fought, the less likely that Obama will fall into a same trap based on his weaknesses.
11:50 Burnt Orange Report is currently projecting the Texas primary to break 69 delegates for Obama, and 57 for Clinton. -OpenLeft
11:56 It's real and really unbelieveable: "Bush plans a noon welcome for McCain at the North Portico. Bush will host a lunch for McCain in the private dining room. Bush then plans a public statement with John McCain in the Rose Garden." via think progress. Stop by to see the Beck-Hagee video (encounters that were foreshadowed here just today).
Update: Just before 1, MSNBC call Texas popular for Clinton.
Rachael Maddow scores biggest line of the night, suggesting that Obama might have called Clinton "at 3 a.m.", in obvious reference to vapid ad that caused a stir.
Footnotes in History: Sadly, Huckabee comes in third, just shy of Romney by four delegates. I had hoped that he would best Romney along the way, as a cautionary tale that politics is not always about money, money, money.
