The following number does not include Florida and Michigan, whose primaries did not count, a decision which, of course, both candidates agreed to honor. This number DOES include best estimates for caucus states that did not report raw numbers. Because those voters in caucus states were, well, voters, who obviously contribute to the popular vote.
OBAMA is still up, even after last night, by over 559,000 votes.
Throw in Florida, for the sake of argument ONLY, even though he didn't campaign there, and even though he closed Clinton's gap in almost every state in which he campaigned during primary season, and OBAMA is STILL UP over 154,000.
Of course no reasonable person would include Michigan in the popular vote total, where his name wasn't on the ballot. So at a minimum, he's up 154,000+. A fair look has him up at least 559,000. Anybody caring to figure the Operation Chaos voters based on exit polls of Clinton supporters who intend to vote McCain in November would probably show Obama up by a couple million at least.
But reason and fairness aren't in play anymore. The very fact I'm discussing popular vote totals shows a complete disregard for the rules and a nod to complete irrationality. The party rules obviously say the winner is chosen based upon delegates.
And if Obama had wanted to push the popular vote totals in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Illinois, DC, Maryland, Georgia, etc etc etc etc....he could have. But doing so would've only netted a few very expensive delegates in return for thousands of votes that wouldn't decide anything. (You have to move the popular vote by thousands, usually, to squeeze out a few extra delegates.) He had the resources to move those popular vote numbers his way, but his campaign was all about maximizing delegates as efficiently as possible. That's a small part of the reason his campaign has millions of dollars on hand for the general election and why Clinton is twenty mill in debt.
Clinton's expensive hollow victories are still hollow. The fact that she's only down 559,000+ in popular vote AND down by a huge delegate count is only evidence of just what a strategic failure her campaign really was. And THAT is the only context in which anyone should ever discuss her popular vote totals. These totals remain the most blatant indicator of her incredibly unfocused campaign.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
