Hillary Goes Out With One Last Lie

she has the popular vote and that it matters.
she's just continuing her -- if you say it enough times it will be true -- tactic.

Hillary Now Pleads to Change the Nomination Process

first off, her popular vote argument is bogus.
she hasn't won it for one, and even if she did, it doesn't matter. obama and hillary campaigned according to the current rules. it's just that obama did a far better job at strategizing the delegate process. hillary's supporters are still in the dark on delegates.
obama needs 56 more delegates, clinton needs 246. there are only 86 pledged delegates (the remaining 3 elections) and 208 supers remaining. that's some pretty daunting math for hillary. it she'd have to win the majority of the remaining 294 delegates. if they split the remaining 86 delegates, that's 43 each.
add 43 to the 208 remaining uncommitted supers and you get 251. she needs 294. obama needs 56.
hillary keeps digging deeper but only gets dirtier.
the sad thing is in a few years she won't be known for advancing women, she'll be known as the divisive person who threw the kitchen sink in desperation.
here she is making her pathetic, last ditch efforts:

cnn: In the face of Barack Obama’s insurmountable lead among pledged delegates, Hillary Clinton on Friday again declared victory in the popular vote and suggested the current nominating process fails to represent the true will of American voters.

“We’re going to have to change the system by which we pick the nominees, I believe, and we are with the system we have now,” Clinton said, responding to a supporter here who lamented the role of superdelegates in selecting the party’s nominee. “And I’m a big believer in one person one vote, and I believe in as much democracy as possible.”

Clinton told the supporter that “superdelegates will play a big role” in choosing the nominee, but said she would prefer a primary-only system in which nominating contests would be bundled together.

“I think that’s an issue for debate in the future because I believe we should have primaries everywhere, and everybody, as many people as possible should be encouraged to vote,” she said. “We ought to group them so that nobody is at the tail end, so everybody has a chance to participate. But that’s all for the future.”

No Such Thing as Popular Vote

here's an interesting twist on the clintons' popular vote argument (the candidate with the most votes should be the nominee), you can't accurately count the number of people who have voted. states where caucuses have been held haven't even counted total voters?

Hillary and Bill's New Tactic

the clintons have vowed to stay in the race. that's fine. they just need to clean up their act. if they can manage to elevate their campaign, then every state would have had a chance to be heard and that would benefit the next president. if they stopped with the stupid stuff, the lies, the race baiting, claiming that obama hates jewish people, etcetera, then the contest could regain some civility.

but then again, each time the clintons sling their mudfire, it seems to backfire, so maybe they should continue to be who they are.

since the clintons have little to no chance of winning via delegates, the clinton's new tactic is to say the popular vote is most important. obama leads by 700,000. if the clintons can win the popular vote, then they can convince the superdelegates that they're more popular goes the argument. the clintons would have more legitimacy if they did win the popular vote, but that's not a likely scenario either.

wash post: Clinton hopes to overtake Obama in the overall popular vote to argue to superdelegates -- the nearly 800 party members and elected officials who are likely to determine the outcome of the race -- that she is ahead where it matters. Including Florida and Michigan in that equation could boost her vote and delegate totals, as well as bolster her argument that she is better positioned to capture big general-election swing states.

When asked Saturday how she could still win, Clinton immediately talked about wooing superdelegates, who she said "have a role and very important responsibility."
"We have to nominate someone who can go toe to toe with John McCain on national security and beat him on the economy," she said. "This will all be for naught if we don't win in November."

But in the lull before ballots are cast in the next contest, in Pennsylvania on April 22, Clinton has been deluged with calls for her withdrawal, provoking a backlash among her supporters and defiance from the candidate and her family and staff.

Bill Clinton sent out an e-mail, titled "Not big on quitting," on Saturday that reminded supporters that his wife is behind in the popular vote by less than one percentage point and that she trails by 130 delegates.

"With the race this close, it sure doesn't make sense to me that she'd leave now -- does it make sense to you?" the former president's e-mail read.

In the interview, Hillary Clinton brushed aside concerns from party leaders that the campaign will hurt the party's chances against McCain, who launched his first general-election television ad last week and who has spent the month raising money and attacking the Democrats.

Pushing Clinton Out Should Be a Group Effort

Clinton's Big States Argument

as much as i'd like to dismiss ohio, or at least the small-minded people of ohio who wouldn't vote for a black president, we might (and might not) need ohio because as one in-the-know person put it, in the general election, either the democrats get ohio's electoral votes or the republicans do.

in the general election, it isn't about the popular vote, or which candidate has the most votes when you tally the votes from each state, it's the electoral college votes of each state that decides. remember how al gore won the popular vote but what's- his-name stole the electoral college in 2000.

in the general election, most states have a winner take all system so if most of the people of that state vote for the republican, then the republican gets all the assigned electoral votes. so states such as pennsylvania, florida and ohio are states that are meaningful to each party because they don't reliably vote for one or the other as does california--democrat, new york--democrat, texas--republican.

california, texas, illinois and new york have the highest number of electoral votes. see this nifty electoral college map.

but clinton's "big states" argument, that she's better at winning the big states really doesn't matter when it comes to big states such as New York (31 electoral votes) and California (55 electoral votes) because, they are likely to vote democratic, regardless of whether its she or obama who is the nominee.

24 Superdelegates Go With Obama

see the up to date superdelegate tally and add-ons in my sidebar.
today:

Democratic National Committee Member (and superdelegate)Leon Lynch endorsed Barack Obama, citing his ability to lead the American people in the right direction and his record of making change that matters for working families.

where it stands:
Obama delegates: 1,180
Obama Superdelegates: 174
Obama total: 1354

Clinton delegates: 1,026
Clinton superdelegates: 240
Clinton Total: 1266

306 superdelegates are "undecided." i believe they will vote the will of the people.
obama has nearly 1 million more in popular vote, the absolute number of people who voted.
obama has won 11 contests (including democrats abroad)

the reality:

Problem is, looking at the numbers, Clinton has to win both of them big. Obama has a lead of 150 elected or "pledged" delegates, according to NBC's calculation (The Washington Post uses a different formula to count). Clinton needs to win 58 percent of all remaining pledged delegates simply to get her lead back, NBC political director Chuck Todd notes. But that's hypothetical. The reality is worse.

If Obama wins the remaining states he's favored in, such as Vermont, Mississippi, North Carolina and Oregon, then Clinton will need to win 65 percent of the vote in places such as Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania, Todd said.

Most observers are beginning to focus on the numbers of elected, or pledged, delegates because they've concluded that those are almost sure to be the only ones who will matter -- unless Clinton can persuade the superdelegates at the nominating convention to overrule the voters and destroy the Democratic Party once and for all.

By the way, Obama holds a lead of nearly 1 million votes -- that's 1 million-- in the popular vote, according to the Web site Real Clear Politics. Of course, that doesn't really count -- ask Al Gore-- but it's worth noting. If you throw in Florida and even Michigan -- where his name wasn't on the ballot -- Obama still leads by 300,000 votes.

texas delegate projections.
Jumping Superdelegates

AP IMPACT: Obama Narrows Gap in Superdelegates As Party Insiders Follow Voters' Lead

STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
AP News

Feb 22, 2008 14:51 EST

The Democratic superdelegates are starting to follow the voters — straight to Barack Obama.In just the past two weeks, more than two dozen of them have climbed aboard his presidential campaign, according to a survey by The Associated Press. At the same time, Hillary Rodham Clinton's are beginning to jump ship, abandoning her for Obama or deciding they now are undecided.

The result: He's narrowing her once-commanding lead among these "superdelegates," the Democratic office holders and party officials who automatically attend the national convention and can vote for whomever they choose.

As Obama has reeled off 11 straight primary victories, some of the superdelegates are having second — or third — thoughts about their public commitments. more

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Superdelegates: Inclined Toward Popular Vote

in many of the stories i've been reading, it seems that they aren't as obstinate as they first appeared with their super powers.

it looks like many superdelegates are inclined to vote for the candidate who gets the popular vote.

superdelegate christine pelosi, daughter of speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, said she would abide by the popular vote (who has the most votes.)

that is as it should be, even if clinton has the popular vote.

it should be based on the "will of the people," especially this year when record numbers of people have actually been inspired to participate.