The Hollywood Liberal

Dole Barely Leads in Re-Election Bid
A new SurveyUSA poll in North Carolina shows Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) narrowly edging Kay Hagan (D), 50% to 46%.

Key findings: Among white voters, Dole leads by 24; among blacks, Hagan leads by 66. Blacks make-up 20% of the electorate in SurveyUSA’s turnout model today. If blacks vote in larger numbers, the contest is closer. Among men, Dole leads by 13; among women, Hagan leads by 3. Among voters age 18 to 49, Dole leads by 13; among voters 50+, Hagan leads by 5.

Primary Pre-Wrapup
Well, the good news for Hillary is that she totally spanked Obama in Kentucky (this is a sentence in which it is best to avoid the state abbreviation). The bad news for Hillary is that the 12 pledged delegates that Obama’s picked up (so far) give him a total of 1635, which is a majority of the 3253 pledged delegates (I don’t think this includes FL and MI, however). So she is now officially unable to win the nomination without the help of the superdelegates – and she’s trailing on those too.

Original photo by Litandmore

Kentucky (92% reporting):

65% Clinton
30% Obama

Well, the good news for Hillary is that she totally spanked Obama in Kentucky (this is a sentence in which it is best to avoid the state abbreviation).  The bad news for Hillary is that the 12 pledged delegates that Obama’s picked up (so far) give him a total of 1635, which is a majority of the 3253 pledged delegates (I don’t think this includes FL and MI, however).  So she is now officially unable to win the nomination without the help of the superdelegates – and she’s trailing on those too.

In fact, Obama is now only 85 delegates away from winning the nomination outright, and he’ll get even closer after the rest of KY’s pledged delegates are allocated, and after he gets his share of Oregon delegates.  If Dave is right about him winning Oregon, he could easily be within 40 or 50 delegates of the nomination by tomorrow morning, with 94 pledged delegates left in PR, MT, and SD, and a little over 200 superdelegates still in play.

Also worth noting, it appears that Greg Fischer has lost the KY-SEN Democratic primary to Joe Lieberman Democrat Bruce Lunsford.  I’ll still root for Lunsford to beat McConnell, but I’ll be holding my nose and not expecting him to vote much differently from Mitch if he wins.

Kentucky Results Thread

It seems clear Clinton will win a huge victory in Kentucky.

Results here. On TV, they have it 149-17 for Clinton. That’s 86-10. I expect Obama to close the gap from there.

Wolfson on CNN. Talking Michigan and Florida.

The Ky Sec. of State is ahead of the AP on the results. KY Sec of State has it Clinton 74k to Obama’s 65k. Now 78k-66k Clinton. 8.2% lead. Most of Louisville is in. Now 82k-68k, Clinton by 9. again, most of Louisville is in.

John Edwards getting 1.5% of the vote.

Wanker of the Day
Michael O’Hanlon.

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I admit I am starting to wonder what it’s all about.

Now comes the morning after, pay-up time. Clinton’s campaign debt has now soared to nearly $31 million, according to numbers crunched early this morning by The Times’ campaign finance guru, Dan Morain.

She added another $9.5 million in unpaid bills to venders this past month alone, pushing her total debt to venders and herself to the new astronomical figure, about a 50% debt increase in one month.

More Americans Fear Losing Their Health Insurance Than Being in a Terrorist Attack
Will a new administration and Congress get universal health care right this time?

‘Opting In’ to Progressive Parenthood: A Personal Challenge to Modern Mothers
Author Amy Richards explains how to close the gap between feminist ideology and our daily lives.

Where Does American Liberalism Stand Today?
Well, first off, thanks to TPM for doing this. Since publishing my first book sixteen years ago and being spoiled with spots on the Tonight Show, Today Show, Nightline, Larry King, four or five national NPR programs, etc, etc, I’ve watched…

Obama’s Speech

Debate Gets Elevated

On MSNBC a few minutes ago, Obama foreign policy adviser Susan Rice just called McCain to task for not recognizing that Ahmadinejad isn’t actually the leader of Iran — a key point that LiberalOasis has long said should be central to reframing the Iran debate.

For too long, we have presumed that we must dumb down the debate in order to win. It will be a seismic shift in our politics if we can win by elevating the debate, introducing “new” information and better informing the electorate.

UPDATE: Huffington Post just put up the video of McCain wrongly characterizing Ahmadinejad’s role in Iran during a press conference exchange yesterday with Time’s Joe Klein:

KLEIN: Also checked, also checked with the Obama campaign and he never, he’s never sai — mentioned Ahmadinejad directly by name. He did say he would negotiate with the leaders, but as you know – Ayatollah,

MCCAIN: (Laughing) Ahmadinejad is, was the leader.

KLEIN: But if –

MCCAIN: Maybe I’m mistaken.

KLEIN: Maybe you are…

Exits: Clinton backers see Obama as nom.
Exits: Clinton backers see Obama as nom.

Clinton: KY win ‘vote of confidence’
Clinton: KY win ‘vote of confidence’

Senior Israeli official: ?Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term.?
The Jerusalem Post reports that a senior Israeli official said that President Bush and Vice President Cheney are of the belief that military action against Iran is necessary and that such an attack could be coming soon: US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, […]

The Jerusalem Post reports that a senior Israeli official said that President Bush and Vice President Cheney are of the belief that military action against Iran is necessary and that such an attack could be coming soon:

US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday.

The official claimed that a senior member of the president’s entourage, which concluded a trip to Israel last week, said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for.

However, the official continued, “the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice” was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic, for the time being.