PR doesn't help the 'popular vote' argument, though.  You know what else?  Popular, shmopular.  It's delegates that count.  This is a Democratic party thing, not a general election thing, so this whole bullshit civil rights argument she's making about FL and MI is just crap.  Those people were not 'disenfranchised'.  If I send in my absentee ballot after the deadline, I can't go whining about being 'disenfranchised', now, can I?  Same principle applies here.  Clinton agreed to the arrangements regarding those primaries.  If Obama had the majority in those two primaries, I don't think Clinton would be making such a courageous stand for those primary voters' franchise.

I think it's pretty clear that her objective is to go to the convention and try to okey-doke Obama there.  Whether that equals a loss for the Democrats is not easy to say.  If history is any guide, it's not a comforting thought.  

I think the Clintons suck, though.  I used to have respect for both of them, but now I just think that Hillary is an asshole, and fuck Bill for good measure.  What a putz.  With the Republicans losing all over the country in once-safe districts, the President's approval ratings at low ebb, one would think that the presidency would be a gimme for the Democrats.  They still have to run a campaign, and if Clinton takes it to the convention, that gives the nominee two months, realistically six weeks to run an effective campaign?   Thanks, Hil.  Not everyone who wants to be president gets the job.  I honestly do not think Clinton would win the general, and I never have.

Clinton has to know what the stakes are, the fact that she doesn't seem to care really bugs me.  If she snarfles the nomination out from under Obama, I will still vote for her, but if she wins and becomes Margaret Thatcher II, I will work my ass off to back a primary challenge in '12.

If it's McCain, I dunno.  We're probably going to move to Bulgaria.  If I'm going to live in a country where the government is rife with corruption, I'll take mine out in the open instead of all this Fox News rah-rah freedom bullshit, and I'd prefer to live in a place on the upswing instead of a decline into whatever decrepit cesspool awaits us in the McCain years.

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You are right, I accidentally omitted that contest. I apologize. My apologies. Thank you for pointing that out and helping with your analysis.

It doesn't matter in terms of poll numbers because Puerto Rico doesn't get any electoral votes in the general election.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

First of all, the election is decided already.  Obama already has an insurmountable lead, and we knew how the rest of the election will go.  Clinton will win PR, and then on June 3 Obama will win SD and MT, completing the primary elections.  Rasmussen and most other polling organizations have already dropped primary election coverage, because the election is over.

The Democratic Convention has been moved from it's traditional timeslot at the end of July to the end of August, in order to avoid attention being stolen by the Olympics, leaving an extra short general election campaign after the convention, and makes it more important this year that the election be resolved before the convention.  Nevertheless, were it just Hillary refusing to quit, and saying that she wanted to wait until the votes were counted, I can't see that causing anything like the resentment she's generated amongst Obama supporters.

Having already lost under the rules they agreed to, the Clintons demand the rules now be changed so that Michigan and Florida count, despite those primaries being conducted without either candidate campaigning there, and the Michigan primary being conducted with Hillary's name on the ballot but not Barak's.  Not only does Bill demand that the rules change, he's actually appears upset that the Democratic party is following the rules that Clinton long ago agreed to instead of changing them now that Hillary needs the rules to change in order to have a chance of a win.  I find this just incredible.  It's like watching a cockroach refuse to die.

Furthermore, even if we accept this demand, Obama is still well ahead.  She then wants to have the superdelegates overrule the elected delegates, either because of her nonexistent strong momentum, or because of a small difference in the electoral college.

There's still the simmering resentment from her supporting McCain over Obama.

Under the "every vote should count" principle, Democrats aren't at all happy with the FL and MI mess.  I can't see Dean hanging on as party chair for very much longer.  Clinton can't really ride this issue, however, because in the end she's asking for the superdelegates to overrule the elected delegates, which greatly annoys Democrats under the same principle.

Why the rush to select a candidate ahead of the convention?

Well, technically this is not what happens.  What typically happens is that one candidate garners enough primary and caucus victories that the other candidates give up.  The actual nominee is not really officially selected until the convention, but in recent years, ever since 1980, a nominee has emerged well before the convention, enabling the nominee to begin their national campaign before the convention.

This year, the Democrats are really under pressure, because the convention is at the end of August.  What a lot of people fear is that if the Democrats do not have a presumptive nominee by then, McCain will have an already well-running campaign organization going while the Democrats will just be getting started, thus leading to them yet again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Historically, ever since 1972, any time either party's nominee has not been all but formally decided upon well before their conventions , they lost the November election.  There is a lot to be said for this argument, but in a campaign season that breaks historical precedents, who knows?  In an election year with a lot at stake, it's an awfully big gamble.  That Clinton seems willing to bet it all on what most agree is a small chance at winning the nomination is what earns the animus of those who believe that this is not a time to indulge Hillary's ambition.

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