Obama Wins by Over 21% in Each of Three Primaries Tonight

Obama supporters in Richmond, VA tonight. Photo credit to Reuters.

Obama swept the three races tonight: 68% in Washington state to Clinton's 31% (96% reporting)--a 37% difference; 57% in Louisiana to Clinton's 36% (99% reporting)--a 21% difference; 68% in Nebraska to Clinton's 32% (100% reporting)--a 36% difference. The point of relaying this is not to disparage Clinton, but to emphasize Obama's electability, and to report the reality of what's going on. The candidates are at a "virtual tie" according to this Washington Post article, which explains more of the details on the race (along with the specifics on the Republican races tonight; according to this great NPR map which I like so much, it shows Huckabee won in Kansas and Louisiana, with Washington appearing to go to McCain).

Clinton and Obama spoke after the results were known in my great state of Virginia, at the Virginia Democratic party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner. Clinton hasn't posted her video yet of the speech, but I'll put it up when it's available. For right now however, here's a compilation of clips from her speech that I found on the Washington Post's website.

Here's Obama's full speech made available through his site:

What's a Super Tuesday?

Below is a link to a great overview from Congressional Quarterly on what Super Tuesday's all about, and what some of the implications of it are. Interestingly, for some such as myself, there's a high likelihood the Democratic run will continue on into next Tuesday, when Virginia will vote (along with Washington DC and Maryland), and possibly on into early March and beyond, when big states like Ohio and Texas enter into the equation.

The CQ article has a brief explanation for each of the following eight questions:

1. How many states are holding contests Feb. 5, and what types of contests will be held?

2. What times might election results be reported?

3. What is the difference between a primary and a caucus and a convention?

4. How many delegates are at stake on Feb. 5?

5. Which Feb. 5 states provide the richest delegate prizes to the candidates?

6. How are delegates allocated among the presidential candidates?

7. So why are so many states voting on the same day?

8. Does the huge number of delegates at stake mean both parties’ nominees will effectively locked in by the Feb. 5 results?

Update: Everyone's saying results are split tonight between Obama and Clinton, for all intents and purposes. NPR has a great system set up on their website to track the outcomes as they come in. They're also doing live coverage of the outcomes, both of which you can find here. California will be a big one that has yet to report at 11:02 pm, but hopefully we'll hear something conclusive soon.

Update 2: A funny note--in Obama's Chicago speech tonight, he was talking sort of casually, saying at one point that he asked his nine-year old daughter Malia if she wanted to come out on stage, and she said, "You know that's not my thing dad." I love it, nothing like being reminded of the human qualities in a candidate.

Update 3: Still undetermined, the race will undoubtedly go on. NPR just reported that Clinton strategists were even considering tactics for the Pennsylvania primary--in April.

Update 4: Here's a great CQ overview of the Super Tuesday contest, as most results are in. As I said however, results are only news that the race will continue, as the numbers in this line from the CQ article reveal: "The delegate count as of early Wednesday was at 744 for Clinton to 679 for Obama, with 2,025 needed for the nomination."

Update 5: This pic's great--all credit for goes to a fellow Obama supporter for this picture of Obama's grandmother, Sarah Hussein Obama, 86, as she awaits results from Super Tuesday (credit also to photographer Paula Bronstein/Getty Images). As the Obama supporter who sent me this astutely suggested, a great header for the pic. would be "Who says older woman don't support Obama?" Notice who's in the picture she's holding (a way young Barack Obama), and the sign to her left:

Nevada Primary Results...

These results below are with 89.9% of precincts reporting, and show Hillary in the lead by about 5% over Obama. Edwards is coming in a full 42% behind Obama though, surprisingly low with only 3.75%. You can find the results here on the NV Democratic website, and here on CNN. CNN has the same numbers as below right now, but also has the Republican numbers, with Romney taking 52% of the vote, with Paul and McCain in second place with only 13%! That's with 79% of the precincts reporting. I guess Romney has some real pull there, what an incredible lead though. CNN has predicted Clinton and Romney are the winners, but it's hard to take much from the media projections, wrong as they were in FL in 2000. The final results should be in soon enough though, and you can keep checking the links above for updates. Here's another neat link that breaks down who voters chose among Democrats by gender, main issue, etc.

	Senator Hillary Clinton: 50.77% Senator Barack Obama: 45.13% Senator John Edwards: 3.75% Uncommitted: 0.3% Congressman Dennis Kucinich: 0.05% Senator Mike Gravel: 0%

Update: As everyone may have seen by now, with 98% of precincts reporting, Hillary apparently received the highest percentage with 51%, Obama 45%, but it appears that Obama may have received one more national delegate because of the way votes from certain parts of the states are weighted. I found two somewhat conflicting takes on it though:

1. NY Times article:

"Mrs. Clinton scored a clear victory measured in the number of people attending the caucuses on her behalf. But Mr. Obama’s campaign was successful by another measure — in the allocation of delegates to the national nominating convention, a result of a complex formula that gave more weight to votes in some parts of the state."

2. Congressional Quarterly article:

"But the Obama campaign caused a stir by spinning the outcome into a win for its candidate — claiming he had clinched 13 of the state’s national convention delegates to 12 for Clinton, based on the fact that he performed well around the state while Clinton’s overall lead was built on her big edge in Clark County (Las Vegas), the state’s major population center. Both the Clinton campaign and the state Democratic Party disputed Obama’s claim, noting that no national convention delegates were actually allocated on the basis of Saturday’s results, only the first stage in a multi-step process."

There have been similarly different takes from each of the two candidates, with each basically claiming the victory for themselves. Here's an excerpt from each:

-Clinton (in an email sent to supporters):

"Dear Friend,

Have you heard? We just won the Democratic caucuses in Nevada. You have done so much to make winning moments like this possible. Thank you!

People across the country are placing their faith in our campaign, especially those hardest hit by the recent downturn in the economy. We can't let them down. We're working together to bring about change, and America is responding to our efforts..."

-Obama (in a statement released tonight):

"We’re proud of the campaign we ran in Nevada. We came from over twenty-five points behind to win more national convention delegates than Hillary Clinton because we performed well all across the state, including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled. The reason is because tens of thousands of Nevadans came out to say that they’re tired of business-as-usual in Washington and ready for a President who can bring this country together, take on the lobbyists and special interests, and end the politics of saying and doing whatever it takes to win an election..."

By the way, with 95% of the vote in, McCain looks to have taken South Carolina, winning 33% of the vote, with Huckabee next with 30%, Thompson 16%, Romney 15%, Paul 4% and Giuliani 2% (the Democrats' SC primary won't be until next Saturday, Jan. 26th). Also, it's no small thing that Paul, at this point, beat McCain by a percentage point (14% to 13%) in Nevada.