Yes we can!

How many landslide losses can one candidate suffer before the writing is on the wall?

this is excellent news for Hillary!!!

Yes, Yes.....OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH.....WE WON.......YES WE CAN...WE WON VA

I'm sorry...but didn't I hear that Virginia was the one place where Hillary "needed" to be competitive?

Obama is eroding her base. this will be bad news if these trends hold up in MD and DC...

"Wait, the networks are disenfranchising voters in VA"... or not.

Can't see how team Hill can dismiss the 12th largest state and a state that could turn blue in November... They'll probably dismiss it as a "black state" though.

This is unbelievable. Clinton's whole narrative - staying close in VA - ends before the night even begins. Unreal.

GO OBAMA!

republican are voting for obama - it's without a doubt who they want to run against ... just ask Bill Kristol.

C YA kool aid drinkers ...

Change? Give me a break.

Matthew Weaver, we miss you!!

Come out and play!

Oh scratch my last comment, that was women in general, not white women.

Greg,

So that 90%-10% margin among black voters suggests the Reverse Bradley/Wilder Effect is alive and well - none of the polls predicted that margin.

And Obama trounced Hillary among women, not the other way 'round. So much for firewalls and other overemployed metaphors.

Oops, wrong link:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/index.html#VADEM

MMmmmmmm =)

Matthew Weaver isn't here because there is absolutely no way he can spin this as a Hillary win, which says a lot considering his ability to see reality as upside down.

But if he does come here, expect some combination of the following:

1) These don't matter because of the black vote
2) He is just like Jesse Jackson
3) These states don't represent real America, like only Texas and Ohio do...but Ohio might not depending on how the winds blow on primary night
4) Obama outspent Hillary, and she is soooo disadvantaged, you know, because Obama has a former president campaigning full time for him

I think that about covers it...can anyone else think of anything I missed?

Greg, when can you and everybody else in the media (MSM or otherwise) stop referring to these ridiculous numbers as suggesting Hillary has some sort of firewall constituency?

And what's with the construction of your second bullet in the update? "Hillary won almost none...blah blah blah." Damnit, you need an editor as badly as we commenting yahoos.

Call a spade a spade. She got spanked.

Thanks VA for letting America know you don't matter. Now it's Maryland and D.C's turn to scream they don't matter.

oh I want to be a Clinton spinner! Virginia was going to Obama anyway because Hillary was outspent on TV ads again, the Clintons are wisely saving their TV buys for Ohio and Texas because Virginians are elitist squash players and book readers, not red-blooded American TV viewers like the good people
in Cleveland, Dallas and San Antonio. I think I've got the spin dynamic right.

Also caught this exit poll data:

Obama even won Latinos, 55-45.

Clinton Fleas Patomic region to El Passo- US Mexico Border. Again, not thanking the voter's who don't matter anymore.

Each vote counts the same. Enough with all this crap about what skin color, age group, or genitalia group the voters fall into. Who ever gets the most votes wins. All the rest of this exit polling crap is demeaning and smacks of cultural apartheid tactics. One person one vote. That is what counts. Who exit polls the freckled people. They are a key melatonin cross over block that needs to be tracked.

We'll be waiting for a while longer on Maryland. The polls will be kept open 1 1/2 hours longer because of the bad weather.

OBAMA WON THE WOMEN'S VOTE

CNN reports the following from the Virginia exit polls:

African Americans: 90O, 10C
Whites: 51C, 48O
Women: 58O, 42C

Maryland will now be open until 9:30 and not 8:00 pm because of weather and traffic problems.

Is Obama displaying the "reverse Bradley effect? In the Bradley Effect, a black politician underperforms the polls in the actual election. Obama seems to be doing better than the polls recently.

Damnit, I'm really bad at this game, you are right, I did forget

5) Bill didn't win them so they don't matter
6) They are all Republicans voting for Obama, it is a huge conspiracy, because somehow Republicans want the Dems to nominate the most competitive candidate, instead of the one that clearly loses time and time again to McCain. Oh, and a lot of these Republicans are black, just so you know.

Ahhhh, you can't beat their BS

Idiots.

Holy freaking cow!!!!! 20% of the vote in and obama is up by over 20% in VA. Of course, due to the media playing up race, the african-american electorate in VA was only 29%. Holy cow!!! Big freaking win and I was flipping out on the exit polls prior to the calling of the state. I can feel the mo. Holy Cow! Obama/Webb 08. Let's take our country back. Holy Cow! I'm going to church right now and do a couple Novenas. Holy Cow!

No exit polls conducted in D.C. So, the projections will be based on raw vote...

Dear Hillary,

So. The Democrats buckle again. They just passed telecom immunity. It's just the lastest capitulation by a party that was specifically elected in '06 to stand up to Bush. Kissing Bush's ass has proved so popular that Congress' approval rating now stands at 11%.

You, Hillary, are closely identified with this craven wing of the Democratic party. In fact, you were the only Senator who failed to show up for the immunity vote.

But the vast majority of Democrats want to see the Bush administration held responsible for its crimes. Ironically, we seem to be in the middle of a presidential primary where niceness is at a premium. Barack Obama has successfully branded himself as the "positive" candidate - and you and your campaign have been left to mimic his wide smile and vague rhetoric. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it is not often a successful strategy.

Why not chnage the dynamics of this campaign and come out aggressively in favor of prosecuting the crimes of the Bush administration?

I, personally, as a voting Democrat, want to see this administration held accountable for its crimes. I do not want to see them all swept under the rug in the hoopla surrounding the election of our first black president. A president whose skin-tone alone is supposed to rectify all that has gone before him.

George Bush lied us into a devastating war. He spied on us illegally. He tortured prisoners. He condoned the sexual humiliation of prisoners. He funnelled billions of dollars to his friends in the oil industry. The list of his crimes goes on and on. The American people - and most especially members of the Democratic Party - want to see this criminality punished. Since Mr. Obama seems to have chosen the path of concilliation, this seems to be the perfect moment for you to become the champion of holding the Bush administration accountable.

This is your chance to turn the smiley-face campaign into a real discussion of what we stand for as Democrats. The perception is that you represent the interests of lobbyists and the powerful more than you represent the interests of regular Americans. You could change that, even at this late date, by showing that you would be a president who would prosecute the crimes of the previous administration. Mr. Obama is not well-positioned to take on the mantle of Prosecutor-In-Chief. He has staked his political reputation on getting along...with everybody.

I do not want a president who gets along with everybody. I do not want a president who gets along with Halliburton. I do not want a president who gets along with people who lied us into a war. I want a president who will defend the Constitution with everything she or he has got.

In the coming weeks, with their dearth of primaries, Mr. Obama's nice guy routine may start to wear thin with voters. There is also bound to be considerable disgust at the Democratic Senate's capitulation on the illegal spying bill. This is the perfect opportunity for you to capitalize on Obama's lack of specific policy proposals by spelling out exactly which crimes of the Bush administration you would investigate and prosecute.

I am an Obama supporter - but I would be willing to change my vote (my primary is not til May) if you showed courage on this issue. The idea that Democrats are just going to play nice with the most criminal administration in the history of this country galls me. I want the murders and the lies and the torture and the pay-offs at the very least investigated.

I announce here and now that I, Cheesemoose, will vote for the Democratic candidate who promises me that he or she will prosecute the Bush administration crimes to the fullest extent of the law, and encourage the legislative branch to embrace its duties to investigate the wrong-doing of the previous administration.

The choice is yours, Ms. Clinton: Accept the Cheesemoose Challenge - and possibly turn around what now seems to be a losing campaign. Or choose the triangulating path of Pelosi/Reid and of your husband during his administration (when he chose to look the other way at Bush Sr.'s criminality) and go meekly down to a well-deserved defeat.

Your friend,
Cheesemoose

>Can't just chalk this up to less money

This argument, as well as the "party activist" argument, strikes me as a little weak. The fact that she doesn't have as much money or the support of as many enthusiastic people isn't really good--it's like saying, "Well, he just won because more people think he's a better candidate."

A question:

All those Republicans and moderates who are voting for Obama in the primaries...do you really think he'll still have their vote in November?

This is the second blog post claiming the CNN exits show the latino vote breakdown, but the page 3 results show "n/a" for the latino breakdown. Where is the numbers supporting what Greg is claiming?

It isn't at CNN's exits.

That's fine, congrats to the media's choice. Texas and Ohio will even the field. Don't you all get carried away, this is a marathon not a sprint.

A question:

All those Republicans and moderates who are voting for Obama in the primaries...do you really think he'll still have their vote in November?

Not necessarily. But Hillary definitely won't have their vote.

Wow, I just noticed something that I've noticed in other recent wins...

With 39% reporting in VA right now, McCain and Huckabee are both tied with 73,000 votes each.

Obama has 180,000 votes alone.

Isn't it amazing to hear how well the Republicans are organized in Virginia to set up Senator Obama for a fall.

What puzzles me is, how do those Hillery excuse makers explain why those mastermind Republicans were not able to defeat Jim Webb, and why they also lost the last two governors races in Virginia.

Have them explain that to we naive souls.

That's fine, congrats to the media's choice.

let me taste those tears, they're so sweet...

If he won the Latino vote, no matter how marginal, that will be huge news. If Hillary can't hold on to that Demographic she won't be able to hold Texas as a make believe firewall. Unless the population is 80% old ladies.

Both Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are Commonwealths, so Commonwealths can count.

North of Mason-Dixon.

Hi, again, AngryMouse. I'm an ardent Obama supporter who is always here for you....

If Obama can keep it close amongst Hispanics, might as well put a fork in Hillary. I can't imagine TX having a Villagarosa machine, which carried Hillary in LA County.. I can't put much credence into what Hillary did in NY or NJ, since that was her homecourt..

Well, 26% of GOP voters in VA went to Hillary. Those people know who they want her at the top of our ticket...and its not obama

5% Latino voters is still roughly 40,000 voters. Polls are conducted with only a fraction of that number of voters. Therefore, I think the margin can't be dismissed as important based on the low percentage of voters.

The more important important question is whether VA Latino voters are representative of the Latino voters in Texas and Ohio.

Ok, I am sooooo sick of the stupid media. I don't care if the people voting are purple, pink, blue or red. Also, I am falling off my chair about the catholic vote. Who really gives a gd sh*t. We are talking about somebody, anybody thumping the clintons big time by over 20% in how many primaries and caucuses. Who cares about the racial, ethnic or religious break down. It's really pathetic. We are talking about the CLINTONS folks. Let's remember that. The clintons are getting smacked big time and they shouldn't be. This is an incredible accomplishment and speaks volumes about obama's leadership, electibility, and experience. It's the CLINTONS. It's not some gang of bozos, even though that may be debatable. I am beginning to feel that the big mo may be insurmountable for the clintons. And for clinton people to whine about obama not being ready or not being able to "handle" republicans, you are out to lunch. This is the clinton machine that is getting smacked down and rightfully so. Kudos to obama and his campaign. Amazing. I'm heading back to my catholic church that apparently has gotten to be part of the exit polls. Amazing

I am still waiting for exit polls breakdowns showing how freckled people voted. We must cover all the dividing lines. That one person one vote approach is so over rated.

Just a reminder: Obama voted against the bill granting retro immunity to the telecoms. Hillary had better things to do, was in VA campaigning.

I am still waiting on exit polls breakdowns of how people voted according to their shoe sizes. Yes shoe sizes. We must not leave any physical dividing lines unplowed.

I agree that Red State appeal is good, but it's certainly not progressive. I was living in Virginia in 2005 during the gubernatorial race, and it astounded me. It seemed very much like a race to show who loved the death penalty more. Tim Kaine (D) was running radio ads assuring people that he would uphold the death penalty, that he wasn't opposed to it, yea! death penalty, etc.

So winning over Virginia is important, but it's also important to realize that it mean more moderate and Blue Dog democrats.

I jusr watched his speech. He gets better and better. VOW He is starting to unite America against McCain.

Dana99, you make a great point about Hillary running in the wrong race. Why didn't run in 2004? Not because it was too close to the Clinton era, or because she wasn't a senator long enough, but because defeating an incumbent is harder than going for an open seat. So for all her service and selflessness, she didn't heed the country's call when we needed her, and had a weak field, to boot. Do you think she campaigned for Kerry with her fingers crossed behind her back, hoping she'd have this clear shot in 2008?

Based on her recent performance, I don't think she's presidential material, anyway.

I gather that this is the virtual Obama victory party. I just wanted to show up and say hi to all of my fellow Obama supporters. Did you actually believe a few weeks ago that we would be in this place now? Victory sure is sweet! Here's looking forward to many more.

You guys just don't get it. Virginia does not really matter and DC is not even a state so there votes won't count. Women in Texas will save our Hillary. That's when she will come back and all you haters will be sorry. The emotion from there will sweep over the country. Oh and don't forget about all those Auto super delegates who are still loyal to women and will give it to her. I feel sorry for her and she gets my sympathy and women in general. This is so hard for her and everyone's ganging up and so unfair. She is tired and we need to give her a pickup. Hillary is supposed to be the next one because she was First lady and Chelsea is her daughter and so pretty. We all owe this to her, and I for one will not let her down, especially after all the crap with Bill and the troubles. It wasn't supposed to go this way. We need a woman in there and she can do it better than any man. Hillary is a fighter and won't be denied. Let's kick some butt and spruce up the White house. That's some real change. You go girl and chin up!!!

No, you are wrong Mr. because women like Hillary and not Alobama. She will win! You just wait and watch.