Interesting. One of the curious things about elections is that early margins are often off by a few points, but rarely by much more than that, unless the early returns are coming from just a few parts of the state. Glancing at CNN's map, it looks like these returns are coming from rural and urban areas (though more heavily the latter). Still, it looks unlikely that Clinton will edge her lead up into double digits.

Go Hillary! Fight on!

I see a landslide in the works, poor MSNBC, they look so mad.

Let's all brace ourselves. Hillary might convince the party to hand her the nomination. She can do it. She can overturn the popular and pledged delegate count. It can and likely will happen.

Let's get over it. We're toast.

Just a reminder the predictions Obama campaign had back in early Feb for Penn was 47 - 52.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Obamas_projections.html

Oh crap, I'm missing crab fishing. Later.

Why has MSNBC turned the commentary over to the DLC turkey Harold Ford?

Jesus Christ, Scarborough is shooting Hillary-rainbows out of his ass.

Harold Ford is a loser.

I'm watching MSNBC's coverage on my computer since I got rid of my cable subscription (the best part of having no TV is telling people you have no TV all snooty-like). Having the speakers so near to my ears has really brought just how annoying it is that the people covering elections yell constantly for no good goddamn reason to the fore. It's always bugged me but with the speakers right in front of me I've had to turn the volume way down.

To the talking heads on MSNBC: SPEAK IN AN INSIDE VOICE.

PLEASE let it end. Please. I'm begging you, voters-who-haven't-voted-yet. Please.

Donation coming up for Senator Obama...Yes we can...
and I can't believe Harold Ford...I guess he is another Clinton supporter,,,and goes with the wind...and Joe is annoying...

I can only pray that the margin will be less than 10% and not 20%...

The question remains, why can't Clinton win North Carolina? She has all the name recognition so why can't she win?

You heard me say it before she needs to win by 20 Pts or more to make a Dent in Obamas Lead!!So far tonight she has not done that!!!

Obama just got another $50 from me. Anyone want to join me?

The tally's bouncing back and forth between four percent and ten percent in HRC's favor. If we take the average and get a 7-point spread, it's been a good night for Obama. It may well turn out to be tighter.

Carolina and Indiana, here we come....

She keeps winning and people keep saying she's finish. What's that defination of Insanity again -or yeah its repeating the same thing and expecting a different outcome. Like people saying she's finish as she continues to win.

Congratulations to Senator Clinton. You held on to a small portion of your 26 point lead. We will see if it cracks 10 points, but my guess is that it doesn't. Still, congratulations nonetheless are in order. See you in North Carolina and Indiana (one of which I suspect you will tell us doesn't count, or maybe both).

Seriously, congratulations.

When you have a chance mosey over to the Times front page. They have a neat interactive map of PA and you can hover your mouse over any county and get the current results there. Obama huge in Philly, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, while Clinton seems to have most of the remaining counties.

If Obama can close within 4-6 points Hillary has no way of catching up, esp. being broke.

Hillary's only remaining argument is the "big state" argument.

Can someone enlighten me why all the talking heads and HRC supporters conclude that Obama cannot win "the big states" in the general election when HRC wins a state? Especially if the win is by 10% or less and how does one assume that would also be maintained in the general election? Afterall, they BOTH have a lot of support in all states and they are running against each other in the primary and presumably each would garner a lot of the others democratic support in the GE. They are not running in the prmary against a Republican so how does one conclude with any factual information that one can win and one cannot? It seems a stretch to me to make those conclusions and even though the national GE polls don't mean much at this time it seems to me they are a better indication of how either democrat will do in the fall????

Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) has Obama up 57-43 with less than a thousand votes counted so far. This might be one to watch.

It depends on what precincts have reported.

Here is my prediction: Obama will close in on the current 6-7% gap because the big cities are behind the small counties in the count. Since Obama's strength is in the big cities, as those numbers come in, he will close the gap to maybe 3-5%.

Way to get an idea it so hover over the interactive map at the Times and look at the percentages of precincts reporting. The smaller counties are ahead of the big cities in reporting percentages, so the big cities are lagging.

FinaL Clinton 52, Obama 48

Delegate-wise, she may have a net plurality or 5 when all the dust settles.

As someone who is struggling to understand what this contest between Clinton and Obama is about, maybe someone could help me.
1. I think Obama and Hillary supporters need to concede at some level that the election is over, and McCain is the next president. He has the appearence at least of being more liberal and honest, neutralising some of the Democrat's advantages. Obama and Hillary supporters have each damaged the other's candidate so much now that neither is electable any more. There is so much ammunition from all this for swiftboating that both are too damaged. Also the bitterness from the contest means that if Obama wins then enough Hillary supporters will stay away so McCain wins, and vice versa with Hillary. Also Nader will siphon off more votes to help McCain.
2. The main explanation for all this from Republicans is that Democrats are self destructive, formed a circular firing squad and so on. This is true sometimes, but there has never been a primary contest like this one, with the candidates so evenly matched and so unfair to each other. All they had to do to avoid all this was to pledge that whoever won, the other would be VP and the election would have been an easy win. So this is not even about the election, the Democrat's chances were thrown away as an afterthought in the mudslinging.
3. So if it is not about beating McCain, no one cares how many of the other's supporters are alienated, and all the progressive issues and Bush hatred are discarded then what is it all really about? I think this is not only a fight between the two branches of the Democrat's (moderate and extreme) but a fight between a new and old way of politics brought on by the internet. Obama supporters see something new, and the power of the internet in funding and organizing in blogs is seen as a paradigm shift to a new kind of Democrat and eventually a new kind of Republican. So it doesn't matter so much whether McCain wins or not, but whether the new internet based model gains control of the Democratic party for the next election against Jeb.
4. Blogs are partly to blame or praise for this. Since left wing blogs have such a huge influence now, they represent a form of town square meeting, a kind of virtual political arena where people feel connected in a way only possible previously in a small town. Instead of "it's the economy stupid" it has become "it's the internet stupid". The old ways and politicians can be thrown under the bus because this new way will replace it all.
5. The speed of the internet allows for a kind of virtual mob not unlike in the French Revolution, where bloggers sit uncomfortably on top of this, afraid to say much against the flow of the mob. Opposing voices like Hillary supporters are shouted down and insulted, a blogger's hits and his advertising revenue depends on how well he anticipates the movements of the mob. The target, as in the French revolution is the establishment and the perceived aristocracy. The self confidence arises from discussion between people who fact check and support each other, and since all the dissenting voices are driven away they form a mutual admiration society where everyone agrees with each other, and therefore they must be right.
6. Mobs don't always make good politics though, even though some politicians try to use their power to get into power. Often they end up scaring the establishment and lose the popular vote. On the other hand sometimes they create change.
7. I'm not knocking the idea of a mob like movement in politics that has happened with success and failures in the past. I'm just trying to understand what is going on in this race, since supporters might as well admit the presidency has been thrown under the bus over the contest now. If the successful candidate beats McCain now it will be a miracle despite the primary process, which is supposed to be all about winning the presidency, believe it or not. Of course comments like these don't go over well with mobs anyway, but at some point people are going to wonder what it was all about.

I'm happy that PA nightmare is over. It looks like Obama will still have atleast half a million popular vote lead in hand coming out of PA. Also, ten points or less at this point- I can raise a glass for that.

Look at the CNN county map and get a life!

"You are the ones who depend on inheritance from your old men."
...Huh? Do you mind clarifying?

Obama should drop out now. He's cannot win a big state. GET OUT NOW.

Honestly this is the reason democrats keep losing. STOP ARGUING amongst yourselves. See the big picture!!Please! As one of the rest of the world I am begging you!

I'm angry at the fact that she always MOCKS him in her speeches. I cannot stand that woman.