CNN shows him at 54-27. That is an 80% improvement over the most recent Reuters poll, which had him up by just 15%.
Maybe the “Billary” attack politics weren’t such a good idea. Goldstein offers some interesting commentary in his post on the results. Check it out. The race argument doesn’t explain the large gap between the polling and the actual results, however. A better explanation, I think, is that the turnout was huge and young voters overwhelmingly prefer Obama. Many of them don’t have landlines, so the polls don’t catch them. It’s a theory.
Here is what CNN reports from the exit polls (note that he won 58-23 among 18-64 year olds):
Clinton beat Obama only among elderly voters, according to the exit polls.
Among voters 65 and older, Clinton beat Obama 40 to 32 percent. But Obama handily defeated Clinton in every other bracket, and overall garnered 58 percent of the vote among 18 to 64-year-olds while 23 percent of those voters picked Clinton.
And half of those polled said both candidates shared blame for the rancor between the two camps. Of those who said one of the contenders was more to blame than the other, 21 percent blamed Clinton, and 6 percent said Obama.
In any event, early days still, and no doubt the final result will be much closer when all the votes have been counted. Super Tuesday rises to even greater importance. Which means that Massachusetts is even more important. Which means, of course, that David’s endorsement could tip the whole election. Oh, the humanity.
[MSNBC Exit Polls http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21…
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p>Please check these numbers out:
2007 total family income:
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p>What was the last grade of school you completed?
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p>Which ONE of these four candidate qualities mattered most in deciding how you voted today?
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p>No matter how you voted today, how would you feel if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination:
No matter how you voted today, how would you feel if Barack Obama wins the nomination:
Reading the SC election thread at Daily Kos, there was mention of the prior record total for Dem voters in a primary, as 290,000.
Now I’m seeing that Obama has nearly reached that number by himself in todays vote: 287,400 votes with 98% reporting.
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p>Am I missing something or did Obama just single handedly tie the record for entire Dem turnout?
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p>That is unbelievable.
To me, one of the most interesting aspects of the primaries we’ve had to date is the record turnout for the Democrats. I’m hoping it portends a GOP wipe out in the general election. For South Carolina (a generally red state) to turn out more Democratic votes than Republican votes when both primaries are so hotly contested strikes me as a noteworthy development.
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p>I’m looking forward to seeing the relative vote totals in the Super Duper Tuesday primaries. If the Democrats poll much larger numbers than the Republicans across the country, this could be an interesting year.
turnout numbers. That’s the trend amongst Dems, and the GOP will have to really crank up the voter suppression teams to try and counter it.
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p>It will take a major effort by the Justice Dept., GOP astro turf groups, wingnut judges, and the Bush WH to beat back the voters.
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p>This could be GWB’s Alamo, with him trying to salvage one shred of a failed presidential legacy by disenfranchising voters.
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p>It’s the way that he came in, and the way that he’ll leave.
Did I miss something, or did Senator Clinton skedaddle from South Carolina without a final rally/speech with her supporters there? She’s speaking from Nashville now.
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p>Is there any precedent for this? If I worked my butt off for a candidate in a primary – or any election – and they did that, I don’t think I’d appreciate the gesture.
She gave a very quiet talk before a room full of extremely downcast Nashville supporters. CNN cut away after about two minutes.
bad form.
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p>But seriously, as a potential general election volunteer, this really does bug me and ties into a concern I have about the overall tone of this primary campaign.
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p>For all of the reassurance we’ve been given with polling data saying that candidate D beats candidate R in the general election, we can’t forget that it’s going to take a huge ground game to make a victory possible in November. In 2004, Kerry received the second highest popular vote total in history. A good deal of credit goes to the GOTV effort, but unfortunately his opponent’s effort was better.
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p>Even though Kerry didn’t get my primary vote four years ago, I was happy to work for him in the general election. He didn’t do anything that I saw to disrespect me or any of the Democratic candidates. Additionally, there was a huge fear factor regarding GWB’s reelection that really energized the volunteer corps.
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p>So what about the general election in 2008? Especially if McCain gets the GOP nod, there is no big fear factor. And if the Democratic nominee succeeds in alienating the supporters of the other contenders, from where do we draw the large numbers of coordinators and volunteers that will be needed to win in November?
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p>That’s why I find Clinton’s action last night inexplicable. Every potential volunteer needs to be courted, not thrown away after the results are less than what you want.
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p>Clinton was never at the top of my list while I’ve been contemplating who to vote for, but this basically puts the nail in the coffin for her. It’s down to Edwards and Obama for me now.
If you really want a candidate that is going to work to win the election, don’t you think it is important that they actually campaign? Her actions were not inexplicable and I bet most of the volunteers who supported her in SC understood why she was in Tenn. I decide to support a candidate for President based on whether they can campaign to win, whether I agree with their position on the issues, and whether they can run the country. I could care less whether they come to the party after the primary is held in a particular state. I want them out there working for the next win. It is about the future of the country; it is not about me.
If the polling had indicated that it wasn’t going to be a blowout, she wouldn’t have left SC.
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p>Hanging around for a couple of hours to say thanks, the Democratic turnout was awesome, we need you to stick with us in November, etc. would have been worth more than a lukewarm speech in Nashville. SC appears in play for the general election and it would not have been that big of an effort on her part to help keep it that way.
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p>It’s increasing clear that it’s not about you, or me.