NY TIMES: Clinton Defeats Obama in Nevada Vote [Times disputes Obama's delegate claim]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/us/politics/19cnd-dems.html?hp

LAS VEGAS – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, capturing strong support from women voters and adding a fresh boost of momentum to her campaign as the Democratic presidential race heads to South Carolina, where she is engaged in a fierce battle with her rival, Senator Barack Obama.

Mrs. Clinton’s victory in Nevada – her second straight win over Mr. Obama – underscored her strength among Hispanic voters, who comprise a large share of the electorate in several upcoming states, as the campaign expands into a coast-to-coast series of 22 contests on Feb. 5.

The New York senator had 51 percent of the vote to Mr. Obama’s 45 percent, with just over 90 percent of the state’s caucuses reporting. John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, faded to a distant third place with 4 percent of the vote.

“I guess this is how the West was won,” Mrs. Clinton told her supporters during a victory rally at the Planet Hollywood hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Speaking over loud cheers, she added: “We will all be united in November. I don’t think politics is a game. I don’t think elections are just another day in the calendar.”

Mr. Obama, in a terse statement, barely acknowledged his defeat. “We ran an honest, uplifting campaign in Nevada that focused on the real problems Americans are facing, a campaign that appealed to people’s hopes instead of their fears,” he said. “That’s the campaign we’ll take to South Carolina and across America in the weeks to come, and that’s how we will truly bring about the change this country is hungry for.”

Mr. Obama said that he received more national delegates in Nevada than Mrs. Clinton because of his strong performance across the state, “including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled.”

But some election officials said they were confused about Mr. Obama’s claim that he more delegates than Mrs. Clinton.

“I don’t know why they’re saying that,” said Jill Derby, president of the Nevada State Democratic Party, referring to the Obama campaign. “We don’t select our national delegates the way they’re saying. We won’t select national delegates for a few more months

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If he could have substituted "gracious" for "terse" and skipped that "But I got MORE, I DID, I DID!!" bullshit, he woulda been better off.

In what universe does the loser get more delegates? That would make them the WINNER....

but calling him rookie all the time is getting a little old on your part. He's the only candidate left standing against the former occupants of the White House and he's forcing them to dig deep into their bag of tricks just to survive his candidacy.

Not bad for a "rookie."

so you might want to retract that assertion. You don't want to be sloppy like Obama was, today, no call for it. Your "standing against the former occupants" rhetoric is a bit overblown, too. Spare me that--it doesn't impress or move me.

First Rookie Mistake--His staff going after Magic Johnson with condescending comments about what Magic "understands"--like the guy got hit in the head with a basketball too many times, or something. The guy is a major businessman who has brought THOUSANDS of jobs to the inner city. You think, in the run up to MJ's home state of CALIFORNIA, those employees and those who benefit from his businesses, along with those who respect him for his basketball career, are gonna be too thrilled with that sort of snarky shit? I sure as hell don't--all politics IS local, after all. Obama's people took the bait, and they were rookie fools for not looking down the road and seeing CALIFORNIA ahead. That commercial was less about SC and more about CALIFORNIA.

Second Rookie Mistake--Being petulant about coming in a close second and insisting he got more votes, resulting in the Party Chair having to "correct" him. It makes him look weak, testy, and uninformed. He could have come off as totally gracious, uplifting, 'On to SC!!!' and damn near tied for FIRST place, but instead, he had to get short-tempered and come off looking like a tired and cranky baby.

If he keeps this shit up, and he continues to make mistakes that only newcomers, inexperienced campaigners, and yes, ROOKIES, make, I'll continue to point it out. I won't be censored or scolded by an acolyte, sorry!

though I'm sure there are some who will choose to ignore it.

if his "we got more delegates" claim is shown to be false spin to undercut Hillary's success.

Ralston, from the Las Vegas Sun, told Keith and Chris Matthews the same thing the Times is saying. He basically said Axelrod's claim was not true.

The buffoon not only lost, he claims to win by having an extra delegate only to be slapped down by the Nevada Party.

we have regular delegates verses super delegates, and other complicated rules thrown in for a song and a dance

Obama won Iowa by 9%, yet only was ahead by ONE delegate over Hillary after that

I don't know what the Nevada or Democratic rules are, but I ASSUME YOU DO

It is bizarre? What the hell are they thinking? It makes them look petty.

"This is one step on a long journey," Clinton told cheering supporters in Las Vegas. She captured the popular vote, but Obama edged her out for national convention delegates at stake, taking 13 to her 12."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CAMPAIGN_RDP?SITE=KPUA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Second technically Obama is correct and this woman Jill is filling your heads full of shit. Delegates WERE selected today. The results are not final she is right, however each camp WAS assigned delegates in each precinct based on the level of support they had in each precinct.

So for example in my precinct we had a total of 9 delegates to divvy up. Once we had our final choices licked in the delegates were divided up so that 4 went to obama and 5 went to hillary. We then VOTED on who our delegates would be in each camp, they then filled out the paper work for each person so that they can go forward to the county conventions. These people are locked in as delegates.


Now when they get to the county conventions they vote again and they are allowed to change their votes then if they want to. They may or may not that remains to be seen. However at this stage of the game Obama does have more delegates. going forward to county so it is entirely possible for him to win Nevada when the delegate count reaches the state level. In fact if all of the delegates he got today hold their ground all the way to state convention Obama will have more national delegates.

Having said that the dem leadership here for the most part is firmly in the hillary camp and there will be a lot of pressure on all the delegates going forward to change their votes. So I certainly wouldn't bank on obama taking the delegates to the national convention but at this point he IS in the lead for them.

NYT and Jill can both kiss my ass.

You acknowledge yourself that the damn delegates aren't COMMITTED. And if they aren't committed, no one, neither Clinton or Obama, "owns" them.

The only thing coming out of NV that MEANS anything is the raw 'count.' The delegates could all decide to vote for Bozo the Clown, if they wanted.

I say it often, I'll say it again: The caucus system SUCKS. Give me a straightforward primary with paper ballots any day of the week.

"If you two don't behave I'm gonna send you to your room!"

Somebody had got to sit these two down and read them BOTH the riot act - and teach them how to behave.

This is getting old real fast.

You.

No. YOU!

You FIRST!

sigh...

Facts are hard to hold onto when the pom-poms are waving.

facts.

More insight.

Or so his handlers Hope.

Nothing will change.
Obama will still be in the contest in April 2008.

The 25 delegates will be awarded according to the weighted results of the Caucus and Obama will receive 13 of them.

Hillarites are doing their best to muddy the waters.

The 25 delegates awarded tonight are "pledged." Their identities are now known because they were elected. That part is a done deal as of this moment.

Can anything change in the future? Yes. Anything can happen in politics at any time. Obama might become ill and drop out of the race. But if that does not happen, he has 13 of those 25 "pledged" delegates in his pocket as we speak. Hillary has 12 of them. His 13 and her 12 constitute ALL of the pledged delegates that were available today as a result of the vote. 8 more superdelegates are eventually available, but that's irrevelant tonight.