Today's contests

Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:13 AM by Domenico Montanaro

Wisconsin (D). Open primary (independents can vote) -- 74 delegates up for grabs (48 proportional by CD, 15% threshold; 26 by statewide vote, 15% threshold).

Wisconsin (R). Open primary (independents can vote) -- 37 delegates at stake (24 winner-take-all by CD; 16 winner-take-all by statewide vote).

Hawaii (D). Closed caucuses (independents cannot vote) -- 20 delegates up for grabs (13 proportional by the state’s two CDs, 15% threshold; 7 based on statewide results, 15% threshold).

Washington (R). Open primary (independents can vote): Feb. 9 caucuses were used to determine 18 (or 49%) of the state's pledged delegates. Today's primary will determine the back half (or 51% -- 19 delegates) -- 10 proportional by statewide vote, 20% threshold; 9 WTA by CD.

Note: Washington’s Democratic primary is a beauty contest. Democrats will base all pledged delegate allocation on results of February 9 caucuses.

Obama made 11 stops in Wisconsin in the run-up to today's vote.

McCain isn't taking Wisconsin for granted, especially since the rules of the two primaries make it likely he'll be facing a very conservative electorate today -- which could keep Huckabee closer than necessary, particularly if a lot of moderates vote in the Dem primary.

The state is expecting a turnout of approximately 35%, which is high for a presidential primary.

Previewing tonight's Hawaii caucuses, Time notes how Obama didn't do well with Asian voters in California.

And this is one campaign duty we're guessing Chelsea Clinton or the folks staffing her are complaining about: campaigning in Hawaii.

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Comments

Note to Wisconsin Voters from Hillary Clinton:

You have 2 choices today:

1) Vote for me in large enough numbers that I win
2) Have your vote not "count" as one of the "states that matter."

Your choice. Don't say you weren't warned.

The Junior Senator from New York (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:32 AM)

Wisconsin remember, mandate health care....No money to pay for it, she gave 330 million of earmark money sames as pork barrell spending, does not represent the middle class there worth 10 to 50 million dollars. Do you have that as middle class, remember its either politcis as usual or change.....and if we dont get change we will all be working to pay off our loans to the Chinese.....

Russ Fox Wells, Maine (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:38 AM)

omething is wrong with your servers. Pls check your website. When I try to post it keeps giving me an error indicating th HTTP server is down.

Smith, AZ (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:40 AM)

Barack Obama = FRAUD/ CULT

Chris Penn (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:42 AM)

I thought Wisconsin had 92 delegates? Where did the 74 number come from?

kc (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:55 AM)

I'm a conservative republican. I've voted predominately Republican all of my life, and this is the first time I am disgusted with my party and their back room deals to cut Mike Huckabee out. I won't be voting for John McCain because he does not mirror my convictions and in short...I just don't trust him to do what is right. Regardless of how many endorsements he receives from the establishment politicians, our voices should still be heard, we should be the ones choosing our nominee. Our party is broken if all we can do is line up like robots and vote for McCain knowing his left-wing record. He will lose by a large margin to a either democrat. We need someone in our party to represent the people and be competition in Nov.

Jim Jerri Noah and Josie Sebring, Fl (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:00 AM)

character, vision, judgement = REAL CHANGE, not more of the same

Wisconsin, PLEASE UNDERTAND, Obama is the real deal.

A vote for Hillary is a vote for McCain.

colene, New York, New York (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:03 AM)

Wisconsin, remember that Hillary CLinton has stated that her way to pay for her "health care" (read: for-profit insurance!) is to enforce WAGE GARNISHING by the federal government for all wage earners. That is, another line subtracting real income showing up on the W-2. You want that? I hope not!
[http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/story?id=4235448]

Rob, Brunswick, Maine (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:08 AM)

"Washington’s Democratic primary is a beauty contest. Democrats will base all pledged delegate allocation on results of February 9 caucuses."

are those caucuses over and what was the result?

nuanced (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:09 AM)

Hillary doesn't have answers to the imprtant issues vote Obama

Richard Bagley, Ft.lauderdale , Florida (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:09 AM)

kc---

Eightteen of Wisconsin's delegates are super delegates (including the 21-year-old who has been all over CNN recently). Only 74 delegates are pledged delegates; these are the delegates at stake today.

ac, New Orleans, LA (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:11 AM)

This whole system is bogus. Delegates, super-delegates, rules comittees, billions of dollars spent to elect a new set of cheats and lyers. Can't everybody see this? or are we just lambs to led to the slaughter. Those lawmakers, and news writers all seem fat and don't worry abour their insurance or next pay-check. It's time!

Pacheck (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:14 AM)

Mr Obama is creating all this splitting within the party. HE alone is the fraud. CNN and MSNBC are proving it with their obvious bias against the Clintons.

big brother is watching (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:17 AM)

I don't trust Hillary at all. Look at her response to the states lost. She has a power issue and I'm curious to see how she controls her emotions in the debates. I think she will be worse than Bill! COOCHOOO!

Chad, Grand Rapids, MI (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:25 AM)

COLENE YOU ARE SOOOOO WRONG
YOU HAVE YOUR STORY SO TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.
JUST THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE ON EVERYTHING YOU SAID.
OBAMA IS PUFF AND FLUFF.

HILLARY IS THE REAL STUFF.
SHE IS THE REAL DEAL

DEMOCRATS, BE SURE TO VOTE TODAY FOR HILLARY.
DON'T LET THE REPUBLICANS PICK OUR NOMINEE.
A VOTE FOR OBAMA IS A VOTE FOR McCAIN.

YELLOW DOG DEM. AR. (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:27 AM)

A vote for freshman Obama is a vote for the Republican machinery. What he is getting now is kid gloves. Watch how that machinery will tear him apart.

Voting 'present' 133 times does not sound like a man who should be preaching change to me. You need to take a stand on issues to be able to change anything. Not vote safely in the middle.

Dan, Ohio (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:27 AM)

Vote Obama.

Clinton isn't in the solutions business, she's in the excuses business. After she lost Iowa, she said she wasn't really trying in that state. Wasn't trying? We need a president who will be giving a 100% effort from day one, not someone who waits till disaster strikes in order to start hustling. As for excuses, we've heard many more as the campaign progressed. When she loses a small state, then small states don't matter. When she loses a caucus state, then caucuses are unfair. When she loses a southern state, then it's the fault of the African-Americans. Enough already.

Oh yeah, and holding a one-hour conference call with the media to claim that Obama "plagiarized" the work of someone who is a campaign chairman and collaborated on speeches? Please.

Sebastian Lane, NH (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:32 AM)

I think Michele OKbama's remark about this being her FIRST time being proud of this country is shameful and I am tired of MIKKA not thinking their is anything wrong with this comment. If Michele was so ashamed of our country why did they live here. MSNBC should be called the OBAMA TV Station. If Michele is to be our future First Lady I will alwasys remember her stupid remark. I am not parsing words, I know what I heard. Of course you anchors alsways have the last word - right or wrong!!
Jms

Jo Smart Latrobe PA (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:33 AM)

Colene, how do we know he's the real deal? I heard Duval Patrick's speech on Sunday...not Obama's. We know they have speech writers. But, there's something wrong with quoting almost verbatim the speech of another person. Then, you have his wife for the "first time" in her adult life being "really proud of my country." Sad day in the US

hilary (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:38 AM)

This is getting really ugly - not sure if we Democrats can come back from this divisiveness. Michael Bloomberg, please save the moderates (80% of the country) from both sets of wing-nuts...

Patrick, Boulder CO (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:47 AM)

Hillary never said Bill Clinton had no experience when he was running for the Presidency. In fact, Bill Clinton was simply a governor who became a pretty darn good President until his own fiasco in the second term.

Sure, the flip flopping Hillary can now say Obama has no experience but I am pretty darn sure Obama will be another pretty darn good President. Wisconsin and Hawaii, a vote for the Hillary is a vote for flip flopping....go OBAMA for America '08!!

John Doe, WI (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:48 AM)

A VOTE FOR OBAMA IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY-AS WE KNOW IT.
HOPE IS A SLOGAN.......
INSPIRATION IS A MYTH......
A VOTE FOR OBAMA WILL PUSH THE HALF OF THE DEMOCRATS TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

George from Texas (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:51 AM)

America does not need another Clinton. THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING FOR AMERICA THE FIRST TIME AROUND. WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO GIVE THEM ANOTHER 4 YEARS. Time for change; time for new ideas, not the same old bull. Who do you think ran the white house when Bill Clinton was president? (HINT: It wasn't Bill).
I also don't trust Clinton, now that she's finding herself falling behind - she has to resort to mudslinging and whining about petty stuff. Like her plagerism charge. Hasn't she heard - Obama was given permission to use his friends words.
And her comment about Obama being all talk - WHAT DO YOU THINK SHE'S BEEN DOING!! Talk, Talk, Talk. She needs to accept the fact that Americans don't want her in the White House and get out of the race! OBAMA ALL THE WAY!!

D Hunter, Columbia, SC (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:53 AM)

"Present" is NOT a useless vote in the Illinois legislature. Illinois works by an absolute majority, NOT a simple majority. Something only passes if half the people PRESENT vote YES, not if half the people who VOTE vote yes.

For instance, if one person votes yes, one person votes no, and one person votes present, that is considered 33% in favor, NOT 50% in favor.

Make no mistake-- by believing that his "present" votes are a sign of his uselessness, you are buying into false spin. When politicians in Illinois vote "Present", IT IS COUNTED THE WAY A "NO" WOULD. They tend to vote "present" when they approve of the idea of the proposition, but there are specific lines that they can't approve. It's a way of saying "I'm open to voting YES if you change a couple of things, but for now, NO."

Mel, Philadelphia, PA (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:54 AM)

CLINTONS ALWAYS HAVE EXCUSES WHEN THINGS DONT GO THEIR WAY....WHEN HILLARY DOESNT WIN A STATE ITS"BECAUSE "........FOLLOWED BY EXCUSE....IT SOMEONE ELSES FAULT...LOOK AT THE PEPOLE WORKING FOR HER.....BLAMING THEM TO THE POINT THEY LEFT THE CAMPAIGN....HOW ABOUT WE ALL SEE THROUGH THE CLINTON BULL....LIKE I AM GOING TO START PULLING TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ 60 DAYS AFTER TAKING OFFICE.....THAT WILL GET MANIPULATED AND BLAMED ON THE BUSH ADMIN WHEN IT COMES TIME TO FOLLOW THROUGH.....USING VARIOUS EXCUSES LIKE THE CICUMSTANCES CHANGED.....REMEMBER I DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THAT WOMEN ...????...WHILE HILLARY BLAMED IT ON A "RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY".....AGAIN IT WAS SOMEBODY ELSE....HOW ABOUT WHITE WATER....WHEN SHE WAS ADVISED BY HER OWN STAFF TO TURN OVER All DOCUMENTS SO THERE WAS NO QUESTION OF IMPROPRIETY....BUT SHE REFUSED....WHY?????...TRUST IN THE CLINTONS IS LIKE STATISTICS.....THE NUMBERS CAN BE TWISTED ANYWAY YOU WANT TO MANKE YOURSELF LOOK GOOD...

Scott (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:54 AM)

Who do you predict will win the Wisconsin Democratic Presidential Primary?

http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=1748

.

Jeff, Austin (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:56 AM)

Mel, Philadelphia, PA -
Why not say 'NO' upfront? If there are specific lines that can't quite make the approval, even if you like the idea a proposition, it does not meet a YES criteria. Voting present is playing it safe. Rove already made note of this and will definitely use it against him.

Dan, Ohio (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 11:47 AM)

Doesn't Oregon get to vote at all this election? Last I heard we had a primary in May,

Phyllis Stonebraker (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 11:59 AM)

VOTE OBAMA
he is the real deal to bring changed and vbring people together.Hillary is divisive and avengeful.cannot trust her.Her hands are tied with Lobbyist and she cannot bring any real changed in healthcare. He has taken millions from Pharmaceutical companies and HMOS.We cannot go in past 1990, we have to move forward to 2008...2009.....2010...2011....2112
and bring country and world together.

Peter Khan (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:09 PM)

Goofy said: "I think Michele OKbama's remark about this being her FIRST time being proud of this country is shameful...."

I instantly agreed with her and was shocked that she said it out loud. The Honest and Hope is wonderful.
Beat back war, corporate government, and fear; vote Obama.

Mike W, Corralitos, CA (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:22 PM)

Perhaps we could get Cheney to take Hillary out hunting?

Hoover Mixx (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:39 PM)

Hey All,

If we think we've had problems this past 8 years just wait until the next 4. Stop the groveling and unite for a change!

Rita Lustig (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:51 PM)

This from an article today taken from Real Clear Politics website:

"Volunteer trainees at Camp Obama are told not to talk issues with voters, but to offer personal testimony about how they "came" to Obama. Makes the skin crawl."

Mine too

THIS is a campaign? Makes Mike Huckabee look secular

ny reality (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 1:00 PM)

I am utterly speechless reading posts from so called average americans. Everything you write about is from information you get on the news networks. Educate yourself people!! Read real voting records and buy some books!! Then have an opinion. Otherwise, stop writing like you really know whats going on in the political world! DUH............!!!!!

Katie McFadden Battle Creek Michigan (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 1:23 PM)

GO HUCK!!

Chris Taylor (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 1:27 PM)

Taken from Real Clear Politics article today:

"Volunteer trainees at Camp Obama are told not to talk issues with voters, but to offer personal testimony about how they "came" to Obama. Makes the skin crawl."

Mine too

THIS is a campaign? Makes Mike Huckabee look secular to me.

NY reality (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:03 PM)

What is wrong with these people falling in LOVE with Obama for no good reason. Can't anybody see that he is a fraud? Following him is like following a cult or falling in love with some thug off the street that happens to charm you off your feet and beat the crap out you later and take all your money and leave you pregnant. This country will be a disaster if this guy becomes the president. He copies Hillary's plans and he copies Patrick speeches...can't anybody see the signs? Obama supporters are a bunch of looneys!

Liza, OH (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:35 PM)

Last I heard, Oregon has been sold to the Chinese. So I guess they will vote in Asia.

Flat-earther, Georgia (Sent Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:36 PM)

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