Wednesday, May 21, 2008

HILLARY WINS POPULAR VOTE! VISITS FLORIDA TODAY.



Hillary Clinton has won 6,505,231 votes to Obama’s 5,983,422 — a margin of 521,809 votes.
"You learned the hard way what happens when your votes aren't counted and the candidate with fewer votes is declared the winner," Clinton said.
At a rally in Boca Raton, FL Senator Clinton warned her party had deprived voters of basic rights by stripping Florida and Michigan of national convention delegates over a scheduling dispute.
"The lesson of 2000 here in Florida is crystal-clear: if any votes aren't counted, the will of the people is not realized and our democracy is diminished."
Florida in 2000 should be a reminder to the Democratic Party that it should not ignore those voters again, and that the election recount there made a very strong case for seating Florida’s delegates now. She called it a matter of “principle” for Democratic party leaders to consider.

2 comments:

Benjamin J. Kirby said...

I'm sorry, but this claim is simply not true. Senator Obama is ahead in the popular vote total.

Reference Real Clear Politics, which gives us unbiased numbers and averages. Everything taken into consideration -- including Florida and Michigan, but *also* including caucus states -- Obama looks to be ahead by around 500,000votes (a little less).

But I must say, as much as an individual vote is important, in the primaries what counts are pledged delegates. And now it would appear after Obama's victory in Oregon last evening, he has that locked up. He is also ahead in the number of superdelegates. He is also ahead in the number of states won. He is also quite ahead in the fundraising department.

Please believe that none of this is all that easy for me to accept, frankly. I used to work for Senator Clinton (when she was First Lady), and feel a deep loyalty to both Clintons. I was as excited for the first woman nominee as I was for the first African American nominee.

But there can be only one, and Obama has captured something all too rarely witnessed in politics. And given today's heartening polling data, it looks like he has a very good shot against McCain in November.

I will honor the political work of the Clintons by working even harder for our Democratic nominee -- and Democratic candidates wherever I can -- in November.

TrumanDem said...

bjk816,

I just wanted to interject here about this "popular vote" business. The caucuses don't count popular votes per se. Since those totals are unavailable you cannot claim that either one has an advantage popular vote wise. There is not a way to know.

TrumanDem

Truman's Conscience
"The Buck Stopped Here"