Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Afro-Netizen
All Spin Zone
Altercation
Americablog
And, yes, I DO take it personally
Another Iranian Online
August J. Pollak
Baghdad Burning
Barry Lando
Bloggrrrlz Gallery
Blondesense
Bob Geiger
Body and Soul
Boing Boing
Booman Tribune
BOP News
Bush Watch
BUZZFLASH
Carpetbagger
Clean Air Blog
Cool Hunting
Corrente
CrooksandLiars
Cursor
Dahr Jamail
Daily Howler
Daily Kos
DC Media Girl
DemiOrator
Direland
Echidne of the Snakes
Elayne Riggs
Eschaton
Fact-esque
Falafel Sex, and Other Things Best Left Unsaid
Farai Chideya
Feminist Peace Network
Feministe
Feministing
Frameshop
Gristmill
Huffington Post
Hullabaloo
Informed Comment
James Wolcott
Jesus General
Lady Jayne's Blog
Liberal Oasis
Mad Kane
Mahablog
Majikthise
Media Girl
Media is a Plural
MediaCitizen
Metafilter
Michael Berube
MyDD
News Dissector
News For Real
Norbizness
Oliver Willis
Pacific Views
Pandagon
Political Animal
PopPolitics.com
PR Watch
Prometheus 6
Raed in the Middle
RH Reality Check
Robert Greenwald
Roger Ailes
Rox Populi
Sadly, No!
Seeing the Forest
Shakespeares Sister
Sirotablog
Sisyphus Shrugged
skippy the bush kangaroo
Slacktivist
SpeakSpeak
Stay Free!
Steve Gilliard
Talking Points Memo
TalkLeft
TBogg
Thatcoloredfellasweblog
The Bilerico Project
The Hutchinson Political Report
The Republic of T
The Revealer
The Sideshow
The Swift Report
Think Progress
This Modern World
TikvahGirl
Trish Wilson
War and Piece
Waveflux
What She Said!
Whiskey Bar
Working Families Vote 2008
Obama Cruises to Easy Mississippi Win, Six-Week Slog to Pennsylvania Begins
Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form
Also in PEEK
Report: Obama Prepared to Talk to Hamas
Faiz Shakir Think Progress
Obama Can Learn from Bush: 'We Tried' Ain't Enough
Paco Fabian AmericasVoiceOnline
Rachel Maddow on 'Daily Show': 'Insulted,' 'Embarrassed' By Bush
Danny Shea Huffington Post
By any reasonable measure, last week wasn’t Barack Obama’s best ever. He lost primaries in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island; he lost his top foreign policy advisor; and his intention of ending the nominating contest fell far short. Hillary Clinton narrowed Obama’s lead among pledged delegates by about 10, and claimed a new sense of momentum.
But Obama’s fortunes have turned around a bit of late. He won a landslide in the Wyoming caucuses over the weekend, with 61% support, and cruised to an easy victory in the Mississippi primary yesterday, winning by an almost identical margin.
Senator Barack Obama won Mississippi’s Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, building his delegate lead over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the final contest before the nominating fight heads to Pennsylvania for a six-week showdown. […]
After a frenzied string of primaries and caucuses for more than two months, Mississippi was alone in holding its contest Tuesday, where 33 delegates were at stake. It was the last primary before a six-week interlude. The Pennsylvania primary on April 22 opens the final stage of the Democratic nominating fight, with eight states, Puerto Rico and Guam left to weigh in.
Mississippi offered Mr. Obama an opportunity to regain his footing after losing the popular vote to Mrs. Clinton last week in three contests, Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Mr. Obama had been expected to win resoundingly in Mississippi, a state where 36 percent of the population is black, the highest percentage in the nation. He has enjoyed strong support among black voters and won all the other contests in the Deep South by large margins.
With just about all the votes counted, Obama won with 61% of the vote, to Clinton’s 37%. More importantly, Obama walks out of Mississippi with a net gain of seven delegates. Combined with Wyoming’s results, Obama has already erased the delegate gains Clinton made on March 4.
So, what made the difference? Let’s look at the various tidbits from the exit polls:
* Gender: Obama won 61% of men and 58% of women. That’s going to lead to a pretty good day.
* Race: It’s fair to say this was an important factor in Mississippi. 91% of African-American voters backed Obama, while 72% of white voters backed Clinton.
* Age: There continues to be a striking age gap between the candidates. Despite Obama’s landslide win, Clinton still won a majority of voters 60 and older.
* Income: Obama won every income group except those making more than $75,000, who preferred Clinton.
* Honesty: Here’s a surprising one. 70% of Mississippi voters said Obama is honest and trustworthy. Only 52% said the same about Clinton.
* Commander-in-Chief test: Voters preferred Obama to Clinton by 10 points on this question, 53% to 43%.
* Republicans: Is Rush Limbaugh’s strategy catching on? 13% of voters in the Democratic primary identified themselves as Republicans, and they overwhelmingly backed Clinton over Obama, 78% to 22%.
* VP: 6 in 10 Obama backers said that he should select Clinton for the ticket if he won the nomination, while 4 in 10 Clinton supporters said she should choose Obama if he she won.
And with that, the long slog to Pennsylvania begins — its primary is six long weeks from yesterday.
AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.
Tagged as: clinton, obama, mississippi, wyoming
Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.
| Also in PEEK | |||
| Report: Obama Prepared to Talk to Hamas Barack Obama is reportedly planning to ditch President Bush's strategy of isolating Hamas, and will instead move to open contacts with the group. Post by Faiz Shakir. January 8, 2009. |
Obama Can Learn from Bush: 'We Tried' Ain't Enough We will need to remind Obama again and again that for those voters concerned about immigration, 'almost' just ain't gonna cut it come 2012. Post by Paco Fabian. January 8, 2009. |
Rachel Maddow on 'Daily Show': 'Insulted,' 'Embarrassed' By Bush Jon Stewart and Maddow talk Bush, Obama, Bill Clinton, MSNBC and the Munsters. Post by Danny Shea. January 8, 2009. |
|