9:16 PM: I must say these questions are pretty barbed.
9:22 PM: This is more like an interrogation than a debate.
9:23 PM: There’s clearly some level of shift in Sanders’ opinion on the immigration issue, which broadly matches the shift in labor-liberal opinion on this issue. But saying Sanders is somehow a hypocrite about being pro-immigrant for opposing a guest worker program just doesn’t wash.
West Virginia lawmakers pass ground-breaking law legalizing the sale of raw milk, celebrate by cracking open a big keg of raw milk, promptly get sick.
With news out now that the Trump Group has plain clothes security officers circulating through the crowd to identify and remove potential protestors, how close a look you figure 20-something African-Americans get?
I have a hard time remembering another political upset quite as big as Bernie Sanders totally unexpected victory last night over Hillary Clinton. Ironically, the best analogy I can remember is Hillary Clinton’s victory in New Hampshire over Barack Obama in 2008. To bring us back to that moment just over eight years ago: Barack Obama had just scored a not totally unexpected but still stunning victory over Clinton in Iowa. The New Hampshire polls swung heavily in Obama’s direction. It looked very much like Obama was about to all but knock Clinton out of the race. It was a string of days with immense drama and a mounting mood of poignance as Clinton soldiered on in the face of what seemed like the shattering end of her presidential ambitions.
There’s still a bunch of Wayne County (Detroit) still to report. But Clinton’s margin is not very big there. If her margins stays where it is right now I suspect she loses. Really depends where in the county these votes are from. And I don’t know the answer to that. Meanwhile, Sanders’ margin is bizarrely stable at this point. It’s been almost identical from 1% reporting to 40%. Right around Sanders 51% to Clinton 47% almost the whole time.
Late Update – 10:12 PM: The first big chunk of votes in Wayne County came in a few minutes ago and it tightened the race a lot in Clinton’s favor. Sanders’ lead is now down to about a point and a half. We now have around half the votes in from Wayne and Clinton has a margin there of about 20 points. If that percentage holds that could put her over the top. But there are other parts of the state still to come in where Sanders has sizable margins. This is going to be very close.
10:15 PM: Sanders is pushing his margin up again.
10:31 PM: Clinton’s going to get a big chunk of votes out of Detroit at some point tonight. But Sanders is building up a pretty solid margin, maybe too big a margin for her to overcome even with a lot of votes in Detroit.
10:47 PM: There are a lot of Clinton votes almost certainly still to report in Wayne County. But Bernie Sanders has crept back to almost the 5 point margin he had earlier. That’s a big margin to overcome, even with a very lopsided turnout in the last 15 or 20 percent of the vote. A bit hard for me to see her pulling this out. The only wildcard here is that we don’t know which parts of Wayne County have reporter. So maybe there’s a surprise … a bit more of the vote just came in in Wayne and Clinton’s margin has already gone down a bit. I just don’t see this happening for her. Possible. But requires heroic margins at this point.
Trump: “I tell you, with the evangelicals, they get it. They get me. They understand me. I’ll be the best thing that ever happened to them. I mean that. 100%.”
The resurrection had its run. Times change.
This on the other hand is highly accurate (emphasis added) …
He became hostile about two weeks ago and it didn’t work. See, hostility works for some people, it doesn’t work for everybody. Okay? No, but he became very hostile. You know what, it doesn’t work for him. He was better. He would have been better off had he kept the original pitter patter going, but this didn’t work
Watching the Trump victory presser, you kind of get the sense that Donald Trump has momentarily forgotten he’s running for president. He’s obviously deeply deeply stung by all the talk about Trump Water, Trump Steaks, etc. They’re all totally awesome. And now they’re all set out on a table at Trump’s victory speech. I cannot wait to see how things go at Trump’s State of the Union.
Not many votes in yet. But the Michigan results are very tight right now, with Sanders with a small lead. Outside of New Hampshire, Sanders’ victories have been heavily weighted toward caucuses. This is a primary. Much more difficult to win with enthusiastic and well organized supporters. If he can manage a victory in Michigan that would be a big win for him. Live results here.
Late Update – 8:42 PM: Still very close but no votes in from Detroit. That may make it hard for Sanders to hold on.
8:45 PM: Is ‘Tough Night for Marco Rubio’ a new show on CNN? Hear it promo’d constantly every time we tune into CNN.
9:16 PM: So still fairly close in Michigan, with Sanders in a small but durable lead. And we’re still waiting for the bulk of votes to come in from Detroit. But there’s now a non-trivial number of votes in from there – about 15,000 votes. And Sanders has a clear lead. No idea where those votes come from. Maybe it’s not representative. But Clinton needs a solid win in Wayne County to win the state.
9:27 PM: About 20% of precincts reporting in Wayne County and Clinton has moved into a small lead – 53% – 46%.
Clinton declared winner in Mississippi. Early results show close race in Michigan.