Arkansas Blog: Late developments in Indiana...

Hillary Clinton's lead has dwindled to two points, and it may get smaller yet. Vote counting has been held up in Lake County, where there are 11,000 absentee ballots left to tally. Lake County's biggest city is Gary, which is just a few minutes from Chicago and big time Obama territory. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay thinks Obama still has a shot at taking the state; at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall points out that, while Obama would win if he maintains his current 75-25 spread, it will depend on where the votes come from. If they're from Gary or East Chicago, good for Obama; if they're from some of the county's smaller towns, good for Clinton.

Close watchers of the maps will see that Union County, in the eastern part of the state, still has to be counted as well. If the results of the surrounding counties are an indicator, Clinton will take the win there. Union County has a population of only 7,000. Normally the pittance of votes to be had there means the county wouldn't garner a mention -- but the final tally in this race may be decided by a pittance.

UPDATE: The 75-25 spread has closed slightly. With 57% of the votes counted in Lake County, Obama's lead is 65-35. Stay tuned...

UPDATE DEUX: Anyone tuning in for some midnight CNN just caught a pretty awesome tiff between the mayors of Gary and nearby Hammond. After the Gary mayor took a grilling from Wolf Blitzer about the slow count, the Hammond mayor offered some thinly veiled suggestions that there was some funny business going on in Gary. Then, right in the middle of that awkward exchange...CNN announced that the rest of the vote in Lake County was in and Clinton had narrowed Obama's margin to 10. CNN has finally called the state for Clinton.

Comments

MSNBC didn't declare it until a few minutes after midnight and called Hillary the "apparent winner". Interestingly though, it only means that she gets 1 or 2 more delegates than Barack and with his big win in NC he has more than regained ground he lost in PA. All that suspense in Indiana over a delegate or two!

MSNBC did clarify regarding Hillary not appearing on any news programs in the morning saying the campaign said she never had any firm commitments for the morning programs but that she will keep to her scheduled appearance at a fund-raiser tomorrow afternoon. So once Hillary's campaign heard the media assuming that "cancelling" appearances on morning news shows meant she was re-evaluating etc., they quickly responded to say she hadn't committed to any appearances.

The writing is on the wall (and has been for a long time)--now if she'd just accept it! I'm looking forward to see how this plays out over the next few days or weeks.

Posted by: Never Vote Republican | May 7, 2008 12:46 AM

So they'll probably split delegates in Indiana, and with NC's win, Obama recovers completely from his loss in PA.

Posted by: JD | May 7, 2008 12:46 AM

Obama/Feingold 08'

Jim Webb

/I wish

Posted by: Rev. Mojo Ryson | May 7, 2008 12:53 AM

"With leads like this now, if you throw in Michigan and Florida, as is, then Obama would still have about 150,000 votes and he would still have 100 delegates, pledged delegate, lead." -- Chuck Todd

So, including Florida and Michigan, Hillary has lost the nomination. Perhaps that's why she canceled all appearances tomorrow?

Russert video in my name.

Posted by: JD | May 7, 2008 12:54 AM

See quite possibly Obama's last speech of the Democratic Primaries:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki-oMjmwiUA

-Uniting the Dem. Party
-Stopping McCain from serving out Bush's 3rd term
-A "permanent" holiday from oil addiction by holding motor companies to higher fuel standards, etc.
-And more!

Posted by: JD | May 7, 2008 01:18 AM

Atta boy, Obie Wan!

Posted by: devilsadvocate | May 7, 2008 02:09 AM

The primary is over.
The general is over.
I'll be at the top of the Empire State building on December 31st to jump.

Posted by: Meet John Doe | May 7, 2008 02:11 AM

Just a morning reminder that the Republican party is evil incarnate and the ultimate duty of the Democrats is to win the White House this November.

The forces of Satan will go all out to support McBush. The racists, the war-mongers, the oil racketeers, the Christian right, the destroyers of our constitution, etc.

Will our country continue to be the most-hated nation on earth? Will our country continue to treat its citizens with less compassion than other world leaders? Will our country continue to place greed as the highest form of patriotism?

Posted by: The Levee | May 7, 2008 06:31 AM

Nice, the Christian Right and the forces of Satan working together.

That is your rhetorical premise?

So much for the "new politics."

Posted by: Arkansas Red | May 7, 2008 07:48 AM

JD, thanks for the Russert video; I'd have missed it otherwise.

Posted by: durangokid | May 7, 2008 08:38 AM

Tornados, cyclones, tsunamis, one of the four horsemen of the apocolypse cut me off in traffic...

Posted by: Basil | May 7, 2008 08:41 AM

Yep, that's my premise. It's pretty clear that the Christian Right does a lot of evil... overtly trying to make Armageddon happen, championing a White Male-dominated society, condemning other Christians to hell, actively calling for the death penalty, helping elect Bush, and so on. Scribes and pharisees all.

Posted by: The Levee | May 7, 2008 10:53 AM

Arkansas Blog

Late developments in Indiana...

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