State of the Nation: Some Interesting Stories

Two states down, two states to go. I still think Ohio and Texas will split. Senator Clinton is doing much better than expected in Ohio, especially in the rural areas. Senator Obama is doing well in Texas, but the urban vote is not in. With 29% of the vote, they are tied.

Check that. Three down, one to go: Texas. Clinton holds a 2 - 1 advantage as she just won Ohio.

There are major problems with the vote today in Ohio and Texas as both campaigns have cried foul on the other. You can read the Clinton complaints against Obama here. You can read other complaints from The Columbus Dispatch.

Senator Obama's campaign is suing to keep open polls in Ohio. Senator Clinton's campaign is threaten legal action with the caucus. Both sides claim intimidation.

The animosity converged on a conference call when Senator Obama's top lawyer Bob Bauer called in to a conference call that Howard Wolfson was running to discuss the probles with caucuses. Bob Bauer attacked the Clinton camp for undermining the caucus process in Texas as well as in Iowa, Nevada, and all the other caucuses. According to The New York Times election coverage blog (at 8:36pm: The Caucus Lament) Even Senator Clinton and Terry McCaulife attacked the caucuses today to undermine it in Texas. Howard Wolfson attacked Bauer for calling in and attacked him to make sure all voters can contribute to the democratic process. At the end of the conversation, Howard Wolfson promises to call the Obama conference call.

The phone call, if you listen to it at Politico, is interesting drama but extremely bad for both campaigns and for the Democrats. All of this is bad, which may be good for Senator Clinton as the caucus portion of the vote seems "corrupt." If one is corrupt, then others may be...

If you would like to read it, the transcript is available through Slate.

Republican crossover vote in Ohio is big, for Senator Clinton.

The racial bloc voting seems disturbing. According to Andrew Sullivan:

MSNBC's exit polls, state one in five Ohioans said race was important in their vote. And they broke 57 to 43 for the Clintons.

Some of this is the rural vote in the Southeast. But it may be a worry in the GE. Also, it may be a concern with the economic problems.

Finally, there is a behind-the-scenes battle for Super Delegates. According to Politico, Senator Clinton is trying to persuade some Super Delegates to not publicly support a candidate. Clinton is trying to argue that if she were to win three states tonight, the Super Delegates should wait before they go public. Yet, as Tom Brokaw is reporting on MSNBC, 50 Super Delegates will publicly endorse Senator Obama over the next few weeks though these 50 Super Delegates are not rock stars, i.e. no Richardson or Edwards.

The Super Delegates will be the only way a candidate wins.

Bonus- one news story to look forward to: Senator Obama never announced his fundraising total for February. Look for this message to be released this week to regain focus on his campaign.