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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
City of St. Louis, Missouri. Our goal is to cast a critical eye
on lawmakers, their policies, and those that have influence upon
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According to David Plouffe, Barack Obama's campaign manager, by sweeping today's caucuses and primaries, Senator Obama more than doubled his pledged delegate lead over Senator Hillary Clinton.
Before today, Obama led Clinton by 27 pledged delegates (pledged delegates are those won through caucus and primary election wins, as opposed to superdelegates which are basically endorsements by officials. These superdelegates are not necessarily fixed and can change their alliances).
"In the four contests today, we estimate we won 103 delegates to Clinton’s 58 delegates for a net gain of 45 delegates," wrote Plouffe on the Obama website.
"The pledged delegate total through February 9 now stands at 1,012 for Obama and 940 for Clinton."
The Missouri Democratic Party today preliminarily awarded 36 delegates each to Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton following their thrilling performances in Tuesday’s Missouri Presidential Primary.
By virtue of his 10,479-vote victory statewide, Obama won Missouri’s statewide delegates by a 13-12 margin, while Clinton won Missouri’s congressional district delegates by a 24-23 margin.
According to the Missouri Democratic Party delegate selection plan, Missouri Democrats award 72 of their 88 delegates proportionally based on how the presidential candidates perform in the primary. Of those 72 delegates, 25 are awarded proportionally based on statewide performance, while 47 of the delegates are awarded proportionally based on performance in Missouri’s nine congressional districts. Congressional districts with higher past Democratic performance receive a greater share of the 47 delegates. Candidates must meet a 15 percent threshold to qualify for delegates. Therefore, the percentages in the following chart do not include votes cast for candidates that did not meet the threshold. The delegate breakdown is as follows:
Click to enlarge
(* The statewide vote totals are slightly more than the sum of the congressional district totals because some local election authorities have not assigned absentee votes to their appropriate precincts yet. This should not affect the delegate totals for either candidate.)
The remaining 16 of Missouri’s 88 Democratic delegates are unpledged superdelegates, who are members of Missouri’s Democratic Congressional delegation, Missouri members of the Democratic National Committee, and distinguished party leaders. These superdelegates will cast their vote at the August Democratic National Convention in Denver for their favorite candidate, regardless of Tuesday’s primary results.
Congressmen Lacy Clay and Russ Carnahan, both St. Louis Democrats and both early endorsers of Barack Obama, celebrated Super Tuesday election results with other Obama supporters and volunteers at The Moolah Theater in Midtown last night.
With over 95% of the Missouri vote in and Obama close to victory, Clay and Carnahan addressed the crowd...
As more precincts came in it became clear this was going down to the wire. By 11:00, Barack Obama was within 5,000 votes. After midnight, results showed Obama winning by about 9,000 votes.
With 3,357 of 3,371 precincts reporting, Obama leads Clinton 403,343 votes to 394,566. That's 49.1% to 48.1% .
Barack Obama will very likely win Lacy Clay's 1st Congressional District, but a good predictor of how well Obama will do in the all-important delegate count in Missouri will be how well he does in Russ Carnahan's 3rd Congressional District.
The 1st District, located in north St. Louis City, midtown, and north and central St. Louis County) has a very large African-American population.
The 3rd District is mostly white and contains parts of the City of St. Louis basically south of Interstate 44 and parts of south St. Louis County.
Only 1% of the vote is reporting right now, but according to CNN's Missouri Exit Poll, Barack Obama won among men (45% of total Democrats voting today), while Hillary Clinton won among women (55% of Democrats voting today).
Obama was favored by voters 18-39. Clinton was favored by voters 40 and over (Clinton lead by just 2 points in the 40-49 category).
54% of whites between 18-29 chose Obama, while more over-30 whites went with Clinton. 63% of white Missouri Democrats over 60 years-old chose Clinton.
Based on exit polls, CNN is projecting that Barack Obama will win his home state of Illinois. No surprise there. The real question will be by how much. Will he be able to rack up on needed delegates? IL has 153 up for grabs.
CNN is also projecting Hillary Clinton will win Oklahoma. OK has 47 delegates up for grabs today.
Supporters of Barack Obama will be watching tomorrow's Super Tuesday results at the Moolah Theater, 3821 Lindell Blvd, starting at 7:00 tomorrow evening.
Just last week, State Representative Connie Johnson was pushing John Edwards as the only Democrat who could win Missouri in November. Well, it seems the term-limited House Minority Whip has had a change of heart.
Johnson was spotted over the weekend at a rally for Hillary Clinton. And today the Clinton campaign prepared to send out a press release touting her endorsement.
But just a few months ago, Johnson said Hillary Clinton would kill Missouri Democrats chances of winning back the governor's mansion and the house and senate.
"Here's the deal — If we don't have a good person at the top of the ticket - someone who can help stop the hemorrhaging in Missouri, then we'll go red," Missouri state Minority Whip Connie Johnson said. "It's as simple as that. And it will affect state reps, state senators, treasurers, governors, everybody.
"If Hillary comes to a state like Missouri, we can write it off," Johnson added, referring to Democratic field’s frontrunner, Hillary Clinton.
UPDATE: Johnson tells PubDef that it is Clinton's health care plan that has attracted her support.
"Hillary's is closer to John's," said Johnson in a phone interview.
Johnson said she feels that both Clinton and Obama "have their liabilities and they both have assets. At the end of the day, they both have to work together" to get a Democrat in the White House.
Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, a supporter of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, today issued the following statement on what he calls push-polling by supporters of Mike Huckabee:
"Governor Mitt Romney has a proven record of bringing real change to address problems that others would consider impossible. He has turned around businesses, turned around the Olympics, and turned around Massachusetts. Today, it is clear that Washington is broken and it will not get fixed if we keep sending the same people back - just to have them sit in different chairs.
"Especially now, with concerns about the national economy, we need someone who knows how jobs are created and why it is important to cut taxes and government spending.
"But instead of talking about issues, a secret 527 Group supporting Governor Mike Huckabee - called Common Sense Issues - is distorting Governor Romney's record with push polls in Missouri and across the country.
"I know that Missouri voters will not respond to these deplorable and desperate tactics.
"We want an issues based campaign, a campaign about the future of our country, and we will not take kindly to out-of-state special interest groups calling us up and saying things that are not true about a candidate's record.
"Governor Romney is the real conservative candidate who will cut taxes, fight illegal immigration, and strengthen our military.
"It is time for Governor Huckabee to put an end to these push polls and begin running a campaign on the issues."
Ofttimes, torches are not passed on, but rather pried out of the hands of past generations.
In 1960, Missouri's own former President Harry S. Truman held a news conference to explain why he resigned as a delegate to the 1960 Democratic Convention. He accused John F. Kennedy's campaign of turning the convention into a "prearranged affair." He also suggested Kennedy was not ready to be president.
"Are you certain that you are quite ready for the country, or the country is ready for you, in the role of President in January 1961?," the then 76 year-old former commander-in-chief asked the 43 year-old Kennedy. "May I urge you to be patient."
On July 4, 1960, in response to Truman's words, Kennedy held his own press conference.
"The world is changing. The old ways will not do," said Kennedy. "It is time for a new generation of leadership."
Sunday's "Meet the Press" referenced this piece of history. We found this longer version on YouTube.
Lines wrapped around three sides of the Edward Jones Dome before the doors opened and crowds of supporters poured onto the stadium floor.
"I haven't seen so many people in this dome since the Rams were having better days," Congressman Lacy Clay told the crowd, which by stadium officials numbered at 20,000 22,500.
The man they all came to see, Presidential candidate Barack Obama, was accompanied on the stage by Clay, Congressman Russ Carnahan, former U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan, State Auditor Susan Montee, County Executive Charlie Dooley, and U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a woman PubDef first reported as a possible Vice-Presidential selection and who is currently featured in an Obama campaign commercial running nationwide.
According to a new poll from SurveyUSA, the contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is now too close to call in Missouri.
The poll shows Hillary Clinton at 48% with a slight lead over Obama at 44%, but that's within the margin of error (3.9%).
There is a clear age difference among supporters of the two Democrats. 61% of 18-34 year-olds support Obama while 61% of voters over the age of 61 support Clinton.
Obama has the support of 76% of blacks, 38% of whites, and 57% of Hispanics in Missouri. Clinton is supported by 54% of whites, 17% of blacks, and 41% of Hispanics.
As for party affiliation, Obama continues to attract moderate Republicans and Independents. Among the Republicans planning to vote Democratic, 60% support Obama (compared to Clinton's 30%). Meanwhile, 55% of Independents support Obama.
Among Democrats, 52% support Clinton and 41% support Obama.
As you may have heard, the biggest thing in politics since the ballot box is coming to St. Louis today and they could barely find a place big enough to hold the expected crowd.
The "Stand for Change" Rally with Senator Barack Obama is today (Saturday) at the Edward Jones Dome. Doors open at 7:00 PM and it is free to the public. So come on down!
Before today, Obama led Clinton by 27 pledged delegates (pledged delegates are those won through caucus and primary election wins, as opposed to superdelegates which are basically endorsements by officials. These superdelegates are not necessarily fixed and can change their alliances).
