Ms. M,

My friend the Speaker has asked me to reply on her behalf. Yes indeed, she finds Senator McCain to be a handsome man, as do I. He is also a man handsome in his character and fully worthy of our respect as a worthy adversary. The Speaker also adds that she wishes she could say the same things about our current Resident in the White House, but cannot.

Thank you for letting me speak on her behalf. She has important legislative work to look to, at this moment.

I tend to favor popular vote over electoral victory as well.

Will you support Hillary enthusiatically, should she win?

I wonder. But, aside from that question which should be answered in all equity....

I don't think it is incumbant in this country that anyone anyone should be forced or bullied or coerced to vote for anyone.

But thank you for your very interesting reply.

I haven't decided yet who I will vote for. But it is every citizen's right to vote for whomever they choose.

In part it is this bullying attitide of Obama supporters that is also disturbing.

I may vote for a write in candidate. It's every American's personal decision to choose and have a right to choose privately. that's why the voting booth is sacred and secret.

There is actually a law about the right to leep the citizens vote private.

No one can demand you vote for any particular person.

That is against the law.

over-sampled African-Americans, it didn't over-represent them.

It wasn't challenged because there was nothing to challenge.

Lunesta:

Ms. M,

My friend the Speaker has asked me to reply on her behalf. Yes indeed, she finds Senator McCain to be a handsome man, as do I. He is also a man handsome in his character and fully worthy of our respect as a worthy adversary. The Speaker also adds that she wishes she could say the same things about our current Resident in the White House, but cannot.

Thank you for letting me speak on her behalf. She has important legislative work to look to, at this moment.

Well he wasn't bad looking when he was a young Navy Lt.

For a republican, that is?lol.

<wink>

Lono it is really this basic...let the votes count in Michigan and Florida count. Let the people be heard.

and let the process of the primary continue.

I am just discussing it.

If you want to be mad or are mad about the situation... be mad at the people who control the DNC and set this thing in motion or be upset with Hillary herself or Bush or McCain or The war in Iraq.

I am only weighing the various issues at hand and discussing them.

If he wins delegates and popular vote and the superdels give it to her, I'm not sure I'd get behind that. But otherwise, I imagine I'll support her.

"Enthusiastically" is a subjective term. I'm not promising that I'll shout her praises from the rooftops, but I'll defend her against the lunatics who post stories about how Hillary whacked a minister in whom her lesbian lover had confided her darkest secrets (hi jeqal!).

Fair enough?

Thanks Lono. That is a fair reply. Appreciate it. I currently like her best, but I was for Obama, at first.

The only thing I am currently sure of is I don't feel I can vote for Obama.

I am sorry about that. But that much I am certain of.

If you believed you could not vote for HRC on principles, of your own, I would respect your right to your view.

But even though I asked you,in truth...it's your right to choose as you see fit.

I don't know who I will ultimately vote for yet.

As I say I may even write in a candidate. But one's vote is a private and sacred thing in our country.

We shouldn't bully each other over our views.

Best to you,Lono.

Or are at least very powerful members. They helped establish the rules. They didn't say a damn word about how the Party would be disenfranchising FL and MI if it didn't seat those delegations until AFTER those states became necessary for a Hillary win. Coincidence? I somehow doubt it.

I don't think FL and MI should be allowed to seat full delegations without penalty.

And as long as we have a series of primaries rather than one primary day countrywide, look for this to happen again. Those states that hold late primaries will always be "disenfranchised" by those that hold early primaries.

I already said Hillary's free to continue and you're all free to support her. I honestly believe that. But at some point, the numbers will decide this.

Hillary must accomplish one of two things: she must either be ahead in the nationwide raw vote counts or ahead in pledged delegates.

She's not going to be ahead in pledged delegates. Michigan and Florida will be seated at the convention. However they apportion it, those delegates won't be enough.

If she doesn't win Pennsylvania by more that 10%, she won't make it ahead in the raw votes, either. W. Virginia and Kentucky are offset by N. Carolina and Oregon. Not even if you include Florida. It is likely that the only way she can claim a lead in the popular vote is to count her votes in Michigan where Obama was not on the ballot. She may not make it even with that.

It is highly possible that we will know the outcome by late May. We will know the outcome before the convention.

not on the ballot in Michigan? The agreement was not to campaign, wasn't it? I don't think anyone said not to place their names on the ballot.

Haven't they been circling since Iowa?

The Obama camp seems to be dialing back on the Dump Hillary drumbeat. Maybe it's pissing off her supporters and generating some donations. He is hitting PA pretty hard of late, which is the right strategy. If he can get close to beating her there, he might be able to put it away.

The other thing that could put her away is a sudden slide of supers his way. But the national polls seem to be tight again (that 12-point thing was an outlier), so the supers may hold their fire a bit longer.

Hi, LaurieAnnM. You are quite right and the math does NOT show it is impossible for Clinton to win. However, it will require her to win a lot of the remaining primaries with much larger margins than she has done to date and/or to win a very substantial majority of the uncomitted superdelegates.

The problem with that is neither candidate has shown the ability to "blow away" the other so far in this campaign, whether they have momentum or otherwise. The most likely scenario is that they will more or less split the remaining pledged and superdelegates between them, which favors Obama.

"Most likely" is not the same thing as a certainty, however. This is just a very close race that is very evenly split. For Dems not to be hurt by the outcome in the fall, two things will have to happen. First, the losing candidate, whoever it is, must be allowed to bow out with as much dignity and grace as possible. Second, the Florida and Michigan delegations must be seated at the convention and if no way is found to assign delegates based on the results of their January primaries or re-votes, then every courtesy and effort must be made to make them feel part of the process.

The rest is just partisan posturing.

Hi Bell. I fully expect the losing candidate to not only gracefully exit, but to implore his or her supporters to vote for the winner. Whether the supporters go along with that will be determined by how earnestly the loser makes the case for the winner. Regardless, this is going to be a tough sell. But it can be done. Not everyone agrees, but I think they are both up to it.

The hardest thing for Democrats to do is get people registered to vote. Democrats lose elections in part because a lot of people who would vote Democrat don't register. Young people in particular and people who move around a lot. This primary season has been racking up new registrations in record numbers. Now, if they can just be encouraged to support whomever is eventually selected. That's the next problem as - unlike Republicans - Democrats don't seem to know how to hold their noses.

Obama is not going to win PA, and it doesn't look like Hillary is going to clobber him so I don't see this being over at least until late May. That will still encourage registration in states like Oregon. If Obama gets the nod, he's going to need Oregon.