Mitt Romney: "We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough"

Worst victory quote EVER! All of the remaining GOP candidates (and, frankly, the departed ones) are so horrible, I really don't care at this point. But Mitt Romney won Michigan and Arizona. Whoop-de-do. Wake me when Newt Gingrich's billionaire, Sheldon Adelson, stops giving him money, and this gets down to a two-man race, with crazy Ron Paul on the fringe.

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Presidential Primary Primer

I'm double-dipping into the MSNBC videos, because I thought this clip was pretty interesting. I already ran a recap video of the Democratic Primaries, but this one is more clever than that, and includes Republicans too. If you're a political junkie like me, you've seen all of this--but forgotten a lot of it. If you're only now starting to pay attention, this might get you up to speed.

Hillary Clinton Wins Puerto Rico, What Now?

Photo from source, Globe and Mail

There is something that happens in each Presidential primary, every time. The candidates lie to us, and we let them get away with it. As the curtain begins to close on a candidate, they issue strong statements that they are "in it to win it," or are "going all the way to the convention!" And usually, a week or even a day later they "suspend" their campaign. Mike Huckabee did it, John Edwards did it. They all do it.

But what does it mean when Hillary Clinton says it? If (my favorite pundit) Rachel Maddow is to be believed, Clinton--in this case at least--isn't lying. She means to keep the campaign going, by sheer force of will and truthiness. For once, I hope she's lying. Stop the primaries, I want to get off!

[Excerpt]

Clinton scores a victory, but defeat draws near

Hillary Clinton picked up delegates in both Puerto Rico and Washington during the weekend, but too few, leaving her advisers warning that the New York senator was prepared to carry her fight for the presidential nomination to the Democratic National Convention.

Odds are, however, the threat is mere bluster. This race could be over as early as this week, provided 200 or so dithering superdelegates finally make up their minds. . .

Read more at: Globe and Mail

NBC Numbers Guy Chuck Todd on End of Primaries

Political pundits are everywhere, all the time these days, pontificating and predicting--and are very often wrong. One person, NBC "Numbers Guy," Chuck Todd is more accurate than most. He has an interesting take on what the next two days--and the end of the primary process--hold in store.

A Note on the Democratic Primary Process

There is an issue that is not being addressed by any of the spokespeople for the Democratic Party, Barack Obama's campaign and Hillary Clinton's campaign. Much is said about "count every vote," and people on both sides talk about what is or isn't fair. The contentious battle yesterday to seat Michigan's and Florida's delegates (despite the fact that both states broke party rules), aired a lot of spurious and facetious verbiage about democracy, and the voting process that does not apply to party nominations.

Like it or not, we have only two major political parties in this country. So the primary process feels like it should be 100% democratic, one-man-one-vote. But that isn't the case. The parties are essentially clubs--they are not mentioned in the Constitution at all--who have the right to determine their own rules for selecting a candidate. And they do. That is why the Republicans and the Democrats can have different rules.

Now, the Democratic National Committee has a set of established rules that all Presidential candidates were aware of, going in. When Michigan and Florida broke the rules--whatever the reason was--the party was in its full rights to admonish and punish them. It wasn't necessary to seat delegates from either state, but yesterday was an attempt to do so.

For all of the cranky-pants out there still kvetching about the way it was settled, and who don't like the present nominating process, start now to work to change it. But not for this election, for the next one. You've got four years to work to fix it. Stop complaining and do something.