Monday, June 02, 2008

The popular vote

So... I saw this on MSNBC yesterday and Rachel Maddow has it on her blog today: the problem with Hillary's math that has her winning the popular vote is how selective it is.

She includes Florida (fine by me).

She includes Michigan (with zero votes for Obama). The DNC has told news organizations that they should not include Michigan in their counts.

She includes Puerto Rico (again, fine by me).

But inexplicably she leaves out Guam, the Virgin Islands, Democrats Abroad, Washington state, and Maine. Hillary and Obama tied in Clinton; Obama won the other four by wide margins.

What gives?

UPDATE

I just checked Hillary's website which has a link to Real Clear Politics' popular vote count. They seem to include all of the contests above and do have a few scenarios in which Hillary is head. All of them count Michigan, giving Hillary 328,309 votes and Obama none.

The count that includes every contest and gives Obama the 238,168 votes cast for "uncommitted" in Michigan has him leading by 44,667 votes, out of almost 36 million that have been cast.

Such a close race.

But not quite as close by the metric that matters: delegates.

The Washington Post's FactChecker weighs in as well.

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