Remember Clinton won the Texas primary? Turns out, she didn't. Obama did

Remember how Hillary Clinton claimed a victory in the Texas primary a few weeks ago?  And that public impression, combined with her big win in Ohio, fueled donations and kept the New York senator in the Democratic presidential nomination race?  And now she's vowing to fight on right through to the convention in late August?

Well, Barack Obama supporters want people to return and reopen the Texas record book, now that the combined results of the primary and last weekend's caucuses show the Illinois senator actually ended up winning the most delegates in Texas -- by an Associated Press count of 99 to 94.

The final tally follows the completion of caucus results in the primary-caucus Texas two-step.

"It appears the Clinton campaign declared victory at half time," said Rep. Chet Edwards, a Texas Democrat who helpfully reminds that "first downs" don't count in the score of a football game.

"I do believe people left Texas prematurely, as far as the media," said Rep. Charlie Gonzales, another Texas Democrat and Obama supporter who joined Edwards for a conversation with reporters this afternoon.

There was a strict norm of politeness being observed during the conference call, as the Obama supporters argued their guy should be the party nominee without explicitly suggesting that Clinton ought to get out of the race.

It was the same line Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota walked yesterday, as she endorsed Obama while studiously avoiding any negative talk of Clinton -- especially anything that looked like a call for her to get out of the game.

Still, Edwards was direct in his Clinton critique. "I think in some ways," he said, "Hillary Clinton would unify Republicans in a way that John McCain cannot."

-- Christi Parsons

Christi Parsons writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau.

Comments

[Tahler]

No, Obama won a chaotic caucus and there were hundreds of voting irregularities and Obama supporters TAKING OVER the caucuses. I was there. It was CRAZY!

HILLARY WON TEXAS!

[jangel]

Tahler,

Yeah, yeah, big conspiracy an' all that. Sounds like sour grapes to me.

[C Shaw]

NO, BARACK WON TEXAS Tahler!

[Chic Observer]

It look and smell like the Obama "money and twist season" has started again - spent, spent, spent (monies rolled in from Obama smooth speeches) on all sort of campaign ads., it's sure that NYT, CNN, MSNBC, WSJ etc. will write and twist whatever they can to please Obama and his supporters. Wake up Democrats, Obama is unelectable because the Republican strategists will make sure that every details of Pastor Wright speeches for the past 20 years, and every details in Rezko/Obama transactions will be aired in Youtube etc. Just wait for it if Obama is nminated.

[N.E. BodybutHillary]

That makes this a Clinton accomplishment which only occured in the delusional fantasy world of Hillary's inflated view of self significance. Good thing that has never happened before.

[Billaryous Failure]

The now-retired general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, who supervised Hillary when she worked on the Watergate investigation, says Hillary’s history of lies and unethical behavior goes back farther – and goes much deeper – than anyone realizes.

Jerry Zeifman, a lifelong Democrat, supervised the work of 27-year-old Hillary Rodham on the committee. Hillary got a job working on the investigation at the behest of her former law professor, Burke Marshall, who was also Sen. Ted Kennedy’s chief counsel in the Chappaquiddick affair. When the investigation was over, Zeifman fired Hillary from the committee staff and refused to give her a letter of recommendation – one of only three people who earned that dubious distinction in Zeifman’s 17-year career.

Why?

“Because she was a liar,” Zeifman said in an interview last week. “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.”

[Goldwater]

Hillary is returning to her republician roots?

While being raised in a politically conservative household, she helped canvass South Side Chicago following the very close 1960 U.S. presidential election, finding evidence of electoral fraud against Republican candidate Richard Nixon, and volunteered for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the U.S. presidential election of 1964.

Her early political development was shaped most strongly by her energizing high school history teacher, who got her to read Goldwater's classic The Conscience of a Conservative and who was, like her father, a fervent anti-communist.

In 1965, Rodham enrolled in Wellesley College, where she majored in political science. She served as president of the Rockefeller Republican-oriented Wellesley "Young Republicans" organization during her freshman year and with them supported the elections of John Lindsay and Edward Brooke.

[rick]

How come whenever Hillary loses, it's a big conspiracy? Maybe she's just a loser.

[hrao]

I think caucuses are biased and if Obama won them there needs to be a recount since he provides money to super delegates? He is a liar and a machiavellian - and he will lose in Nove.

[jeff P]

Whatever happened, it is again clear that Obama ran a better, more well-organized campaign in Texas than Hillary did. For all of her boasting about experience, she appears to have little that pertains to this campaign. That is why she is losing, and that is why she will lose.

[William Campbell]

Th Obama folks like to critize the super delegate rules and say the voters should make choice . Then they think it is wonderful when they steal Texas in the back room and lobby to keep Florida vote from counting. Who are they trying to fool?

[Ed]

The Obama Democrats here proved to be Clinton haters just like those young college students asking Chelsea about Monica. So, if Obama wins, can you win the General Election without Hillary Democrats? You continue bashing Hillary and you will see the repercussions, rebirth of another downfall like John Kerry. NY, NJ, CA, FL, OH, TN & AK will go for McSame if there will be no peace in this party. Obama is pure ambition, no distinct achievement in the Senate but giving speeches. Obama will be the President for only for the Blacks and College Students who are moved by good speeches. It is deeds, performance not speeches.

[SusieH]

Ed says: "Obama will be the President for only for the Blacks and College Students who are moved by good speeches."

This only confirms my thought that the MAIN reason any Democrat is such a fanatical Hillary supporter is because they really can't stand the idea of a BLACK President. Shame, shame, shame!!! Get out of our party!!

[Connor]

I think everyone should step back from the hysteria, take a deep breath, and ask themselves:

What has Obama done? Seriously?

He can boast his better judgment concerning the Iraq War (about how he didn't support it from the beginning) but all John McCain has to say is, "Hey buddy, you were in the Illinois State Senate, your opinion didn't matter." Case Closed.

[kiki]

My husband and I sttended the Texas caucuses in Austin and my Houstonian sister was a precinct chair, a caucus chair, attended the county convention and will attend the state convention. Our stepsister and her husband attended the caucuses in Dallas. My son's kindergarten teacher attended her caucus on the other side of Austin.

There were no irregularities that anyone saw. All reports that I heard from others were that they were confusing and scattered but everyone worked together to deal with an incredibly increased number of caucus-goers. (My precinct went from 30-40 people in a given year to 782 in March!)

In fact, the results were so textbook, it is laughable to say that Obama campaigners "stole" votes. How does that explain that he won every major city, including surrounding suburbs, by such similar margins? There is no way that could have been so perfectly planned, it is just demographics: Clinton won the smaller counties, Obama won the cities. The margins were consistent for both candidates through the state.

Ultimately, he won more delegates. Period.

And the Clinton supporters who point to her higher popular vote? Reportedly, 10% of her votes came from Republican cross-over votes, which would have brought her down to a tie.

Either way, it was a close battle but Obama had a better campaign. I don't see his supporters constantly whining when he loses a state: they just figure out what went wrong and move on.

[Patricia]

Let the chips fall where they may. It's time to make a change and God, and Barack Obama are the one's that can do it. Our children are dying, and so are the people in this country who work everyday to survive. Look around you and tell me what you see! A country that has been taken over by democracy and greed.

Help it all make sense Lord!