BREAKING NEWS: Hillary Clinton to win Puerto Rico primary

CNN has just called the Puerto Rico primary for Hillary Clinton, which must be a bittersweet (though anticipated) victory for her just a day after the Democratic National Committee's rules folks shut off one of her few remaining hopes to rack up delegates.

The Puerto Rico primary is an odd duck -- the votes count for sending delegates to the Democratic National Convention, but the territory does not have a voice in the electoral college vote in the November election.  So her argument that she can win in crucial swing states doesn't get any oomph with Saturday's vote.

Next up: Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday, which seem to be poised to break for Obama.  So what does that mean?  Look for a flood of uncommitted SuperDs to hop off the fence Tuesday night or Wednesday.  And at that point, Clinton will have all the data she needs to figure out whether she can squeak through or decide for the sake of the party to read the handwriting on the wall.  Or she can follow the "third way" and fan the flames of the intraparty passions, though it's hard to see that would gain her anything except enmity.

So what do you figure Wednesday's story line will be?  Clinton upsets the political table?  Superdelegates give Obama the nomination?  Clinton vows a floor fight?  Gotta love the drama.

-- Scott Martelle

Comments

[Puerto Rico Primary]

So sad.

Hopefully Puerto Ricans don't forget all those promises lady Clinton made- whether or not she's elected commander in chief.

[Michael Cowan]

Hillary Supporters .. Vote McCain ’08 !
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Obama, the Media and the Democratic Party have stolen the nomination from Hillary. So now we punish them! Vote McCain ’08 and Hillary in ‘12
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Obama will be a mediocre president, but he might trick Americans into thinking he is doing an OK job and elect him for 2 terms. McCain on the other hand is going to fail on such a grand scale that the Republican Party will be shattered for years to come.
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Now I know the media is saying how bad America is and people are saying we can not survive 4 more republican years. This is another lie. The Economy has been sliding, true, but for many Americans it’s not that bad. NAFTA is a great example, Hillary has pointed out that it has been good for parts of the country. It simply needs to be tweaked and she can do that in 2012!
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Healthcare is another example of media hysteria. National Healthcare is on the top of her agenda. But make no mistake, her position is clear. America will have a true Universal Healthcare plan or none at all.
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When the Clintons were first in the white house, they made it clear that this issue is important enough not to compromise on. The killed a previous democratic healthcare plan because it allowed people to opt out.
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If Obama is elected he will create a Healthcare plan that is not truly universal. It will help a lot of Americans (maybe), but not all Americans. Then it will be much harder for Hillary to overturn it to get us the right plan in. So 4 more years of no healthcare is a small price to pay to get a good chance at a true universal Healthcare plan in 2012.
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As for Iraq. Lets be blunt. The troops there volunteered. This is their job and most of them supported Bush. In any case, the pain America will feel from the cost of 4 more years of war will be the fault of Obama, the media and the Democratic Party.
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McCain is going to do a horrible job as President. He is going to tank the economy and muddle up Iraq. But America is a fighter, and with Hillary’s experience and wisdom she will be the one to start repairing the damage in 2012.
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We lasted 8 years, we can tough it out for 4 more years. After McCain gets done with America, the people will be begging for a new leader. And that leader will be Hillary in 2012!

[Priya]

I'm not sure how much the people of Puerto Rico voted for Hillary Clinton. I believe they cast a vote for the legacy of her husband. There isn't much more to her carrying this island beyond a free ride from the love they have of a former president whose name she shares...It's sad to see a woman's ambition for the POTUS riding upon the legacy of her husband. I almost feel sorry for somebody who wins like this.

[Brad]

Go Hillary! These are the kind of big states she will win in November!

Please. This primary is about as relevant as Obama having won in Guam. Tick tick tick, buzz. Race is now over.

[Wendy Hollis]

I think it all well and having all this hoopla about a presidential candidate, but the real problems which this country has to fix lie far beyond their abilities. I am talking about the DEATH of the middle class in America. As long as the government sees fit to reward it's elected members with perks rather than look out for the well being of the people who elected them the middle class will continue to disappear, whoever is the president!. When was the last time the TAFT-HARTLEY law was invoked! When was the last time the tariffs were imposed to PROTECT AMERICAN Goods and American Workers? It is all about cheap now at the expense of the middle class of this country. Why don't we just give the country to China and be done with it. We CAN DO WITHOUT THEIR GOODS AND RELY ON OUR OWN IF WE ARE WILLING TO BUY AMERICAN ONLY. The only people getting rich are the CEOs and the owners.

[some dude]

Barack Obama is losing his way into the Democratic nomination. The Dem's leadship should be very nervous about a candidate going in weak like Barack. Rallying around the presumptive nominee is pure B.S. Obama's followers and camp has created so much animosity in the Democratic side with their Chicago political thuggery that many Dems will stay at home or vote McCain in Nov'08.

[Bill]

It is now time to start the healing process. Hillary had a successful campaign in P.R.

It is now time to focus on extricating the Republicans from the White House. We can no longer endure their failed policies.

Obama 08

[Daniel K]

"Obama, the Media and the Democratic Party have stolen the nomination from Hillary"

Really? Stolen? Must be some vast Left Wing Conspiracy.

Americans have had enough of the Clinton's proclivity to see conspiracies against them at every turn. It is time they smelled the roses and recognized a new generation has been chosen to lead this nation to a better future not based on "what this country can do for me", but based on "what I can do for this country".

[Artemis]

Michael Cowan,

Congratulations on one of the most twisted, illogical, and fascinatingly self-serving posts I've read yet today.

I tell you what, you vote for McCain but do so quietly. If Hillary and her supporters engineered a McCain victory, how many loyal Democrats do you think she'll win over in 2012?

[Leah in Iowa]

me as a Hillary supporter vote for McCain? absolutely not!! 4 more years of this crap? are you insane? The bottom line is I want change. Hillary represented everything I wanted and it is darn unfortunate that she is losing,,,,,so far. If she doesn't get nominated she will still be on the ballot come November or did they change it so we only have 2 choices in November? It is so sad to see what our country has become on every level. Why haven't the people of the US ousted Bush long ago? Because we are really not the ones in charge,,,the congress and the ones with money in their hands is. No, I wont vote McCain because 4 more years is is not something I want to endure. Our country cannot get farther in the dispair it is in and 4 more years of it is unfathomable. I can only pray for a miracle for Hillary's campaign....every day.

[Chuck B.]

"As for Iraq. Lets be blunt. The troops there volunteered. This is their job and most of them supported Bush. In any case, the pain America will feel from the cost of 4 more years of war will be the fault of Obama, the media and the Democratic Party." Yes, right, sure. Screw the troops. There's an inspirational campaign slogan.

"McCain is going to do a horrible job as President. He is going to tank the economy and muddle up Iraq. But America is a fighter, and with Hillary’s experience and wisdom she will be the one to start repairing the damage in 2012."

Yes, oh yes! Let's do damage to the country so that maybe, just maybe, the candidate that we like can get nominated and elected! For heaven's sake, Michael Cowan is enough of a blathering doofus to make me think that maybe he's not really a Clinton supporter, but a plant from one of the other campaigns.

[Carl]

The people of Puerto Rico didn't vote for Bill. They are voting against the black racists on the back of Obama. So sad that the media and so many far lefties refuse to admit the whole Obama campaign is based on black racism.

[Micheal Cowan]

After thinking about it, I realized my comments were stupid. Why would someone with a half a brain vote for McCain. I am going to continue to vote democratic because I am smarter than that.

I'll try not to be so emotional next time. Sometimes logic takes a little longer to kick in.

[Larry B.]

Michael Cowan seems to be part of the same menopausal/hot flash group who seems to think they are entitled to something rather than being chosen. Their "voice" is more important (along with their pomp and circumstance) than others. If these delirious people choose to use a vote for spite - then go ahead. Not much of a patriot in my book, just another embittered whiner.

[Caroline Ford]

Michael Cowan tells you a lot about some of the Hillary fanatics. He would rather vote for McCain than Obama? Little separates Clinton and Obama in terms of policies, though she is a politician and promise anything to win, and she voted for the war in Iraq. Puerto Ricans are rather foolishly misled. It is also significant that the least educated in this country support Hillary Clinton. I think that we should send Michael Cowan to Iraq for the next four years while he is waiting it out, but I have news for him. The country is thoroughly sick of Billary. She is not coming back and will lose New York the next time around.

[Stewart Carey]

On Michael Cowen's "vote McCain "08":
Michael's opinion sounds and reads to me that this election is all about Sen. Clinton and not our country. Mr. Cowen, are you not seeing that it's not about Hillary Clinton's experience and/or lack of it, it is about her recently adopted Republican and Rovian tactics. The problem for her as I see it is timing. We all are sick and tired of the idea that winning, at all costs, is the goal. * yrs of that has almost ruined our country.And what about spin? According to Sen. Clinton, she is winning the popular vote (including no votes for Obama in Michigan)? Don't be rediculous. That kind of spin is right out of Rove's playbook. Hillary is proud of the fact she uses his numbers. She even quotes him for her good. Yes, Michael, we want more of THAT. Stewart Carey

[MG]

I have been reading the insults, sexually derogatory comments regarding specific female anatomy, & deplorable ageist posts, anti-white and anti-Jewish expressions from Obama supporters and from former Clinton supporters.

Amazingly, these remarks have been published on these pages by latimes.com

It is for the above reasons I am changing my vote to McCain should Ms. Clinton lose in the superdelegate count at the Dem Convention.

I do not think that persons with rabid views such as expressed here are fit to run the country.

[08vote]

ATTENTION CLINTON VOTERS THREATENING (IF NOT MORE THAN WILLING TO VOTE FOR MCCAIN IN NOVEMBER): LOS ANGELES TIMES ALSO NEEDS TO VET this posting I read from a viewer's comments: "I see many Clinton supporters blaming Obama supporters for not voting for Obama. Have you forgotten that the Republican Party is essentially a men's club? Have you forgotten that McCain's temper made him call his own wife the C-word in public? McCain while in the Navy had a reputation as soliciting prostitutes in every port. He has a horrible record in voting for woman's rights and issues. Decide what you will but don't make McCain out to be a champion for woman when his whole career showed he was not"

In the meantime, some light scrutiny from the Los Angeles Times online: "When John McCain arrived in the Valley of the Sun nearly three decades ago, he was weighed down with enough negatives to sink most budding politicians. Some Arizonans dismissed him as a carpetbagger shopping for an available House seat -- and a future in Washington politics. Others were annoyed that he had left the wife who waited valiantly for his return from a Hanoi prison, and that he had then married a much younger bride. His political opponents derided his marriage into Arizona's Hensley beer distributor fortune as a "money-in-law" arrangement to boost his campaign coffers."

[OYLer]

Politics of Deception

The politics of deception by the "good ole' boys" is at an end. Double "U" has lied one too many times. Darth 'Tricky Dick' -shotgun in your face- Cheney have nowhere to hide and the best of the worst Grandpa Mc_Cain just isn't able.

The Democrats are a sorry lot of reactive disorganized political tacticians who've, once again, been outmaneuvered by better GOP strategist but the gig is up for Republican elite because of:

1) subprime fiasco and economic downturn as the result of none attention to domestic regulation because of stupid unnecessary war;
2) our military’s disarray, horrific military injury & loss of life because of stupid war;
3) huge national dept and frightful ongoing deficit because of hideously expensive and needless war;
4) free ride given Big Business, especially Big Oil ($5.00 a gallon gas) to facilitate the prosecution of a stupid and needless war;
5) extreme loss of American foreign world standing because of reactionary knee-jerk policies
6) rats like Scott McClellan are coming out of the woodwork and telling the truth.

[Raj]

Hi Priya,

She is not riding on his coattails only. You don't get to be Senator and almost elected to be the Democratic Candidate, just on a name. She has gone through the grueling Primaries, often fighting back, against Media and the Kennedys and many other Democratic Party Biggies, and the Sexism painted all over. That is not for the faint-hearted. So don't consider her riding on her husband's name.

Too bad you as a woman do not understand this. I guess your family kept you dim-witted, without any self-confidence, but not all women are like that.

[Dude]

"Hillary supporters" who are Democrats, or who care about this country, would probably be better off to vote for Obama, who essentially shares the same positions on most issues.

There is no real need to "punish" Obama's supporters ("Us") by electing the worse candidate. McCain = war, debt, oppression. We've had a good 8 years of that stuff.

Hillary lost the nomination because Obama ran a better campaign. If the mainstream media has been biased, it has been biased in favor of Clinton. Think of Wolf Blitzer in the debate on CNN - the Clinton News Network.

Don't blame the media, scum that they are. Their interests are corporate interests, they will be biased for McSame.

[Andrew Huff]

Are You Angry ? I hope so. Any Democrat who is angry that Hillary will not prevail should be reminded that Obama
won it fair and square and should be supported in November. This nation can not prevail with McCain in office. We need immediate correction with the direction this country is going. Most Democrats realized that Hillary would not be much of a change and so new Democrats turned out to support the candidate of change and this force will sweep the Republicans out in force all across the country. That is why many long term Republican
incumbents chose not to run in the fall and those that did run, failed miserably. To vote for McCain just because your candidate didn't win is just plain cutting off your nose to spite your face ! Please wake up and realize
that we are in very serious trouble now and can't wait until 2012 ! Sweep the idiots out now !

[annie]

if obamanuco win the nomination ..BYE BYE DEMOCRATIC PARTY ..MAC WILL BE ..ME AND MY BIG FAMILY CHOICE IN NOVEMBER

[Dude]

"I have been reading the insults, sexually derogatory comments regarding specific female anatomy, & deplorable ageist posts, anti-white and anti-Jewish expressions from Obama supporters and from former Clinton supporters."

You know, you don't really know who anyone is on the Internet. I have to assume the offensive posts are most likely from Republicans or other mentally ill people just trying to keep the fighting stirred up.

"On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog."

[Mark]

I don't think Clinton supporters need to vote for McCain. I think Obama will lose big on his own merits. So, the "Vote for McCain" effort on the part of Hillary supporters is misguided.

Obama will probably negotiate with Clinton only a cabinet seat, not a VP spot. She will reject such a deal, because it amounts to nothing after November. Then Obama loses a landslide to McCain in November. Then, in 2012, Clinton is well positioned. "You Democrats tried to force me out in 2008, but I knew Obama would be no messiah and I tried to tell you. I lost -- but I was no quitter."