That's about the most intelligent thing I've heard all evening.

How sweet would it be if we could shut up all those right wing talking heads that are crowing about how long and bloody this campaign is for the Democrats?  Right now we've got two great candidates that are energizing areas that are traditionally red, and it would be amazing if the primary that is talked about as one that is destroying the Democrats is actually building an unstoppable powerhouse of a base throughout the country?

Here's hoping!

As a Michigan Democrat, I can't help but think that this is the real tragedy of the Michigan/Florida debacle. Right or wrong, all of the delegate seating and whatnot will be resolved eventually, and everyone will go home with a compromise they can tolerate.

But because of my state's stupid power play, we missed out on two major Democratic campaigns coming in and registering voters and getting people excited about Democrats. Michigan and Florida between them have half a dozen competitive House races and another three or four that are on the edge of competitive. The kind of party building we're seeing in Pennsylvania and elsewhere could have been enough to tip them all to us. Now, we're going to have to work that much harder in the fall, when the Democratic nominee is busy campaigning elsewhere.

Dammit, I want party building! I want millions of dollars to be spent on us, too! But no, Jennifer Granholm and Mark Brewer and the Republicans in the legislature prevented that.

Stupid. So, so stupid. I don't care about delegates. Party building is why I'm jealous of the rest of the country.

SoS says 8.6% Clinton lead with 98.8 % counted.

So Hillary gains about 15 delegates and 200K votes on Obama tonight -- which he will regain NC in two weeks.

This was an astute comment by Brian Williams. And it's something I've been saying for a few weeks now: The continued primary fight between Hillary and Obama is, overall, having a positive effect in these states.

It's why I don't feel a strong need to short-circuit the process. And the only way my opinion on that would shift is if we suddenly saw the general election polls vs. McCain seriously sliding. (They've slid a little bit since McCain became the Republican nominee, but not meaningfully so.)

In the long run, though, I don't think this is good news for Hillary. The results coming out Pennsylvania only make it even more impossible for her to overcome Obama's edge in pledged delegates or the popular vote. And if she can't do that, then all her arguments about electability and experience mean absolutely nothing. The superdelegates are going to look at all the people brought into the Democratic party and all the first-time voters brought into the process by this primary and they're going to say, "Do we really want to tell these people, 'Hey, you got involved. You cast your vote. You wanted to make a difference. But at the end of the day, this thing is going to be decided by a bunch of suits in a back room.'?"

I don't think they will. Because ultimately it doesn't matter that that's a perfectly legitimate outcome under the rules of the election. The only thing that will matter is that all those new voters will say, "Fuck it. The system is stacked against me. I can't make a difference. My vote is irrelevant." And then they'll stay home in November.

Or maybe they won't. But it won't matter because the perception will be that they might, and the superdelegates will break in the direction that makes it most likely that those new voters will come to the polls in November and not only help the Democratic nominee for President win... but also help a lot of those superdelegates out in their own races.

The last 1% of the vote is pivotal if anybody is paying attention.  If Obama wins it 60-40 (as he won the last 1% to report) the race goes back to 54-46.

I seriously don't think we can count on this no matter who gets nominated. If the GOP primary were still being contested and the Dem one was all wrapped up, how many PA folks would vote in that primary on the GOP side? Doesn't mean they'd vote for either one in the general election, but they want to pick the one they either find least offensive or think would be easiest to beat.

and it's double digits.

Amen
In Indiana, we have huge numbers of new Dem voters.  Dem voters will outnumber GOP primary voters for the first time in years.  PLUS we will finally be able to identify our Dem voters because of the contested primary.  We have open primaries, and even some strong Dems will vote in the GOP primary for contested Judge races or other local races.  

PLUS Indiana has this Voter ID law (the modern equivalent of the unconstitutional poll tax).  The contested primary means that voters have time to fix their ID problems before the general election.  People denied the vote can get angry at the Republicans for taking away their vote.  This process is a huge win for Indiana.