The Surprising Facets of Last Night’s Unsurprising Obama Victory
As you probably already know, but perhaps haven’t been much thinking about, Barack Obama won the Mississippi primary last night. It was a big win, something like 60 percent to 37 percent. Clinton didn’t make much of an effort in the state, so she probably didn’t take the loss too hard — for a woman who claims to want to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations so that every Democratic voter can feel like he’s been listened to, she’s certainly been ignoring a large amount of them. But the exit-poll numbers indicate a few surprises. For one thing, Hillary Clinton received the lion’s share of crossover votes (Republican voters who vote in the Democratic primary), which is a first — every other time crossover voting has been included, Obama has trumped her with this group. But this time, Hillary took them 3 to 1. Obama took 90 percent of the black vote, and Hillary did better than usual with the white vote, which Politico’s Ben Smith chalks up to the attitudes of southern white voters. And finally, Obama won either five or seven delegates more than Hillary did last night, depending on who is counting. This effectively erases any ground she may have gained after her big wins last Tuesday.
We will now return to our round-the-clock Eliot Spitzer hookapalooza coverage.
Mississippi Crossovers [Talking Points Memo]
Mississippi Delegates [Politico]
The Magnolia State Stats [Stumper/Newsweek]
Obama Wins In Mississippi [NYT]
the morning line
Remembering 587
• A new memorial to American 587’s crash, the second-deadliest air disaster in U.S. history, was dedicated Sunday in Belle Harbor. It’s a curved granite wall with the victims’ names and a line from a poem in Spanish (most of the 265 victims were Dominicans heading to Santo Domingo). On the crash site itself, residential construction is in full swing. [NYT]
• If you lived through the transit strike last year, you kind of hated union boss Roger Toussaint. And that was before you knew he had a secret deal with the MTA while the strike was still going on, as the Daily News reveals today. What a guy. [NYDN]
• A high-powered Manhattan lawyer was found dead near his abandoned BMW in an upstate bird sanctuary — an apparent suicide; the man was out on $225,000 bail on a rape charge he vehemently denied. [NYP]
• The flap over Charlie Rangel’s already-infamous “Who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?” continues, with local newspapers there alternately asking the feisty congressman to come visit their fair state and heaving invective on New York. [Gotham Gazette]
• And what’s the Post’s headline of the day? There are plenty of contenders, from “Mick Jagger Rocks On in Grief” to “Bearied!” but we’ll go with Egg Foo Gun, about a handgun smuggled into a hospital in a Chinese-food carton. Well done, Post. [NYP]
the morning line
Body Parts
• Somebody cut off and stole George Washington’s head. A statue of the first president now stands nogginless at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, with a dollar bill proffered as a mocking replacement. Suspects include leftover British royalists, Republicans driven mad by post-election grief, and, of course, adorable scamps from the nearby Columbia campus. [NYP]
• A city doctor is gearing up to do a uterus transplant, the country’s first (Saudi doctors did it once in 2000). Prospective recipients are being vetted right now. The transplant is meant to be temporary and last only through a pregnancy — still an ambitious goal. [NYDN]
• The Democratic majority has its first scandal! Harlem’s own Charlie Rangel is apologizing to Mississippi for a little zinger he unleashed on it yesterday. The exact phrasing, to refresh your memory, was “Who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?” Apparently some people do, and some of those, like Representative Chip Pickering (R-Miss., natch), are issuing angry press releases. [amNY]
• If you see something, say something: A black duffel casually dropped on Bensonhurst’s busy Shore Parkway has revealed an intact human body. The Times story is priceless for the colorful locals’ la-di-da reaction, which includes the phrase “This has always been a popular area for dumping bodies.” [NYT]
• And, let’s just get this over with: The taxi fare hike is kicking in a full month sooner than expected, on November 30. Under new rules, the riders will pay the same rate for slow or stopped traffic as they do when the cab actually, you know, is taking them somewhere. [WNBC]
in other news
Dem Congress Is New York’s Gain — and Mississippi’s Loss?
If we accept that essentially everyone in New York City is a Democrat, then Tuesday was unquestionably a good day for New York. And if we accept that the Democratic party — based on the coasts, with liberalish sensibilities and an urban base — likes New York more than the Republicans do, having the Democrats in control of Congress is also unquestionably good for New York. But as metro political ace Pat Healy points out in today’s Times, in even the most practical and concrete of terms, the Democratic ascension on Capitol Hill is a very, very good thing for New York. How so?
