Senator Hillary Clinton insists at every turn that she is "winning" the popular vote. In fact, she insists she has received more votes than any other candidate for the Democratic nomination for president ever!
Here is the quote:
"We're winning the popular vote. And I'm more determined than ever to see that every vote is cast and every ballot counted," she said. "More people have voted for me than anyone who's ever run for the Democratic nomination."
And the source.
So, why I am so angry? Why can't I just relax and accept the will of the voters?
Because Hillary Clinton is disenfranchising me!
I live in Maine. This is one of the four states (the other three being Iowa, Washington, and Nevada) that Hillary and her surrogates do not count in their "popular vote" tallies. So while Hillary fights passionately to make sure "every ballot is counted," she couldn't give a shit about mine. Or your vote Washington. Or your vote Nevada. Or your vote Iowa.
The ostensible reason is that these states held caucuses that did not report the exact number of voters. Instead they reported the number of delegates won by each candidate in each town. Overall, Obama won approximately 60% of the delegates to the state convention or 15 out of 24 national delegates. So based on that delegate allocation let's make a couple of quick mathematical calculations:
1.3 million population -21.3% under 18 = 1.023 million
1.023 million x 32% Registered Democrats = 327,000
Let's say 50% of registered Democrats voted in the caucus. I think this is conservative. People were pretty excited here as they were everywhere.
So 327,000 x 50% turnout = 163,500 voters in the Maine Caucus.
60% for Obama = 98,100
40% for Clinton = 65,400
Obama nets 32,700
Small potatoes? Maybe. But REAL potatoes damnit! Real people. Men. Women. Independents ("unenrolled" in Maine) who signed on as Democrats to vote for Obama (or Clinton). Real people who voted in a sanctioned DNC selection proces just like Nevada, Iowa, and Washington. Guess what? To Hillary Clinton YOU DO NOT COUNT! Michigan and Florida do!
Even if you accept the nonsense of counting a popular vote in a contest decided by delegates, you can't accept a popular vote tally that does not include ALL the voters. Voters like me. In Maine. Thanks Hillary. You have disenfranchised me.