Crossposted from Our Republic
President Clinton, Governor Rendell, bloggers and the mainstream media have erroneously claimed that Clinton is less than 1 percent behind Sen. Obama in the popular vote. Here are the facts.
If you count Florida and Michigan, as the aforementioned individuals do, the difference in the popular vote would be less than 1%. However, the beauty contests which took place in Florida and Michigan do not - and will not - count. They are not included in the delegate totals and ought not be included in the popular vote. There are only two relevant figures when it comes to the popular vote: 2.6% and 3.0%.
Iowa, Maine, Nevada and Washington did not submit official popular vote numbers, so the media has not included them in their totals. Without these states, Obama leads Clinton 2.6% (49.5% to 46.9) in the popular vote. With these states, Real Clear Politics and others estimate that Obama's lead stands at 3.0% (49.6% to 46.6).
While Clinton and Rendell can be expected to skew the numbers in their favor, bloggers and members of the media ought to invest the necessary minute or two to get them right.