You Guys.
Yeah, Hillary won a resounding win the other night. Congratulations to her and her team for finding their latest “firewall”. And look, no matter how you choose to provide context (possible, if not probable voter suppression, voting machine chicanery, or just plain unfavorable socio-economics and culture of a truly odd-duck state), Bernie got his (hopefully kosher) lunch handed to him. How should we react? Should we buy the hopeful meme served up by Hillary and the corporate mainstream media (MSM) that declares with smug certainty that this is it; the beginning of the end. Do we close our wallets and wait until so-called “super Tuesday” to see if Bernie still has it? Do we start looking for a condo in Costa Rica, certain of a Trump presidency, which as Mr. Spock will tell you, logically will require fleeing?
Yup, to all these things, both Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman say, “NO!” And while we say “no” to a lot of things… Invisible Woman says it more often, but that is another diary, and one quite frankly, you probably wouldn’t want to read… we are particularly adamant and ardent in our vociferous rejection of any of these courses of action. Why? Why, you ask? Because, my diary-reading friend, things look fine. The campaign is real, it is mighty and it is as groovy as gravy. And we ALL know how groovy gravy is.
The unflinching truth is things are as they should be. Essentially, what we have seen is this: Each candidate has kicked each other’s hindquarters on ground unfriendly to the other and there has been two virtual ties. Any attempt by either side to spin it in any other way is fiction so fantastical that they would make George R.R. Martin look like, well, me. In football parlance (Lordy, I miss it already), we have traded field goals and scored an easy touchdown apiece… and only 5 minutes have elapsed in the first quarter. Breathe easy. Go on, take a breath. Now take another. Still feeling queasy? Well, Mr. Fantastic may not be a doctor, but he is flexible enough to provide a remedy.
Check this out:
What we have here, O constant reader is a little document that yer pal Mr. Fantastic has whipped up to calm the nerves of any of us (*cough* Invisible Woman *cough-cough*) who might be feeling a bit unnerved, or who might be forgetting that there’s nothing Hillary likes doing more than playing a little loosey-goosey with the truthy. We are where we are on the calendar, and yes so-called “super-Tuesday looks like it may have some boons and banes for team Bernie, but my friends, I must ask you one question, and then share not one, but two wee thoughts.
Question: Why is Hillary, and her team so desperately attempting to say that it is going be ALL OVER by Mid-March? The answer is told by the numbers. In the middle of March Hillary should, and in fact WILL be ahead. She is attempting to, once again (yawn) weave that tired tapestry of inevitability she has been weaving for months. Team HRC is rolling those somewhat loaded dice, trying to convince the public and the MSM that her momentum generated mid-March will end the madness of the would-be revolution-in-waiting. And there won’t be denying that she WILL have a lead, probably 60-80 ELECTED/PLEDGED delegates (you, know… the ONLY ones that count until the convention!). If she is successful in mixing and serving this Kool-Aid, and if we all drink it, the rest of the race and the chart above goes straight to jail; perhaps one that was financed and built thanks to Bill and Hill back in the 90’s. Truth is, the primary schedule turns rather, to more, shall we say, Progressive territory thereafter. By the end of April, all things remaining equal relative to today, Bernie will be 150-250 ahead! And this leads to my first observation.
Observation 1: Hillary’s strength appears to be in states that the GOP will win in November.
I don’t care how far to the right Hillary marches or truly IS. She will not win in the South come November. It’s not going to happen. Galactus joining Weight-watchers (he’s a cosmic, planet-eating Titan…stay with me, Pilgrim!) is more of a possibility. Bernie’s strength is in places EVERY democrat HAS to win. Bernie has excitement and strength in these states. Hello down-ticket races.
Observation #2: We may be headed for…. (wait for it)… a brokered convention of our own.
According to my research, analysis and all-out rocking and rolling data, Bernie will head to the convention with almost 400 more ELECTED/PLEDGED delegates (you, know… the ONLY ones that count until the convention!) than will team Hillary. Sounds like a lot, but really, it’s less than 10% of the total ELECTED/PLEDGED delegates (you, know… the ONLY ones that count until the convention!). Quibble about my projections in a state here or there- but all things remaining equal, we will have more delegates going into the DNC, but likely not enough to win it outright. This means that surely, Super Delegates will have to decide between siding with the people who voted/caucused *OR* on what Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Hillary want. Exciting and daunting as hell, ain’t it? My guess is that the Democratic party will want a future and not a political civil war, and go with the voters/caucus-ers, but you never know.
So, what DO we do? Donate until moths fly out of you wallet when you open it. Call until you sound like a three pack-a-day smoker named Clem or Doreen from Alabama (Trump voters?). Knock on doors til yer knuckles bleed. Redouble your efforts…all of ‘em! We cannot count on outside events to turn events our way, constant reader. Things could change, sure. And they might. But we, for two, are not waiting for indictment, Elizabeth Warren’s endorsement, or alien attack to make things BETTER. Things are already GREAT. Let’s keep it that way.
The sky isn’t falling, my lovelies… it’s simply there, every day, reminding you to do something TODAY… EVERY DAY… for a brighter tomorrow. Go do it!