Biden Has A Great Night - Extends His Delegate Lead

Bernie Sanders needed a big night in the March 10th primaries. He didn't get it. The big night went to Joe Biden.

Biden started the night with wins in Mississippi, Missouri, and Michigan -- all by large margins. These states helped Biden to significantly increase his lead in delegates.

As I write this, Biden is also leading in Idaho, and trailing in North Dakota. In Washington, Biden and Sanders are nearly dead even. Regardless of who finally wins these three states, neither candidate will show a significant lead in delegates from them.

There are still about half of the states that have not yet held their primaries, but things are getting critical for Sanders. Another 500 or so delegates will be up for grabs on March 17th. If Sanders doesn't cut down Biden's delegate lead than, it will be hard to see a path for him to win the nomination.

Clinton Wins N. Jersey, N. Mexico, And S. Dakota

Five states held a primary Tuesday night, and one held a caucus. These were the last states to vote in this primary/caucus season. Only the District of Columbia is still to vote, and they will do that next week. Here are the results of the first five states to vote -- New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana. California polls closed very late, and I will address those results in another post.

NEW JERSEY PRIMARY
Clinton...............63%
Sanders...............37%

NEW MEXICO PRIMARY
Clinton...............52%
Sanders...............49%

SOUTH DAKOTA PRIMARY
Clinton...............51%
Sanders...............49%

NORTH DAKOTA CAUCUS
Clinton...............26%
Sanders...............64%

MONTANA PRIMARY
Clinton...............46%
Sanders...............49%

This was a very good night for Clinton. She won New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota, while Sanders won the only caucus. As I write this, Montana is too close to call with Sanders having a small lead. This outcome gives Clinton more than a hundred delegates over the 2383 needed for the nomination -- and that's before the California results come in (where she is assured of another 200 delegates, at least).

Upholding The Rights Of Women

I hope the federal courts will do the same to the new anti-woman laws in Texas and North Carolina. Women deserve the same right that men have to control what happens to their own bodies, in spite of the desire by religious fundamentalists to control women and keep them in a second-class citizenship status. Freedom means that everyone, including women, have the same rights and opportunities. But right-wing fundamentalists think freedom means they should have the right to impose their own religion on everyone else -- a view that is fundamentally unconstitutional and far too authoritarian for a free country to accept.

Super Tuesday Is A Mixed Bag

The results from Super Tuesday show that a lot of Republican voters still have doubts about Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie). Here are the numbers:

VIRGINIA (99% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............156,765  (59.44%)
Ron Paul...............106,992  (40.56%)
TOTAL VOTES...............263,757

GEORGIA (97% reporting)
Newt Gingrich...............414,896  (47.46%)
Mitt Romney...............224,361  (25.66%)
Rick Santorum...............171,346  (19.60%)
Ron Paul...............56,823  (6.50%)
Others...............6,839  (0.78%)
TOTAL VOTES...............874,265

MASSACHUSETTS (98% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............260,509  (72.09%)
Rick Santorum...............43,614  (12.07%)
Ron Paul...............34,575  (9.57%)
Newt Gingrich...............16,756  (4.64%)
Others...............5,927  (1.64%)
TOTAL VOTES...............361,381

OKLAHOMA (99% reporting)
Rick Santorum...............95,478  (33.77%)
Mitt Romney...............79,327  (28.06%)
Newt Gingrich...............77,770  (27.51%)
Ron Paul...............27,199  (9.62%)
Others...............2,944  (1.04%)
TOTAL VOTES...............282,718

NORTH DAKOTA (100% reporting)
Rick Santorum...............4,339  (39.99%)
Ron Paul...............2,938  (27.08%)
Mitt Romney...............2,639  (24.32%)
Newt Gingrich...............933  (8.60%)
TOTAL VOTES...............10,849

TENNESSEE (99% reporting)
Rick Santorum...............202,198  (37.30%)
Mitt Romney...............150,511  (27.77%)
Newt Gingrich...............130,689  (24.11%)
Ron Paul...............49,299  (9.10%)
Others...............9,325  (1.72%)
TOTAL VOTES...............542,022

OHIO (99% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............453,430  (37.99%)
Rick Santorum...............441,501  (36.99%)
Newt Gingrich...............174,456  (14.61%)
Ron Paul...............110,516  (9.26%)
Others...............13,780  (1.15%)
TOTAL VOTES...............1,193,683

VERMONT (93% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............22,632  (39.78%)
Ron Paul...............14,488  (25.46%)
Rick Santorum...............13,466  (23.67%)
Newt Gingrich...............4,636  (8.15%)
Others...............1,676  (2.95%)
TOTAL VOTES...............56,898

IDAHO (91% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............27,301  (63.74%)
Ron Paul...............7,675  (17.92%)
Rick Santorum...............6,920  (16.16%)
Newt Gingrich...............916  (2.14%)
Others...............17  (0.03%)
TOTAL VOTES...............42,829

ALASKA (95% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............4,167  (32.73%)
Rick Santorum...............3,704  (29.09%)
Ron Paul...............3,033  (23.82%)
Newt Gingrich...............1,798  (14.12%)
Others...............31  (0.24%)
TOTAL VOTES...............12,733

COMBINED SUPER TUESDAY VOTES
Mitt Romney...............1,381,642  (37.95%)
Rick Santorum...............982,566  (26.99%)
Newt Gingrich...............822,850  (22.60%)
Ron Paul...............413,538  (11.36%)
Others...............40,539  (1.11%)
TOTAL VOTES...............3,641,135

Mitt Romney came out of Super Tuesday winning more states and more delegates than the other candidates, but once again his weakness is apparent. He wasn't even able to get 40% of the Super Tuesday votes, which means over 60% of the people who voted yesterday preferred someone else -- even if that someone else is Santorum, Gingrich, or Paul. Romney still hasn't won over the teabaggers and evangelicals.

Ozzy Upset About North Dakota Arrests

Ozzy Osbourne is not very happy with the sheriff in Fargo, North Dakota. Ozzy and Rob Zombie recently held a concert in Fargo. That gave the sheriff there a bright idea. He decided to use the concert to cut down on some of the active warrants he had in his juristiction.

Sheriff Paul Laney sent about 500 invitations to a special pre-concert party at a Fargo nightclub, inferring that the invitees would get to rub elbows with rocker Ozzy Osbourne. About 30 people fell for the ruse and were arrested when they showed up at the nightclub.

Ozzy was incensed when he heard that his name had been used in connection with the ruse. He is demanding an apology from the sheriff. Meanwhile, the sheriff thinks he has done nothing wrong in using Ozzy's name. I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Ozzy on this one -- he is owed an apology.

I have no problem with law enforcement using a sting operation to arrest those with outstanding warrants. There have been stings where the arrestees thought they had won a TV or a trip or something else. I think those just showed some creativity on the part of law enforcement. But it's different when you use someone else's name, because it gives the impression that the person had something to do with the sting operation or at least approved it.

While you or I might not mind our names being used, it could be the kiss of death for a rock singer, especially one in the "metal" genre. This sheriff had no right to use Ozzy's name in connection with the sting, and should apologize to the rocker immediately.