Terry McCauliffe says last night was a fantastic night. There was a record turnout. Clinton won by 41%. We are in this thing. They raised over a million dollars last night. Financially they are in good shape. They feel comfortable about where they are today. A big fundraiser powwow this afternoon. Tremendous enthusiasm for this campaign.

Now ahead in the popular vote.

Howard Wolfson - we had to have a big night in WV, we had it. A stunning 40 point victory. A state where Clinton won in 1992 and 1996. A decisive state. Hillary Clinton will carry WV in November. Obama had more money and more people and more resources and Clinton decisively defeated him. WV said no to all the pundits and people who said it was time for the contest to end.

More below . . .

The Democratic National Convention Committee, through DNC Chair Howard Dean, has announced the selection of credentialed blogs for the "50 state blogger corps" for the Democratic Convention. They include one blog from each of the 50 states. To be eligible, the blog must concentrate on the politics of its state. National blogs and video and niche bloggers will be selected at a later date.

Congratulations to Colorado's Square State Blog for being selected as the credentialed state blog for Colorado.

For the first time, state bloggers will be seated on the convention floor with their state's delegates.

Aaron Silverstein at Square State has this interview with Chair Howard Dean about the credentialing of bloggers.

Barack Obama is almost certainly going to be the Democratic Presidential nominee. The Superdelegates will decree it. Of course Hillary Clinton has every right, indeed, she has an imperative, to continue. But it is my view that Obama will be the nominee. As such, he needs to think about what he needs to do to improve his chance of winning in November.

This is a Democratic year. The Dem nominee SHOULD win November. But there are some danger signs for Obama. I will concentrate on 3 in this post.

1. Unify the Party. I think this is the easiest task, if there are grownups in the Obama camp. The answer is simple. Pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Problem solved. It is a no brainer. Only Clinton haters can argue against this. Imagine for a second, two candidates running for President having such a tight race and the winner NOT picking the second place finisher? It is unthinkable. It should be unthinkable here.

More . . .

USA Today has an editorial explaining how Voter ID laws suppress turnout.

The photo ID laws in seven states are problematic enough, but now several states are also looking at ways to require voters to prove U.S. citizenship. Arizona does that already, and Missouri's legislature is debating a constitutional amendment that would pave the way for requiring voters to present a driver's license or a substitute when they vote. Obtaining such an ID in Missouri requires proof of citizenship, so voters would, in effect, have to prove their citizenship to cast ballots.

To be sure, only citizens should vote. But as with photo IDs, there's little evidence that voting by illegal immigrants is a problem. Most stay as far away from government officials as they can lest they be caught and deported, and fraudulent voting is a felony. Proof-of-citizenship requirements are likely to trap legal citizens who don't have their birth certificates and would have significant trouble getting them.

Hillary Clinton issued this statement Monday opposing Voter ID laws such as the one upheld by the Supreme Court in Indiana and those contemplated by Missouri and 19 other states.[More...]

The Washington Post continues its excellent series on abuse of immigrant detainees. Today's segment reveals how immigration officials forcibly injected hundreds with sedatives when preparing them for flights back to their home country.

The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.

The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the "pre-flight cocktail," as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane.

One example: [More...}

President Bush says the U.S. does not engage in torture. The ACLU has new evidence from documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that it does.

These documents provide further evidence that the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad was not aberrational, but was widespread and systemic," said Amrit Singh, a staff attorney with the ACLU. "They only underscore the need for an independent investigation into high-level responsibility for prisoner abuse."

The newly obtained documents are available here.

The narrative of the racist southern and/or working class white voter serves disappointed liberals by giving them a way to cope with rejection, and it serves Republicans by reassuring them that people can still be easily manipulated by racial bias.

A. Serwer, The American Prospect, via John Petty

As an elitist myself, someone who chuckled at the jokes about Bill Clinton's "feeling your pain," it has not been easy to see how the Democratic problem with white working class voters has been endemic. But this campaign season has opened my eyes. BTW, it is not about God, guns and gays. It is about standard of living. It is about respecting these voters.

In denial about Barack Obama's problem with white working class voters across the entire Eastern part of the United States (as well as parts of the Midwest and Western part of the United States), the Creative Class blogs are clinging to the fallacious Appalachian theory to explain Obama's problem with white working class voters. Josh Marshall now takes up the cause:

This may be our first overnight open thread but I'm blogged out and you all seem to have more to say.

Here's your place. Big Tent Democrat will probably be back in the morning for a W. Va. wrap up posts.

My final thoughts: Obama is likely to do as poorly in KY as he did in W. VA. Counting MI and FL votes (not delegates), she's going to either top Obama or get really close to him in the popular vote total.

As to what you can do, here's my suggestion: [more...]

Barack Obama didn't win a single county in West Virginia. Here's the CNN county map. She's ahead by 41 points.

With 97% of the vote in, Hillary is leading Obama 67% to 26%. John Edwards has 7%.

West Virginia has 28 pledged and 11 unpledged delegates. It has 5 electoral votes and last voted for a Democrat in 1996. More...

MSNBC just did an electoral vote segment. They made some critical errors.

They assumed Obama would take PA because John Kerry did. Barack Obama did poorly in PA, like he did in Ohio, with rural and blue collar voters. It's more likely in my view that the Democrats will lose Ohio and PA if Obama is the nominee. Hillary has a better chance of keeping PA and winning back Ohio.

They gave no thought to Florida going Democratic in November. They assumed it will go to McCain. Hillary puts Florida in play.

Their silliest comments were that Obama could make the southern states competitive because of the large African-American turnout. Not that he would win them, just make them competitive and make Republicans nervous. But when you're talking about the electoral map, coming close doesn't count. If the Democratic nominee doesn't win the popular vote in those states, the Republican candidate gets the electoral vote.

More...

The media is not going to determine the future of the Democratic party. Voters are.

There are five states left to go. Hillary Clinton will do very well in Kentucky and Puerto Rico. Obama has a lead in Oregon. MT and SD are tiny.

The Democrats cannot expect to win Florida or Michigan in November if the 2.5 million who voted there don't have a say in choosing our nominee. They should be seated full-strength. And regardless of how the DNC decides to apportion their delegates, their popular vote count stands as is. The Democrats will not win in November without Florida and/or Michigan.

The Democrats need PA and Ohio. Hillary can win those states and other big swing and toss-up states. Barack Obama's ability to win them is unknown. He's untested. Hillary may have shown him how to be a stronger candidate, but she can't guide him to the finish line, no matter how hard she campaigns for him if he's the nominee. [More...]

Blue Dog Democrat Travis Childers has won the special election for the MS-01 Congressional race. As a Democrat, I always prefer the Democrat over the Republican. As a progressive, Childers is not a very exciting win. He is anti-choice, anti-gay marriage and very conservative generally. So one cheer for a Dem winning. I save my two cheers for progressives winning.

By Big Tent Democrat