Category: The Dish

Fascinating data from Nevada: just as Hispanics went overwhelmingly – 64 – 24 – for Clinton, blacks went more overwhelmingly – 80 – 16 – for Obama. I’d say this is a vindication of the Clintons’ racial polarization strategy: force Obama to be the "black" candidate and rely on some white and Latino discomfort to build up their own vote margins. Not a good strategy for the South, but great for the West and California. The Clintons have done the math.

There’s the usual generational split, of course:

Obama won the support of voters under age 45, while Clinton won among older voters. Voters under age 45 broke for Obama over Clinton 48 percent to 34 percent, while those over 45 chose Clinton over Obama 54 percent to 33 percent.

But the Latino vote contains grim news for Obama:

Hispanics made up 14 percent of Democratic caucus-goers in Nevada today, and they overwhelmingly supported Clinton. She got 64 percent support from Hispanics, while Obama got 24 percent and Edwards got 9 percent.

That will make a bigger difference in California. It was still close, though: 51 to 45, and completely in line with the last polls.

(Photo: Mario Tama/Getty.)

Listen to a robocall in Nevada. Ben Smith comments here.

Newsweek rightly questions the media’s hysterical story line on drug-resistant staph infections as a new "gay disease" caused by "gay sex". It isn’t and it isn’t. Chris Crain and Mike Petrelis comment. Some key data points here. Why weren’t the press full of stories of MRSA being the new military plague – in danger of breaking out into the "general population"? It makes as much as sense as the "new HIV" line.

25 percent of Republican Nevada caucus-goers were Mormon and 94 percent of them voted for Romney, according to an exit poll. Hmmm. Still, it’s a win. In the end, as an expert like Bill Schneider reminds us, the guy with the most delegates wins.

Not exactly a Betsy Ross story. Iraqi Konfused Kid blames the Kurds for the whole thing:

the only people who are actively seeking the retirement of the old flag and who hate it with all its gut are, unsurprisingly, the secessionist-dreaming Kurds, who are still dreaming their little chauvinistic Pan-Kurdish pipe dreams while we the Arabs, the ones who messed around with those Pan things and failed a century before them, can now enjoy this black comedy as they follow exactly the footsteps of our miserable fuck-ups.

Self-awareness is a wonderful thing.

Nevada updates here. It’s snowing in South Carolina.

Check out the tone:

There is this whole business of the new politics. Well I got a taste of the new politics today. We need a new politics where we all love each other. You’ve heard all that. There’s a radio ad up in the northern part of Nevada telling Republicans that they ought to just register as Democrats for a day so they can beat Hillary and go out and be Republicans next week and vote in the primary. Doesn’t sound like the new politics to me…

I will say it again – they think they’re better than you.

He only sounds like this when he’s losing the argument. But the Clintons can still win the nomination.

Here’s a nice time-waster: a stroll through all the many art installations – stained glass windows, mosaics, murals – that dot the New York City subway system. The winged mammal is at 81st and Central Park.

A last minute surge?