by Kyle K. Mann, editor-in-chief –
Note: to read in chronological order, scroll to the bottom.
11:30 PM PST: Well now, Texas was officially called for Biden, so that’s all the states. It appears that, pending further delegate assignment, that Biden will be the front runner going forward from here. It also appears the title of this live blog was self-fulfilling, as it is horrific in my view, and I’m indeed in a stupor. I’d like to thank you, the Gonzo Today reader, for following along… and a special thanks to Clayton Luce and Kidman Williams for their amused tech support. Cheers to one and all!
11:00 PM PST: California has officially been called for Sanders by some news organizations. CBS radio, which I was just listening to on KNX, has not yet, but they will soon, I imagine. Biden still has a lot of work ahead, but looking at the map of connected states from Texas to Virginia in the Biden victory column seems rather notable. I look forward to the upcoming Biden gaffes.
10:45 PM PST: Texas is a Biden win, looks to me. That’s huge. Biden has overcome a poor start to the primaries to surge into a delegate lead, as of this posting. If Bloomberg drops out, Biden benefits. With the superdelegates mostly backing Biden, Sanders’ prospects look dim: a contested convention where there is no candidate with a majority of delegates on the first ballot will go to the second ballot with superdelegates now allowed to vote.
10:30 PM PST: I’ll go out on a limb and predict Warren will drop out and not endorse anyone, probably to try and be named veep candidate by Biden. That would be a ticket that Trump will win against, is my view. Of course, I predicted Hillary Clinton would win in 2106. About the best I can say about that is that I wasn’t alone.
10:15 PM PST: Sanders lost in Massachusetts to Biden. That seems wrong. Feels wrong. If I’m a Sanders advisor, that’s a state to scrutinize. The substantial Biden win in Minnesota also feels odd, but he got the native daughter endorsement when Klobuchar dropped it. Still. Those two stick out. In CA with 39% counted its Sanders 29.2%, Biden up now to 19.5% and Bloomberg at 17.6%. Texas looks like Biden now. I thought Sanders had that one.
10:00 PM PST: The New York Times website has the California vote totals holding their previous percentages, with 30% now of the vote counted. It’s Sanders with 29%, Bloomberg about ten points behind at 19.6% and Biden sinking a bit at 17.6%. But Biden is now winning in Texas, no call there yet.
9:45 PM PST: Looking at various sources, it seems fairly unanimous that this night belongs to Biden. It’s nearly 1 AM on the East Coast, so if Sanders wins a lot of late delegates to take the overall delegate lead, those in the later time zones will miss that development. However, a startling night for Biden, undoubtedly.
9:30 PM PST: I see that Hillary Clinton again spoke against Sanders, today on ABC TV’s “Good Morning America” to call his campaign “just baloney.”`As I wait for the Texas and California results to come in, I grin at this. It’s a just wow moment.
9:15 PM PST: Looking at the live vote totals with 10% counted for California via Associated Press… Sanders doing excellently with 28.5%, Bloomberg a distant second with 19% and Biden third at nearly 17%. That means Biden might slip below 15% and not get a single delegate.
9:00 PM PST: Caitlin Johnstone is reporting that Tulsi Gabbard qualified for the Democratic debates by winning at least one delegate in American Samoa and that the DNC has instantly changed the rules to exclude her. I’d call that typical of the DNC. Excluding her from the debates is a terrible call.
8:45 PM PST: I scowl at the screen, feeling slimed. Yeah, like in Ghostbusters. Who would vote for Biden, the dude who voted for NAFTA, opposes legal pot, backed the TPP, supports fracking, and so much more… like drone killings. Plus he is demonstrably senile. Trump will carve him like a turkey. But this is a big night for Biden, who had never won a primary before last Saturday in South Carolina.
8:30 PM PST: Sanders still leading by a couple percentage points in Texas with nearly half the vote counted there. Looks like a big win for Sanders in California, as projected. Just how big remains to be seen. Some of that will depend on how many of the other candidates reach the 15% threshold, needed to be awarded any delegates at all. Right… more pot. Hey, it’s legal, which I’m nowhere near used to.
8:15 PM PST: The magic number needed to win the Democratic nomination outright is 1,991. The numbers vary on what the current totals are. Biden leads at the moment in all tallies I’m looking at. NBC has it Biden 289, Sanders 244. Associated Press has it Biden 327, Sanders 218. I gave up listening to NPR and am looking at websites. Easier on my nerves.
8:00 PM PST: Polls close in California, and Sanders is declared the winner. Biden has earlier added Massachusets to his win list, which was unexpected. How honest is any of this? I question this result, frankly. In any case, Warren has lost her home state, a deeply shameful fact. My respect for her will go up substantially if she drops out and endorses Sanders.
7:45 PM PST: Big loser tonight is Elizabeth Warren. Big question: will she endorse Sanders? Remember that a Democratic primary candidate has to reach a minimum of 15% to get a share of a state’s delegates. She has failed to do so in a majority of the states tonight, and Sanders has in all of them. Another loser is Bloomberg, and he’s got no delegates so far tonight.
7:30 PM PST: Biden speech interrupted by a protester. Sanders is just now projected to win Utah.
7:25 PM PST: Looking at the numbers, I’m thinking Sanders can win Texas. Biden speech on NPR. He’s gloating big time. “We are very much alive!” he yells. He’s just promised a cure for cancer.
7:15 PM PST: Listening to NPR radio. It’s disgusting, I have gotta find something better than this. They cut away from Sanders’ speech, which was a barn-burner, to Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, pitching Biden.
7:00 PM PST: Tonight is shaping up as a triumph for Joe Biden. Sanders has won only two states, with Colorado joining Vermont, Sanders’ home state. As I have said below, I will not vote in what I perceive as a rigged system. But I think Sanders can beat Trump, and Biden can’t. And I think I’d prefer a Sanders presidency as opposed to 4 More Years. Unless Sanders starts new wars, something Trump, as despicable as I find him, has not done.
6:45 PM PST: The Times is calling Tennessee for Biden. Texas is up for grabs, with Sanders leading. Biden, ugh, arg. Here’s a link to the best article I have read in the past few days about Biden, written by the great Caitlin Johnstone: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/03/03/dems-converge-around-dementia-addled-warmonger-ahead-of-super-tuesday/
6:30 PM PST: I just Googled “Primary results” which has Biden leading in the delegate count 192 to 122 for Sanders. Biden, among other things, voted for the Iraq War. That makes him a God damned war criminal, in my book. Whatever else you can say about Sanders, he voted against. Very hard to digest the fact that anyone would vote for someone that evil. Of course, Hillary Clinton did as well. And a majority of ‘Muricans chose her in 2016. Right. I’m shaking my head and grinding my teeth.
6:00 PM PST: …very hard to look at CBS news online live stream. I haven’t been exposed to regular television in years. It’s worse than ever.
The headline in the New York Times is saying Biden “Performs Strongly With Black Voters” and has won the 3 Southern states of Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama, and that Sanders has won his home state of Vermont, as expected. Biden, really? A guy who brain is clearly rotting, judging from his fractured speech and nonexistent memory?
The big prizes of Texas and California have yet to be determined. It is unknown how the Great Candidate Die Off of the past few days will affect the Sanders/Biden faceoff, with the wildcard Bloomberg and seeming Sanders Spoiler Warren a big question mark as well.
I may need to break out the pot to keep doing this.
3:30 PM Pacific Standard Time – I shake my head in disgust at the chore ahead. Super Tuesday, bah. I will not vote in what I perceive to be a rigged system. I am a member of no political party, am not registered to vote, and feel a deep conviction that no matter who wins, we are all screwed.
That at least makes me a neutral observer. As the Acting Head of Gonzo Today, I will emerge from my long hibernation and write something. But it’s difficult, and I make no guarantees.
The desire to scream in abject repugnance is overwhelming. I will take a ride to Topanga State Park on my bike, and hope my head clears. First returns from the East Coast will be reported in about a half hour.
If I can overcome this overwhelming nausea, I’ll keep posting. KKM
