memeorandum: Support Divided, Top Democrats Trade Victories (Patrick Healy/New York Times)

9:45 AM ET, February 6, 2008

Top Items:

Clinton and Obama Trade Victories — N.Y. Senator Withstands Push By Surging Rival in Key Battlegrounds — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won victories over Sen. Barack Obama in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York last night, giving her presidential campaign a crucial boost.

Discussion: Firedoglake, State of the Day, Blue Crab Boulevard, Three Wise Men and DownWithTyranny!

MSNBC:

Clinton, Obama split spoils — But party's delegate rules mean Democratic race to end up virtually tied — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton greets supports as she enters her Super Tuesday primary night rally in New York. — It's far from over — Feb. 5: NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert …

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo, Comments from Left Field, Publius Endures, The Carpetbagger Report, Taylor Marsh, The RBC, ABCNEWS, MoJoBlog, Liberal Values, abu muqawama, Truthdig, Daimnation!, The Democratic Daily and The Moderate Voice

New York Times:

Clinton and McCain Win in California; Obama Stays Close as G.O.P. Rivals Lag — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won primaries in New York, New Jersey and Arizona and captured the biggest prize of all, California, while Senator Barack Obama strung together nearly a dozen victories from Georgia …

Discussion: The Swamp, The Hill, Live Coverage, The Democratic Daily, State of the Day and The New Editor

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Obama claims delegate lead — In a surprise twist after a chaotic Super Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) passed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in network tallies of the number of delegates the candidates racked up last night. — Clinton was portrayed in many news accounts …

Discussion: Born at the Crest … and michellemalkin.com

The Politico:

Super Tuesday: A split decision — The clarity Democrats so desperately sought escaped them on Super Tuesday, as both candidates found cause to claim victory even as one of them cemented her front-runner status. — By winning critical contested strongholds in Massachusetts, New Jersey …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, NYT, NY Daily News and New York Daily News Blogs

The New Republic:

Who Won Super Tuesday? — It's hard to say, but if you put a gun in my head, I'd say John McCain and (very slightly) Hillary Clinton, but the elections revealed weaknesses in McCain and in both of the leading Democratic candidates. McCain blunted Mitt Romney's challenge, but he failed consistently to win over conservative voters.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Brendan Nyhan and American Street

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Support Divided, Top Democrats Trade Victories — Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama carved up the nation in the 22-state nominating contest on Tuesday, leaving the Democratic presidential nomination more elusive than ever. Mrs. Clinton won California, Massachusetts …

Discussion: Simply Left Behind, New York Post, MyDD, Washington Post and Suburban Guerrilla

Thomas B. Edsall / The Huffington Post:
Super Tuesday Fallout: Where The Race Goes From Here

Discussion: Anne Schroeder's Blogs

Los Angeles Times:
With no losers, the fight goes on

Discussion: New York Times, The Caucus and Norwegianity

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Decisive California Wins for Clinton and McCain

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Chris Bowers / Open Left:
Third Super Tuesday Reesults Thread

Discussion: Calitics, California Progress Report, BizzyBlog and Burnt Orange Report

The Politico:

Berman's count: 606-534 — David Plouffe, on a conference call just now, offered the Obama campaign's estimate of where they stand at this moment in terms of delegates. — “We are, in terms of delegates, ahead currently: about 606 to 534, in terms of pledged delegates awarded tonight,” he said.

Discussion: Hot Air, American Street, The Strata-Sphere, protein wisdom, Attytood, The Reaction, Spin Cycle and Gateway Pundit

Ari Melber / The Nation:

OBAMA CAMPAIGN PROJECTS 72 DELEGATE LEAD (FOR NOW)... Barack Obama's presidential campaign is claiming an early lead in pledged delegates for Super Tuesday. — In a media conference call at 10:30pm, Campaign Manager David Plouffe estimated that Obama leads Hillary Clinton in pledged delegates by 606 to 534.

Discussion: MSNBC, Don Surber, Bark Bark Woof Woof and All Spin Zone

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Democrats' Identity Politics Getting More Sharply Defined — Exit polling for Super Tuesday contests show a growing trend towards division by ethnicity among Democrats. With the race as tight as it is, the identity politics that the party has fostered over the years has now become one of the points of division.

Amy Goldstein / Washington Post: Democrats' Votes Display a Racial Divide

Michelle Malkin:
Where Hillary's Latino votes came from

Discussion: The American Mind

Mark Steyn / The Corner:

The Morning After — I think John O'Sullivan is right. There was an explicit anti-Romney vote in the South. A mere month ago, in the wake of Iowa and New Hampshire, I received a ton of e-mails from southern readers saying these pansy northern states weren't the “real” conservative heartland …

Discussion: Riehl World View, The Mahablog, Macsmind, Flopping Aces, Washington Monthly, Betsy's Page and GINA COBB

CNN:

McCain piles up delegates while Dems split theirs — (CNN) — Sen. John McCain cemented his Republican front-runner status Tuesday, piling up big wins coast to coast, according to CNN projections. — Democratic voters remain evenly split on Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen Barack Obama for their party's nomination.

Discussion: FP Passport, UrbanGrounds and PoliBlog (TM)

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Huckabee Complicates GOP Contest

Discussion: Althouse, Balloon Juice and CNN

Michael Cooper / New York Times:
Arizona Senator Surges; Huckabee Strong in the South

Discussion: MSNBC and PoliGazette

Tapscott's Copy Desk:

Now we see if McCain really wants conservatives — Numbers don't lie and on the morning after Super Tuesday it's clear the numbers for the GOP presidential nomination add up one way - barring something completely unforeseen, Sen. John McCain is headed to the top of the ticket for 2008.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Comment is free:
The best of the worst — US elections 2008: Conservative Republicans …

Discussion: Betsy's Page, American Spectator and You Decide 08!

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

SUMMING IT UP — Before we give way to the night, let me try to pull together some rough thoughts on what happened here tonight. It's probably best to start with the indisputable facts. I haven't had a chance to look at the popular vote. But every estimate I've seen says this was close to an exact tie in delegates.

Discussion: Lance Mannion

Aaron Bray / Yale Daily News:

Hill looks back on Giuliani's campaign — Following his decisive victories in a number of presidential primaries yesterday, many within the conservative establishment have turned their focus to Arizona Senator John McCain, who appears at this point to have the edge in securing his party's nomination …

Andy McCarthy / The Corner:

Re: The Die Has Been Cast — Remember the Clinton years? We should — we may be on the verge of reliving them. But I recall being most frustrated when some anti-Clinton zealot would claim the president had ordered an assassination or run cocaine through Mena Airport.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Dr. Sanity, TBogg and Classical Values