Despite being down as much as 37 points in the polls, Barack Obama has won Maine!

[ProSense]

Obama Wins Maine!

by Sam Graham-FelsenSunday, February 10, 2008 at 06:31 PM

Despite being down as much as 37 points in the polls, Barack Obama has won Maine!



A remarkable crowd of 7,500 people packed Bangor Auditorium in Bangor, Maine, yesterday...





Another 2,500 rallied outside -- here's a video of Barack addressing the overflow crowd...

<...>

Thank you Maine!

more

Robert KC Johnson

Maine Caucus News

My parents braved the weather today and caucused in Scarborough (I voted absentee, along with a record 4000 others). Scarborough is a Republican-leaning suburb of Portland, which had a record turnout and went to Obama 401 to 283 (31 state delegates to 22). Demographically, it's the sort of town that Obama would need to prevail today--he carried the town over the opposition of state senator Peggy Pendleton, who, along with most of the state's party leadership, endorsed Clinton.

Turnout around the state appears to be very heavy: in Cape Elizabeth (next door to Scarborough, and one of the wealthiest cities in the state), the caucus had to be moved because of the high turnout. (Obama carried the city, 72 to 28 percent.) The Press Herald also reports very heavy turnout in Portland, which should be more good news for Obama. And the Illinois senator carried Yarmouth b a three-to-one margin.

Around the state, results have been trickling in on the Turn Maine Blue and Politicker sites.

No reports yet from what should be Clinton strongholds like Lewiston/Auburn or Saco/Biddeford. There also are no reports yet from Augusta. Clinton did score a somewhat surprising win in the southern Maine town of Wells, and narrowly carried interior towns like Rumford and Mexico. But Obama has, according to Turn Maine Blue, carried one precinct in Bangor (Gov. Baldacci's hometown); and he had strong wins in such rural locations as Fryeburg, Wilton, and Houlton. Obama even narrowly captured far-north Presque Isle. (Update, 4.50): Obama has now carried Old Town, Hope, and Camden--areas in which he would not have been favored to win.

[marcellobarrios]

1. Misleading. He was down 37% a long time ago

He was down 37% in a lot of places a long time ago.

[Labors of Hercules]

9. AND? Your point is? Was he a candidate then or not???

Jesus you people just can't recognize a truly great candidate, no matter what happens... Damn. :wtf:

[quakerboy]

11. And where was Hillary

down 37 points and came back to win a state? even given plenty of time?

[jefferson_dem]

12. Misleading.

He was down 37% a (kind of) long time ago. :eyes:

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. k&r....n/t

[JVS]

3. Keep on truckin!

[southern_dem]

4. ...

A remarkable comeback! :evilgrin:

[usregimechange]

5. I would rec this thread twice if I could!

[sloppyjoe25s]

6. Wait?! Isn't Maine in the deep South and has 90% Black Voters??

oh... woops... wow! - it's in the NE and 97.81% white.... my bad ... darned geography...

huh?!? - but Billary told me he was "the black candidate" - and he seems to be winning everywhere? I'm sooo confused! ;)

[lies]

7. ya know

It's not over yet...

And my god, Obama's ok, but he's hardly super-liberal or anything

[AtomicKitten]

13. National Journal: Obama Most Liberal Senator 2007

January 31, 2008, 2:13 PM
National Journal: Obama Most Liberal Senator In 2007
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/01/31/politics/horserace/entry3775451.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=Horserace_3775451

National Journal is out with its ratings of the votes of the members of the Senate, and it has found that the most liberal senator in 2007 was Barack Obama.

"The insurgent presidential candidate shifted further to the left last year in the run-up to the primaries, after ranking as the 16th- and 10th-most-liberal during his first two years in the Senate," National Journal notes.

Hillary Clinton was found to be tied as the 16th most liberal senator, after having placed 32nd the previous year. National Journal uses 99 "key Senate votes" to determine its ratings. One of the key "conservative" votes Clinton cast was to designate the Iranian revolutionary guard a terrorist organization.

The differences between Obama and Clinton might be smaller than the first appear, however: National Journal notes that "Of the 267 measures on which both senators cast votes in 2007, the two differed on only 10."

The ranking will likely be used against Obama if he becomes the Democratic nominee. On January 16th, Karl Rove had this to say: "Nonpartisan ratings say that he has a more liberal and a more straight-party voting record than Senator Clinton does. Pretty hard to do." Republicans are likely to question Obama's "unity" rhetoric by casting him as a far-left ideologue.

Interestingly, Sen. John McCain "did not vote frequently enough in 2007 to draw a composite score," National Journal writes. "He missed more than half of the votes in both the economic and foreign-policy categories."

[Debi]

14. But they drink lattes in Maine n/t

[pathansen]

8. Did a bunch of McCain supporters show up to get rid of Hillary?

[rodeodance]

10. gloat much?--