Clinton's Popular Vote Claim Stretches the Truth/Is A Lie

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/politicalinsider/2008/06/clintons-popular-vote-claim-st.html

Clinton's Popular Vote Claim Stretches the Truth

By Taegan Goddard | June 2, 2008 9:26 AM

In the latest sign Sen. Hillary Clinton "isn't yet preparing to bow out of the presidential race," her campaign is "launching a new television ad Monday that highlights her claim she is beating Barack Obama in the popular vote," according to CNN.

The only problem is that it's not true.

Clinton's claim to winning the popular vote count includes counting the primary results in Michigan, where Sen. Barack Obama's name was not even on the ballot. In addition, her count doesn't include some caucus states won by Obama -- Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington state -- where the popular vote was never reported. And she also includes the results from Florida, where none of the Democratic candidates campaigned.

Furthermore, even using her methodology, the low turnout over the weekend in Puerto Rico likely guarantees she will not end up winning the popular vote anyway.

Of course, there's one other major factor to consider: Democratic party rules never consider the popular vote as a benchmark for winning the party's nomination. It's the delegates that count.