Nevada Hangover. (Yes, I know it's early for that. Don't hassle me.)

HRC wins the popular vote 51% to 45%. Obama wins the delegate count 13 to 12 [Update: I've read 14-14 too and other tallies. Nobody gets the delegate part of this crappy process]. Who wins, really?

It may not matter, ultimately. The Clinton machine is working. If she eeks out narrow win after narrow win, she's a winner, narrow or not.

Despite this eye-widening early poll that I noted previously, the hispanics in Nevada broke hard for HRC. She crushed Obama in that demographic. As someone who rides through South Central LA on a daily basis, it easy to see the racial tensions between blacks and hispanics. It's palpable. So I can understand the hispanic community's instinctive distrust of a black candidate.

In general, though, I'm still stuck on why HRC is even remotely appealing to the Dems. The Clintons piss off Repubs like no other public figures in the past 25 years. If she gets the nomination, and then if she's elected, we are going to see a replay of 1994. After two years of Bill Clinton in the White House, the country decided go with Newt Gingrich's “Contract with America” to sabotage the Clinton's 'liberal' agenda. So in effect, Bill Clinton handed the House of Representatives to the Repubs by reaching for too much. This will happen again. If she's elected, HRC will (potentially) hand the Congress back to the Repubs in a couple of years, and the detestable political gridlock will begin anew. She has that divisive effect on right-wingers. Obama, on the other hand, might be able to stave that off. He is a liberal, but he's a pragmatic one. He's not going to bite off more than he can chew agenda-wise. He's not going to scare anybody into changing Congress. Repubs in Congress might not love Barack either, but he's not going to immediately set off the anger and bitterness that HRC can if gets the nomination. What good is it to nominate and elect a candidate with this kind of personal and political liability?

Why would anyone want this? We've been down that road, and it sucked for the Dems and (I dare say) the country. As a liberal I want the country to change direction. A lot. But I'm willing to take it piecemeal in the short term in order to have the opportunity for long-term impact. I don't think that HRC can do this, but we'll see.