memeorandum: Could Gary flip it? — With Hillary Clinton's statewide lead … (Live Indiana Primary election blog)

1:50 AM ET, May 7, 2008

Top Items:

First Glance At The Exits: Democratic Party Cracking Up? — Here's what jumps out at me from the first wave of exit polls that have been released to the Edison-Mitsofky consortium: — Forget the horse race numbers for a moment: if the surveys are accurate, the polarization within the Democratic Party has reached critical levels.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Comments from Left Field, Washington Post, Gallup, The New Republic, PrestoPundit, BackyardConservative, American Street, The Strata-Sphere, Salon, TPM Election Central, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL and RIGHTWINGSPARKLE

CBS News:

Clinton, Obama In Battle For Indiana, N.C. — Heavy Turnout In Crucial Primaries That Could Bring Clarity To Democratic Presidential Race — (CBS/AP) Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama battled in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries on Tuesday, the last big-delegate prizes left …

Discussion: FishBowlDC, Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, TPM Election Central, Political Machine, FiveThirtyEight.com, ABCNEWS, Pollster.com, The Raw Story, Fox News, BizzyBlog, The Reaction, Corrente, Marc Ambinder, Commentary and Salon

Jennifer Parker / ABCNEWS:

Obama Solidly Routs Clinton in N.C. — Democratic Senators Battle for Potentially Decisive Victory in Indiana — As expected, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has solidly won the North Carolina primary, ABC News projects, while he and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, remain locked in a tight race in Indiana.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Political Radar, Liberal Values, Taegan Goddard's …, The Field, The Swamp, JammieWearingFool, Washington Times, The Moderate Voice and AMERICAblog

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

News Analysis: Options Dwindling for Clinton — In this case, a split was not a draw. — In what early returns suggested would be a win for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indiana but a loss for her in North Carolina, Tuesday's results did not fundamentally improve her chances of securing the Democratic presidential nomination.

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Dish, The Page, Connecting.the.Dots, American Power and AMERICAblog

Indianapolis Star:

‘Hardcore’ Republicans voting Democrat — 10:51 AM — ‘Hardcore’ Republicans voting Democrat — The two precincts at Broad Ripple Family Center selected Republican Jon Elrod over Democrat Andre Carson in March's special election for U.S. Congress. But by 9 a.m., just 21 voters …

Discussion: American Street, Reason Magazine, Comments from Left Field, The Caucus, The Other McCain, Spin Cycle, On Deadline and The Primary Source

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Exit Polls: Limbaugh Effect Seems To Rear Its Head — Did Rush Limbaugh actually impact the Democratic primary? — The loud-mouthed radio talk show host has been encouraging Republicans to vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton to continue the “chaos” in the Democratic race.

Discussion: Political Punch, SFGate, Lynn Sweet, The Radio Equalizer, The Raw Story, Political Machine and The Trail

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Another Clinton loan? — I asked Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe just now whether Clinton had given or loaned her campaign more money in the run-up to North Carolina and Indiana. — “Might be. Might not be,” McAuliffe said, adding that the campaign would release more fundraising details tomorrow.

Discussion: Comments from Left Field and AMERICAblog

The New Republic:
Measuring the Limbaugh Effect

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Opinionator, Salon and The Jed Report

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:
EXIT POLL: Wright Controversy Casts Shadow on Ind., N.C. Races

Discussion: Fox News, The Page, MSNBC, TalkLeft, Pollster.com, CNN, michellemalkin.com, Political Radar, TownHall Blog, Gateway Pundit, The Daily Dish and Pajamas Media

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Limbaugh-Clinton Axis — Is it a factor in Indiana? A reader writes:

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Hillary Clinton / CNN:
Exit polls: Half of Clinton's supporters won't back Obama

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Democrats.com, Firedoglake, TPM Election Central and Talking Points Memo

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs: Limbaugh Democrats? — I've been pretty skeptical of the existence …

Associated Press:
Early IN, NC exit poll highlights

Discussion: The American Conservative, Wonkette, Eunomia and FiveThirtyEight.com

Foon Rhee / Boston Globe:
Limbaugh issues orders for Indiana

Discussion: Sadly, No!, Top of the Ticket, The Moderate Voice and Wake up America

CNN:
Voters turn out for potentially critical primaries

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, the talking dog, American Street and American Power

The Campaign Spot:
First Word From HuffPo Sources, Not Mine: Obama NC +12; Hillary IN +7

Discussion: Real Clear Politics

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard Blog:
Exit Polls

Discussion: Pollster.com

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Clinton Takes Indiana by Slim Margin; Obama Wins North Carolina Decisively

Discussion: Gristmill

Taegan Goddard / Political Insider:
Beware of the Exit Polls

Discussion: Political Arithmetik, Hot Air, The Nation and protein wisdom

Alec MacGillis / The Trail:

Gary Mayor Predicts Possible Indiana Shocker — As the fate of a nailbiter Indiana primary — and possibly the course of the Democratic race — hung on his city, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said just now that it might take a while yet to finish counting the vote in Lake County, which includes Gary …

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Moderate Voice, The Page, Wizbang, The Corner, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Primary Source, AMERICAblog, CCPSBlog, Corrente, Commentary and Spin Cycle

Live Indiana Primary election blog:

Could Gary flip it? — With Hillary Clinton's statewide lead under 40,000, the pending results from Lake County loom large. — While Clinton reportedly led voting in cities like Hammond, Whiting and East Chicago, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay is indicating a huge margin in favor of Obama in his city.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

Will Bunch / Philly.com:

Team Hillary warns of Obama “October surprise” — The early results are suggesting a healthy win for Barack Obama in North Carolina and a much narrower win, maybe 52-48 or so, for Hillary Clinton in Indiana. That won't end her campaign — nuclear obliteration wouldn't do that at this point but it makes Clinton's mission even harder.

Discussion: Raleigh News & Observer, Democracy in America and The Daily Dish

Krooney / The Page:
Ickes Throws Down the Gauntlet on What Constitutes a Majority of the Delegates

Discussion: Hotline On Call

Mike Allen / The Politico: Clinton pushes new math

Human Events:

Two GOP Losses That Validate a National Pattern — These two special elections validate a national polling pattern that is bad news for Republicans. According to a New York Times/CBS Poll, Americans disapprove of the President's job performance by 63 to 28 (and he has been below 40% job …

Discussion: Tales from the Trail, Eunomia, Democrats.com, Washington Wire, Top of the Ticket, DCCC, BackyardConservative, The Swamp, AMERICAblog, The New Republic, HorsesAss.Org, Washington Monthly and The Washington Independent

Jackie Kucinich / The Hill:
Gingrich warns GOP of ‘real disaster’ this fall

Discussion: Don Surber

Townhall.com:
Newt Gingrich on Barack Obama's association problems, John McCain's …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Hillary, muted — I've been out on the road with Clinton for the past few days, during which she was perhaps the sharpest she's been in her political career. Forceful, clear, connecting intensely with her crowds, utterly at ease with her message. — Tonight, that energy has really, strikingly vanished.

Michael Crowley / The New Republic: Does Hillary Know It's Over?

David Neiwert / Firedoglake:

Primary Late Night: Did We Hear Hillary Concede Tonight? — Indiana (88% reporting): — North Carolina (97% reporting): — I know, I know. Hillary's victory speech in Indiana tonight was not a concession speech. She vowed to keep fighting on. Florida and Michigan and all that.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Deborah Hastings / Associated Press:

Indiana nuns lacking ID denied at poll by fellow sister — About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow bride of Christ because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph. — Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away …

Discussion: Swampland, Crooks and Liars and NewsBusters.org

Dday / Hullabaloo:
Nuns — The primary results from Indiana and North Carolina …

Discussion: pfaw.org, The Sideshow, Right Wing Watch and Seeing the Forest

Sam Graham-Felsen / my.barackobama.com:

Obama's Remarks in Raleigh, North Carolina — Barack Obama delivered the following remarks (as prepared) in Raleigh, North Carolina, tonight... You know, some were saying that North Carolina would be a game-changer in this election. But today, what North Carolina decided is that the only game …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!

Washington Wire:
Obama's North Carolina Victory Speech

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and Flopping Aces

John R. Wilke / Wall Street Journal:

FBI Agents Raid Work, Home Of Special Counsel's Bloch — WASHINGTON — Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff. — More than a dozen FBI agents served grand jury subpoenas shortly …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Law Blog, At-Largely, Majikthise, DownWithTyranny!, The BRAD BLOG, Prairie Weather and Think Progress

Ari Shapiro / NPR:
FBI Searches Office of Special Counsel Building

Discussion: Washington Blade, Firedoglake, Mercury Rising, The Moderate Voice, TPMMuckraker and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

FOX NEWS FOLLIES — Watch as the Fox News political team dissects class in America during tonight's election coverage: — I watch Fox so you don't have to — but I lose a little piece of my soul every time. — Late Update: They just can't let it go! The Fox News crew refines its class stereotypes:

Discussion: Think Progress and Too Sense

Mary Katharine Ham / TownHall Blog:

The Obama Rally, from Two Angles — Reynolds Coliseum on N.C. State's campus seats 12,400 people. It did not seat that many tonight. Behold, the power of political staging: — The Obama rally, as seen on TV: — The Obama rally as seen from the other end of Reynolds:

Discussion: Redstate and Daily Pundit