Democracy for Vancouver

Barack Obama last night:

The road here has been long, and that is partly because we’ve traveled it with one of the most formidable candidates to ever run for this office. In her 35 years of public service, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has never given up on her fight for the American people, and tonight I congratulate her on her victory in Kentucky. We have had our disagreements during this campaign, but we all admire her courage, her commitment and her perseverance. No matter how this primary ends, Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and yours will come of age.

Hillary Clinton last night:

It is especially sweet tonight because Kentucky has a knack for picking presidents. This state delivered two terms to a president named Clinton. And it’s often been said, as Kentucky goes, so goes the nation.

Neither Senator Obama nor I have won the 2210 delegates required to secure the nomination. And because this race is so close, still separated by less than 200 delegates out of more than 4,400, neither Senator Obama nor I will have reached that magic number when the voting ends on June the 3rd.

So, our party will have a tough choice to make. Who is ready to lead our party at the top of our ticket? Who is ready to defeat Senator McCain in the swing states and among swing voters? Who is ready to rebuild the economy and the war in Iraq and protect our national security as Commander-in-Chief? Who is ready on Day One to lead?

The one who didn’t vote for this disastrous war.

We had 72% of Democrats vote in Oregon’s primary yesterday, and 54% of Republicans. That’s astounding for a primary.

Exit interviews in Oregon:

Only about one in 10 white voters in Oregon — which is more liberal than Kentucky — said the race of the candidates was important to them.
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Only a third of Clinton backers said they would vote for Obama against McCain. Obama voters seemed more forgiving — seven in 10 said they would vote for Clinton.

Exit interviews in Kentucky:

Three quarters of whites who have not completed college…backed the New York senator.
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In addition, only about four in 10 whites in Kentucky said they would vote for Obama in a matchup with John McCain in the general election. Nearly as many said they would support the Republican, and the rest said they would not vote.

It was not just the voters’ race, but their racial attitudes, that proved influential.

About one in five whites said race played a role in choosing a candidate Tuesday — on par with results in several other Southern states. Nearly nine in 10 of that group backed Clinton — the highest proportion yet among the 28 states where that question has been asked in exit polls.

I want to live in the country that thinks and votes like Oregon. Don’t you?