With Senator Clinton's narrow delegate pickups in Ohio and Rhode Island and narrow delegate deficits in Texas and Vermont, today's Clinton campaign meme is, again, that the delegations from Florida and Michigan should be seated.

"There has to be a way to make them count."

Further, Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Florida has written a letter to DNC Chair Howard Dean requesting that the DNC pay for a re-vote.

Dean's response?

"[The DNC's] job now is to elect the President of the United States and we're not going to have the resources to run a primary in Michigan or Florida," Dean said on CNN's American Morning Thursday. "So we hope they can comply with the rules, but they're going to have to figure out how to pay for it."

Uh, yeah.

Disgruntled in Texas

It's hard to know how seriously to take things like Rush Limbaugh's call on his listeners to vote for Hillary as the only hope for GOP victory in the fall; there's not much evidence that people ever cast tactical votes like that in meaningful numbers.

Still, an interesting report from a reader in Dallas:

On the local conservative radio stations, many Republicans are calling and complaining about feeling "disenfranchised".

Hey guys, I see we've got a thread to report turnout throughout the day.  I thought it would be helpful to open an election problem/fraud thread so that we can quickly get word out of any issues occurring today.  I've already had one semi-major problem reported in Tarrant County (details beneath the fold).  Please comment on this thread if you are seeing issues as well.

UPDATE:  This thread is getting heavy.  Here is the second "problem reporting" thread.  Please recommend it and unrec this diary.  Thanks!!

Hey guys.  I wanted to post a public mea culpa after the mass confusion that ensued after I posted what I thought was accurate info on the Texas precinct convention process.  Frankly, I went to bed last night feeling like a huge jackass, and I wouldn't feel right posting here again if I did not publicly apologise.

This diary is for Texas readers who have questions about the Texas precinct convention process.  Both myself and Phillip from BOR will be around to answer questions.

If you are merely curious about the process and/or lurking in the diary, please consider holding all questions and comments until the session is over.  We want to make sure those who will be attending get their comments and questions dealt with promptly. Philip will be around from 2-3:30 CST and I'll be here  from 2-4pm CST.

Join us beneath the fold and let's get going.

Hillary Clinton sat down last week with KLRU public television in Austin to discuss her thoughts on the Michigan and Florida delegate situation.  She stated that she would press to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates, while dismissing the primary votes of Texans as irrelevant to the Democratic general election strategy.

(cross posted at Election Inspection)

About a week ago, I projected that Hillary Clinton would beat Barack Obama statewide by about 5%. But because of Texas' Byzantine delegate selection rules, I projected that Obama would come out ahead in the pledged delegate race, 98-95.

But many new polls of Texas have come out in the last few days. I used these polls to improve and update my model and my projections. My new projections, by LoneStarProject (LSP) region:

I didn't watch MSNBC's coverage of Wisconsin and Hawai'i, so I missed the spectacle of Chris Matthews grilling my state senator, and former mayor, Kirk Watson on Barack Obama's legislative record. I have seen and heard the clip, though, and you would have thought that Watson was hiding the identity of the second gunman on the grassy knoll and Matthews was going to get it out of him, no matter what. To his credit, though, Sen. Watson makes no excuses on his website, www.kirkwatson.com.

The thing was, though, Matthews missed the entire point in his humiliation of Kirk Watson on national cable television. Voters want to be inspired and challenged this year, and resume is less important. I'll tell you why on the flip...

Chris Clizza is reporting that Sen. Clinton's new "blueprint" consists of:

1. "When this whole process is over on the 7th of June, both candidates will need a number of automatic [super] delegates to clinch the nomination," Ickes said. " We believe Mrs. Clinton will be able to get those."

2. There will be 13 days without a single vote between today and Ohio/Texas -- an opportunity, the Clinton team believes, to make their case for their candidate and against Obama without the distraction of primaries/caucuses. "This is a full chance to lay out the case," said Penn this afternoon.

More...

Thanks for putting this on the rec list! If this thread becomes too unwieldy, Just Another Vet will open a secondary one.

Hi everyone!  I'm opening this thread to liveblog today's Town Hall Meeting with Barack Obama at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas.

The venue seats 19,500 people.  Folks camped out overnight in order to be admitted.  I think we're going to pack this place. Correction: We ARE going to pack this place! People are still lined up around the block and the venue is almost full.  The entire lower level is full and the top level is now halfway full.

I know of at least three of us who were given blogger press passes: myself, Just Another Vet, and Todd with BOR. I haven't seen him yet, but You might go ahead and check BOR during the event in case Todd shows up. Thank you to Debbie from the Obama campaign for hooking the bloggers up with press passes.  

Regardless, JAV and I will liveblog the event for as long as the wireless holds out.  Click on through....

YYEEEEEAAAARRRHHHHH!

Okay folks, since I woke up this morning and WFAA (Channel 8, Dallas) was discussing his upcoming appearances I guess I am cleared to discuss this.

Barack Obama is coming to Texas this week!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to follow up Melody's diary from Tuesday night where she reported about the amazing turnout for Obama in Dallas with a post about our own amazing turnout right next door in Fort Worth.  I'm starting the diary with this picture because this little girl was adorable.  Her entire immediate family was at the meeting and she had a front row seat for our event.

Cross-posted from Burnt Orange Report.

We at Burnt Orange Report endorsed Senator Barack Obama. Read our endorsement here, or on Senator Obama's home page (check the latest news section). Part of our reasons for our endorsement stems from the analysis below.

Key Point: Senator Obama can win Texas if he can hold his own on March 4 with the 126 Delegates that will be allocated based on the votes in Texas' 31 Senate Districts, and then do well (as he has in the past) with the 67 delegates in the caucus-system that will fully be realized at the Texas Democratic Party Convention in June. That's not just spin, folks -- I've looked at all the numbers extensively, and I'm telling you, it's going to happen:

x-posted at Election Inspection, by MattTX

Previously we examined delegate allocation and the caucus process in Texas. The short version:

Texas has 193 pledged delegates, as well as 35 unpledged delegates.

The Statewide Primary vote is merely a "beauty contest" except insofar as it translates into delegates elected in State Senate Districts, or through caucuses (in order to participate in caucuses, you also have to vote in the primary). The winner of the Senatorial District Primaries might not win the majority of Texas' delegates.

126 pledged delegates will be allocated proportionally in 31 separate primary elections conducted in each Texas State Senate District.

67 pledged delegates will be allocated through Texas' caucus system (1st round held in precincts across TX at 7:15PM on 3/4). 42 of these will be "at large" delegates, and will come from ordinary people who participate at their precinct caucuses, while 25 will be party leaders and elected officials (PLEOs).

Delegate predictions below.

update on Feb 9, 2008: Please skip this diary and go straight to the Texas precinct Convention training diary.  It's more timely and relevant at this point.

 I'll state upfront that I'm an Obama supporter. Though pleased with his Super Tuesday wins, I'm not trumpeting his ultimate victory.