Mississippi

Let’s go ahead and pencil in Hillary Clinton as the winner of next month’s Pennsylvania primary. The state is a near-perfect demographic fit for her and the three most recent polls show her ahead of Barack Obama by somewhere between 14 and 19 points.

She absolutely should win Pennsylvania and, assuming she does, it’s easy to anticipate the Clinton campaign’s spin, which will center around the idea that that their candidate has generated a late burst of momentum, and that Obama is ill-suited to lead their ticket in the fall.

But that line is going to be somewhat harder to sell after Obama’s overwhelming win in Mississippi tonight, which, coupled with his similarly dominating victory in Wyoming over the weekend, confirms that his support is largely locked in place—and that his backers will not waver in the face of disappointing primary defeats and negative, panicky press coverage.  read more »

Mississippi offers Barack Obama a chance to reinforce what his dominating victory in Wyoming over the weekend suggested: That Hillary Clinton’s March 4 results have not significantly altered the Democratic playing field.

It is a primary state, which supposedly plays to Clinton’s advantage. But it’s also a heavily black state—36 percent of the overall population and more than half of the Democratic electorate—and black voters have overwhelmingly backed Obama in every contest this year.  read more »

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On Saturday, the 27th annual Mississippi in the Park picnic will be held in Central Park's East Meadow, featuring Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, for native Mississippians now living in the New York area.

Deborah Glick hosts a breakfast before petitioning at the Village Independent Democrats' clubhouse.

On Monday, Manhattan Libertarians meet to nominate local Libertarian candidates.

—Nicole Brydson

Horowitz has this from the Hoftra Arena:

So the delegates are voting ("Lewis County -with more cows than people and the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi proudly supports John Faso"). Faso looks like he is doing very well so far, but the last few counties that voted, especially Manhattan, which is voting now, are going heavily for Bill Weld.

Also, Faso supporters are making themselves heard and seen much more than Weld's, stomping on the bleachers, wearing red baseball caps bearing a white letter F, and waving signs in the delegate seats. Weld's supporters, obviously much more anxious, are responding to the Weld votes with polite applause.

The Empire Zone is saying that Faso appears to be bringing in more than 50 percent.

The Republican primary was supposed to set up as a party insider with heavy establishment support (Weld) against an insurgent with genuinely strong support among the conservative Republican base (Faso).

If Faso gets the commited base and the party - which he seems to be on the verge of doing -- I think it's fair to ask whether Weld has any good options left.

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Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History, 1585-1828 , by Walter A.McDougall.  read more »

Sons of Mississippi , by Paul Hendrickson. Alfred A. Knopf, 343 pages, $26 .  read more »

Great Neck , by Jay Cantor. Alfred A.  read more »

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