What Hillary's campaign is saying about the Florida results

From Salon's War Room.

Hillary Clinton won a significant victory today in the Florida primary with biggest turnout in Florida Democratic primary history. She will end up with more votes than John McCain, the winner of the Republican primary. And Floridians cast more votes than were cast in Iowa, Nevada, South Carolina, and New Hampshire combined.

A large, broad, and diverse group of voters came out and voted for Hillary in Florida. She won women, men, and just about every age category. She won nearly 6 in 10 Latinos and nearly 3 in 10 African American voters.

The vote turned out to be far more than symbolic. Well over 1.5 million Democrats cast their ballots, more than twice the number of voters who came out to vote in the 2004 primary.

Most of the voters in Florida fully expect that their votes will not be wasted again -- they too have a voice at the convention, and Hillary has asked her delegates to support their being seated.

This result comes after Senator Obama ran TV commercials that reached Florida homes and after the enormous publicity he received for South Carolina and for the Ted Kennedy endorsement. The exit polls show widespread recognition of the endorsement -- but even so among those who decided on Election Day, a plurality of those chose Hillary.

But any momentum seemed to run out today -- among those who decided on Election Day, a plurality of those chose Hillary.

Readers' comments.

842,653 Votes for Hillary in Florida

Sorry, but that's a BIG something in my book. That's 842,653! That's a crazy number. 300,000 more than Obama. She'd be a fool not to fight to have them seated. Not like that will happen, but it's a statement loud and clear. Altogether, 1.5 million people who want their voices heard. Someone should listen.

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It is a big deal

Florida is one of the largest states in the nation, and it is likely to play a pivotal role in the November elections. This is like the biggest, most official, poll that will be done in Florida, and the winner is Clinton. That bodes well for her. The spin, however, is a different matter. It is being played out as "Clinton wins meaningless victory". It would actually be more realistic to assign the "meaningless victory" to South Carolina, since it is unlikely to play any role in the eventual election of a Democratic President. A realistic assessment, however, does not fit the media storyline involving the rise of Obama, so I won't expect to hear it anywhere prominent.