The Electoral College: The Only Thing That Matters Center for Politics

Last week FiveThirtyEight issued a prospective Clinton-Trump presidential election electoral college map that was a blowout for Hillary. Today The University of Virginia Center for Politics revised their May 2015 electoral college projections with a new map today. It doesn't look very different from Nate Silver's.

Today's March 2016 map had Democrats: 347; Republicans: 191; Toss-ups 0

The May 2015 map had Democrats: 247; Republicans: 206: Toss-ups: 85

Chuck Todd is the latest MSNBC host to turn against 'cranky' Bernie Sanders Daily News Bin

MSNBC has been a media machine for the Bernie Sanders campaign. I don't watch Morning Joe anymore, because I just can't deal with the Hillary hate. Being a politics junkie, I do watch the evening shows, as I channel surf. Rachel was put in a state of high embarassment by top Sanders strategist Tad Devine, promising upsets that never happened. Ever hopeful for Bernie, Maddow suspended what used to be a more rational and solidly objective presence at her desk, and bought into the coming "surprise". Her scoop actually had her losing a lot of credibility with Clinton supporters.

Clearly annoyed by Tad Devine's claim that Sanders has won states where he competed and lost states where he didn't, Rachel tore the claim apart on-air, walking through the numbers to demonstrate that the Bernie Sanders campaign invested more time and resources than Hillary Clinton in states like Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Virginia -- states where Clinton was victorious.

Last night Maddow spoke of what she believed was a "substantive difference" between Hillary Clinton, who considers women's rights to be a key issue in the campaign and Bernie Sanders, who appears to consider women's rights as secondary to his Wall Street and income-inequality platform. Bernie's rather dismissive attitude about the priority of Trump's comments about punishing women who would get illegal abortions caused quite major concerns among Democratic women.

Chuck Todd -- no friend to feminism -- suggested that "Sanders is getting cranky" whenever he's asked process questions. Then Todd and Maddow continued.

“Are his campaign and him on the same page?” Todd asked. “This happens a lot. Campaign says one thing, Rachel or myself or someone else presents it to Sanders, and he throws his aides under the bus. It’s just a pattern I’ve noticed with Sanders.” Maddow then suggested that the Sanders campaign message at this point is “I may not win with the people, but maybe I can get the superdelegates.”

Hillary Clinton Uses Trump's Abortion Comments to Hit Sanders CNN

Commentary from Anne's HillaryWomen News page on Facebook

We're evaluating and talking to others about Bernie's comments about abortion and reproductive rights being a less serious issue -- even a distration -- from important topics like income inequaity. Rachel Maddow, one of Bernie's biggest supporters, was quite taken aback last night. As women, we know that controlling fertility is considered to be a higher impact factor on income inequality than minimum wage or bad trade deals.

Sometimes Bernie Sanders reminds us of the doctors who develop drugs and only test them on men, so as to avoid the 'variable' of testing them on women. The impact on women can be very negative.

There is a reason why the 'establishment' endorsed HIllary and not Bernie. It's over comments like these:

Quote: "Clinton, speaking at State University of New York at Purchase, said she knows the Vermont senator "supports a woman's right to choose." But she also questioned his approach to the controversy.

"I want you to hear this because last night, Senator Sanders agreed that Donald Trump's comments were shameful, but then he said they were a distraction from, and I quote, 'A serious discussion about the serious issues facing America,'" Clinton said to boos from the crowd. "To me, this is a serious issue and it is a very serious discussion. I know Senator Sanders supports a woman's right to choose and I also know that Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL endorsed me because I led on this issue."' (End quote)

The endorsements came for Hillary because Bernie failed to repeal the Hyde amendment in all nine versions of his health care plan, unintentionally eliminating not only all coverage for abortion, but morning after pills, IUDs and other forms of contraception. HIllary has called for the repeal of Hyde for a decade.

Search for info on Bernie Sanders positions on 'personhood legislation', and you will be lead to articles on corporations. Search Hillary and you will be taken on Google page 1 articles about Republican legislation wanting to equate the civil rights of women with those of a fertilized egg.

Quote: "Hillary Clinton derided “personhood” legislation as efforts to “outlaw common forms of birth control and ban abortions even in cases of rape or incest.” “Clinton also hit hard on raising the minimum wage, saying it’s a ‘pro-family’ issue — and offered a full-throated defense of legal abortion. ‘Women’s rights are the canary in the mine. If you don’t protect women’s rights here at home and around the world, everybody’s rights are lost,’ she said. ‘You have to ask yourself, do you want a senator who will always defend a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions and won’t ever shame or judge a woman for decisions that are complex and deeply personal, or do you want a senator who will push so-called ‘personhood’ laws that would outlaw common forms of birth control and ban abortions even in cases of rape or incest?’” [The Hill, 10/25/14]

Hillary Clinton Headlines April 1, 2016

Hillary Clinton rally at SUNY Purchase interrupted by Bernie Sanders supporters Syracuse.com

Barney Frank Is Not Impressed By Bernie Sanders, Jon Stewart, Donald Trump, The Big Short . . . Slate

New differences emerge between Clinton and Sanders MSNBC

Clinton faces some echoes of '08 in her Wisconsin fight against Sanders Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel

Hillary Clinton, Live at the Apollo The New Yorker

It's Really Hard To Get Bernie Sanders 988 More Delegates FiveThirtyEight

Hillary Clinton Returns 'Home' to New York The Atlantic

Hillary Clinton was introduced by Representative Charles Rangel at the Apollo Theater in Harlem yesterday. Rep Rangel persuaded Hillary to run for the Senate in 1999. After that Senator Chuck Schumer, the future minority leader -- or majority leader if Hillary has her way -- reviewed Clinton's achievements and accolades as the junior senator from New York.

Clinton’s campaign packed the stage behind her with young women who carried signs that said ‘Welcome Home’ and who chanted, “I’m with her!” and “Madam President!” But the many young faces in the Harlem crowd also highlighted Clinton’s challenge: In New York, the voters most likely to tilt to Sanders are ones who are scarcely old enough to remember Clinton’s tenure as senator.

Michael Tosto, 26, has been backing Clinton from the start. But his friends aren’t. “None of them. That’s the sad thing,” he said after the rally. “It’s the brainwashing of the student loans and the revolution thing.” The same was true for Sam Ackerberg, a law student from Brooklyn. “Most of my peers and most of my Facebook network are supporting Bernie,” he said. “But I’m staying strong.”

Op-ed: I'm a radical, and I support Hillary Clinton Baltimore Sun

Activist and anarchist Emma Goldman once said "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things" after being told off by a fellow anarchist for dancing and enjoying herself when he thought she should be serious and dignified in her role as an agitator. Her response to him boiled down to "if I can't dance, it's not my revolution!"

I'm a 34-year-old, college-educated, radical woman, and I'm tired of hearing and reading about why I should support Bernie Sanders and how my generation has a lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton. I can't dance to Bernie Sanders, but I feel real inspiration about everything that Hillary says and stands for. I refuse to be told how I should think and feel about this Democratic primary.

How Bernie Can Win (But He's Not Going To Like It) Politico

We're so glad to read the age-related data in this article. The media and pollsters have made much of Bernie's popularity with younger voters and Hillary's with older ones. The majority of age analysis has Bernie leading in 45 and younger, and Hillary older than 45. It's not a terribly pretty picture, and it's also not true.

The statistics show incontrovertibly that a dramatic generation gap hovers over the entire Democratic race. Through the March 15 contests, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Sanders has won 71 percent of the under-30 vote. Subtract those votes from the overall raw totals, and you find that Clinton has reaped 65 percent of the 30-plus vote. Sanders brags about his massive youth support, but the reality is that the generation gap cuts in Clinton’s favor. Age was also the difference between Sanders winning Michigan and losing the rest of the Midwest: 45 percent of the Michigan Democratic electorate was under 45 years of age, whereas in Ohio and Illinois, that share was less than 40 percent.

Those numbers tell us that Sanders can’t simply turn up the volume of the attacks on Clinton from the left, as the campaign has signaled to the Washington Post it would do. Such moves will appeal mainly to people already inclined to back him. To outperform the models and reach voters outside of his core constituencies, Sanders needs to change his game and adjust his message.