…but by how much?

9:00 - Good evening, everyone! I’ll be taking over blogging duties for the next couple of hours. At this hour, Senator Clinton has been projected as the winner, and though the totals are varying every time they check in on them, right now it stands at Clinton 53%, Obama 47%

9:02 - Clinton’s in a lot of debt, wow. And Obama’s sitting on 40 million dollars? Holy crap. I like the “Race for the White House” team. That’s not true. I like Rachel Maddow and Eugene Robinson.

9:05 - Tim Russert talking about the battleground that will be the Dem race in Indiana. For the record, very early in this coverage, Pat Buchanan referred to said state as “all Bibles and guns.” When asked to comment, my Hoosier friend said, “I swear to God, I’m going to shoot that man.”

…I’ve been sitting on that line for about three hours. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much.

9:11 - I’m psyched about the new “The Insiders” segment, because it means I can totally mute Joe Scarborough without worrying about missing quality time with Rachel or Gene.

Ok, except I’ve been watching them anyway, at least sporadically tonight, and what the heck is with Joe and his insistence upon role-playing with Harold Ford? You know what, I … I actually don’t want to know.

9:15 - I like that they have a ton of views on call for these nights, but my god, the way the amount of actual on-screen time is allocated is just … so lopsided.

Whenever Keith sits at that desk, he looks … hm. I want to say “burnished.”

Chuck Todd is there, with the math that says: pledged delegate-wise? It’s actually nigh on impossible for Barack Obama to lose his lead. Keith double checks for clarity on what Todd’s saying, that Hillary has to win 80% of the remaining pledged delegates in order to take the lead.

Keith likes saying “Spin-sylvania.” Maybe not as much as he likes saying “Bushed,” but … it’s certainly up there.

9:27 - Keith describes the Clinton campaign’s definition of success as a “movable feast of goalposts” that builds up the public’s perception of her as a fighter. Matthews says this resonates with older white women as a response to men having moved the goalposts to their [women’s] disadvantage in the past. Keith makes the best momentarily baffled face ever, says basically “mkay, I don’t disagree with you, but …” and moves on.

Rachel Maddow agrees with Keith re: perception of Clinton as a fighter. David Gregory makes the media’s brajillionth Rocky analogy and wow am I never ever going to watch that movie again. Pat Buchanan is stymied as to why Obama had so much support and the media’s apparent support, and yet couldn’t “close the deal” and beat Clinton in Pennsylvania.

“There is no connection between his ability to beat Hillary Clinton and his ability to beat John McCain.” - Rachel

“Marxist dialect”!!!! Oh my god, Pat Buchanan, how do you do this AS YOUR JOB?

As Gene and Rachel try to shout logic loud enough to drown out the sound of Pat’s voice, there’s a quick shot of Keith’s hand hovering over his little bell. No, that’s not a euphemism.

9:40 - with 25% reporting, the numbers stand at 54% Clinton, 46% Obama. Exit polls show that a quarter of Clinton voters would vote for McCain if Obama ended up being the Dem nominee, and 18% would just not vote. Sixteen percent of Obama supporters would vote for McCain if Clinton was the nominee, with 13% saying they’d sit out.

100% of people who are me want to smack everyone who’d vote for McCain over their favored Dem candidate, with a similar percentile feeling the urge towards bodily harm for those who’d let their vote go uncounted in a fit of sour grapes.

9:50 - HEY, person at MSNBC, whoever you are - stop typing so loud. It sounds like you have corn chips taped to your fingers.

9:55 - After Chris Matthews sneezes, Keith asks him if he’s ok, if he needs a grape (oy). Chris says, “I’ve had enough grapes, buddy.”

10:04 - A Philadelphia Story reference. Can’t believe it took this long.

Listening to Chris Matthews for this long has made me sleepy and annoyed. He, Scarborough, and Pat are just this … Cerberus of obnoxious.

10:12 - Keith throws to the panel, promising to “keep the bell sheathed for the moment.” Not helping my “not a euphemism” claims there, big guy.

10:25 - There’s a guy behind Hillary wearing red boxing gloves and a tight purple v-neck sweater. Bold sartorial choices, sir.

10:37 - Aaaaaaaaaand Clinton’s done, in a hail of confetti and to the strains of that John Mellencamp song from the Chevrolet commercials. Chris brings up the good point that it’s totally breaking with precedent for the winning candidate to make their speech first (true, how can the winner cut off the loser if they go first?!)

With 74% reporting, it’s still 54% Clinton, 46% Obama.

Tom Brokaw points out Governor Corzine on stage with Clinton, seemingly over his crisis of loyalty. Brokaw says his standing behind Clinton is a strong message to New Jersey voters. Yeah, well, if I’d ever stood behind Corzine for anything, that might actually mean something.

The NYT editorial Tim Russert’s talking about: The Low Road to Victory

10:43 - My ass is numb and I almost just choked to death on matzoh shrapnel. Thank god I’m almost done, here.

10:44 - Obama is getting up on stage to THE SAME GODDAMN MELLENCAMP SONG.

10:46 - Ahahahaha, Obama actually has MR. & MRS. MELLENCAMP IN THE BUILDING. Fantastic.

I think I prefer Clinton’s purple shirt boxing gloves guy to the trio of Abercrombie & Fitch’ed out dudes behind Obama. That said, I can’t listen to Clinton speak after a victory, and Obama speak after a loss, and understand for one second that this race has shaken out as it has so far, for so long.

11:00 - That’s it for me tonight. I’ll see you back here for Wednesday’s night’s Countdown.