Markos: "Obama wins Nevada"

Markos:

So check it out, Obama literally won more delegates in Nevada than Clinton:

A source with knowledge of the Nevada Democratic Party's projections told The Nation that under the arcane weighting system, Obama would win 13 national convention delegates and Clinton would win 12 delegates. The state party has not released an official count yet.

Barack Obama released an official statement celebrating a delegate victory. "We came from over twenty-five points behind to win more national convention delegates than Hillary Clinton because we performed well all across the state, including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled," he said.

And the Obama campaign is milking it, throwing the Hillary campaign's own words against it:

Senator Obama was awarded 13 delegates to Senator Clinton's 12. As Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson said, "This is a race for delegates…It is not a battle for individual states. As David knows, we are well past the time when any state will have a disproportionate influence on the nominating process."

Ha ha ha. As if this thing couldn't get any more absurd.

Update: Since I was obviously not clear enough and many didn't get it, the headline was ironic, the last sentence was supposed to give it away.

Yeah, Hillary won the state. But under her earlier rules, all that mattered was the delegate count. So everyone wins. Or no one wins. Or whatever. Like I said, absurd.

In practical and political terms, Hillary wins. She gets the little checkmark next to her name in the results. Losing the delegate count is inside-baseball. But the delegate thing -- assuming it holds up and confirmed -- is worth a psychological boost to Obama and his supporters.

Update II: The AP has updated its story and is confirming the delegate thing:

"I guess this is how the West was won," Clinton told cheering supporters in Las Vegas. She captured the popular vote, but Obama edged her out for national convention delegates at stake, taking 13 to her 12.

Update III: The percentages reported for this race, by the way, aren't popular vote figures. Truly bizarre. They're based on the number of state delegates awarded. So while no one thinks Obama will win the popular vote, the percentages should be a lot tighter when the actual popular vote numbers are released.

Barack Obama