Today's Fresh Meat

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

In one of the hottest contests of the night, Hillary Clinton defeated Barack Obama by a solid ten-points in California yesterday, although Obama made up for the loss with upset wins inConnecticut and Missouri, the Los Angeles Times reports. Clinton openedup a sizable lead early in the evening, but saw it cut in half asprecincts more favorable to Obama came in.

One of the storylines that was sure to emerge out of last night's splitverdict for the Democrats was each campaign's attempt to spin theresult to its advantage, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.Winning California gives Clinton bragging rights, but Obama won more states—13 to her 11—and more states that will be in play in November, like Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. Even the delegate count is looking about even.

In California, "Clinton country" meant women, Latinos, Asian-Americans, gays, older folks and theworking class; Obama racked up wins in much of Northern California butlost in the voter-rich Southern part of the state, according to theChronicle. Obama's coalition of African-Americans, white men,independents, liberal Democrats and the affluent and highly educatedwas not strong enough to overcome Hillary's demographic advantage.

On the Republican side, the picture is much less murky: if Mitt Romney is truly a manager-type who "looks at the number," hewill drop out—if he couldn't take on John McCain by now, he never will.The Sacramento Bee reports that McCain won California decisively andwill take a large chunk of delegates. He ran strong in other big statesaround the country too.

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Photo courtesy of ABC News.