Did "The Limbaugh Effect" in Indiana Tilt Votes to Hillary Clinton?

The Obama campaign issued an e-mail last night that appeared to relegate Hillary Clinton’s lead in Indiana to efforts by Rush Limbaugh to wreak havoc in the Democratic presidential primary contest. The e-mail is entitled “The Limbaugh Effect in Indiana = 7 percent.” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton wrote: “According to the latest exit polling data, 17 percent of voters in the Indiana primary today said they would vote for John McCain in a Clinton/McCain match-up. Forty-one percent of that number is constituted by people who voted Clinton in the primary but also indicated they will vote for McCain in the general election. That comes out to just under seven percent of the primary electorate the number that may be attributed to a Limbaugh Effect.”

“The Limbaugh Effect” referred to “Operation Chaos,” which the conservative radio talk show host launched early in the primary season to create “balance” in the 2008 primary contest after he said liberal influences helped John McCain emerge as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Limbaugh has said his scheme to tilt the Democratic primary exceeded his expectations. “I see the Obama campaign is saying Operation Chaos accounted for a 7-point bump for Hillary in Indiana. I think they are just jealous that I out-organized them,” Limbaugh told FOX News Tuesday night. “I am extremely proud of Operation Chaos volunteers. I never doubted they would triumph and it is a delight to see.” This is crazy. How can this man get away with deliberately trying to tilt the Democratic nomination process towards a particular direction in favor of John McCain? If this man can get away with this, then the process is very flawed and his intentions are evil.

Indiana holds an open primary, and according to FOX News exit polls, 11 percent of voters in the Democratic contest were Republicans. Fifty-three percent of them said they chose Clinton, while 47 percent voted for Obama. Twenty-three percent of Indiana voters called themselves independents or non-affiliated, and 47 percent said they supported Clinton compared to 53 percent for Obama. Democrats made up 66 percent of voters, and 53 percent voted for Clinton compared to 47 percent for Obama, the exit poll respondents said.

The exit polls showed that in a hypothetical Clinton-McCain matchup, 73 percent of those who voted in the Democratic race said they’d vote for Clinton, compared to 69 percent who said they would choose Obama if he is McCain’s opponent. The big problem is that, of the 19 percent of voters who said they would choose McCain against Obama if that were the general election matchup, only 12 percent voted for Obama in the primary.

So, who knows what the deal is here, but if Rush Limbaugh has so much power to do something so dishonest and dirty, then we must revisit the system because this is voter fraud, plain and simple. We need another scandal involving Limbaugh so the SOB can crawl in a shell and vegetate. It seems as though he is emboldened since the dust from his Viagra scandal has settled. The bottom line is that it is high time for the process to come to an end. Hillary cannot win the nomination through any decent means and though I do not see eye to eye with Obama on some issues, it would be simply a theft of massive proportions to take the nomination away from this man. It is obvious that he weathered the storm with Rev. Wright well and we should move past that now. People just don't want to accept the status quo anymore and rightly so. Did you see Bill Clinton's facial expressions as Hillary gave her speech last night? His demeanor was telling and it seems to me that he has probably accepted the inevitable: Hillary won't win the nomination. Well, next! Just my thoughts, you be the judge....