Liveblogging South Carolina Democratic Primary

Let the fun begin. I am watching MSNBC and checking CNN on television and Brave New Films & Young Turks' coverage online.

At 6:02, we should now have exit polls. The results? coming soon...

Matt Stoller, who is on the ground in South Carolina, offers his closing thoughts:

The frame I want to offer is rooted in talking to voters. The primary questions on their mind seems to be who can win the White House, and who can fix what Bush did to the country. It is not which Democratic surrogate said what about which person, and race and gender in the negative sense are annoying everyone, unless it's framed as a positive, in which case all sides are proud that a black man and a woman are running. There is worry about a black man winning the Presidency, and Clinton being polarizing, but it's rooted in electability. These are Democratic partisans.

With Obama up around 12% in polls leading into today, the more exciting question is how well did Edwards do? Can he get past Clinton and take second? Edwards has outspent both Clinton and Obama and we can't ignore the appeal of his economic message.

First exit polls to hit the wire:

6:15	AP exit polls: 75% say country is ready to elect a black President, and the same percentage said the same about a woman.

6:15	AP exit polls: Roughly 80% of Dem voters would be satisfied if Clinton or Obama won the nomination

more to come...

~BT

Tragedy at Virginia Tech will have major implications

At 7:15 yesterday morning, the first shots were fired in what has turned out to be the worst shooting rampage in US history. According to the NY Times:

Thirty-two people were killed, along with a gunman, and at least 15 injured in two shooting attacks at Virginia Polytechnic Institute on Monday during three hours of horror and chaos on this sprawling campus.

There has been some really incredible coverage so far. I just saw a CNN interview with a female student who was able to survive by playing dead in the classroom. She was one of four people to leave her class alive after preventing the shooter from re-entering their classroom by blocking the door.

Even Bush suprised me with this appropriate comment:

"Our nation is shocked and saddened by the news of the shootings at Virginia Tech today...Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning...When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community."

As the story continues to develop, there are still so many unanswered questions:

• Who is the shooter?
• What was the motive?
  
• Were the two bomb threats from last week related to today's incident?
  
• Why wasn't the campus immediately locked down?
• Why weren't students warned sooner?
• Could the second round of shooting have been prevented?
• Was the University and police response bundled?

While the list of questions grows, this tragedy has already had major political implications. It has fully consumed the news cycle for a full day now and will at least continue through the next week as more information slowly comes out.

One major result is that the following stories have been wiped off our television screens and newspapers:

• The bombings in the Green Zone in Baghdad
• The Don Imus extravanga that was just heating up
• The innocence of the Duke lacrosse players
• The Prosecutor Purge and calls for Gonzales' resignation
• Escalating rhetoric between Bush and Congress on Iraq War funding

I had planned to blog about a number of these items and since they have quickly become "old news", I will try to approach them in a more in-depth manner and spend more time on each.

This tragedy also raises some important questions for Penn. What would Penn have done in this situation? Could we h even handle such a major catastrophe?

According to Penn's Division of Public Safety, Penn Police would be prepared for a similar incident. That is crucial because at the end of the day, Penn students are wondering: " what if something like that happened here?" I know I did.

I am definitely confident that DPS has and will continue to work exceptionally hard to ensure our safety. I really hope they actively communicate how prepared they really are and reassure the Penn community.

~BT