Philadelphia -- More than cheesesteaks and pretzels

Today I'd like to rant about the media. But since most of them are called "talking heads" for a reason -- it probably isn't entirely their fault.

First -- Texas. Despite what you may have heard about Clinton winning Texas, she won the popular vote, but she LOST the delegate count. And in the same way as one can win the Electoral College and lose the popular vote, the same holds in Democratic primaries. Don't like it? Change the rules -- but these ARE the rules for now. Finally tally of pledged delegates is Obama 98, Clinton 94.

But for some reason the media, DESPITE understanding the process, keeps referring to Clinton as the front runner. Obama is ahead by somewhere between 100 and 150 pledged delegates, ahead in the popular vote, and down on the SuperDelegate count by about 40. Add it all together, and just call me confused.

Here at Ground Zero, there was a big meeting in Philadelphia on Friday -- something called the City Committee. A place where all 60+ ward leaders for the party meet. Bill Clinton came to nail down an endorsement. Bill Clinton, one of the biggest guns in the party. He came with the support of Ed Rendell (PA Governor) and Michael Nutter (Philadelphia mayor). He spoke for well over an hour. The Obama surrogate was Patrick Murphy -- a first term Congressman. From the Philadelphia suburbs in Bucks County. Not the world's greatest speaker. Won his seat 2 years ago by virtue of being and Iraq vet. The City Committee yielded to Murphy's request that no endorsement be forthcoming. As an aside, both Hillary and Obama will be speaking IN PERSON to the City Committee in a few weeks.

Chris Matthews (currently an MSNBC pundit, a Philadelphia local, a speech writer for Tip O'Neill, and brother to a Montgomery County (again, a Philly burb) County Commissioner) -- talked about it. No one else that I could find on the news did. To give you an idea of how important the Philadelphia vote will be in the primary -- Philadelphia Democratic registration in 2007 was equal to 10% of the total (Democratic, Republican + Independent) registration for the entire state. More importantly, registered Democrats are 75% of the Philadelphia electorate. Herewith, the numbers, all based on November 2007 registrations, courtesy of the PA Department of State:

County        Where        Registered Democrats    Percentage of Total

Allegheny    Pittsburgh        542,036            61%

Berks        Phl burb        106,085            45%

Bucks        Phl burb        165,571            40%

Chester    Phl burb         92,317            32%

Delaware    Phl burb        132,783            35%

Montgomery    Phl burb        217,036            40%

Philadelphia    Phl            749,652            75%