Missouri Primary

UPDATES BELOW

There are a lot more people on the ballots than we get to see debate.  What a way to run a country.

No one state is a perfect proxy for the U.S. economy, but Missouri comes pretty close. Its poverty rate is a bit higher than the country’s; its unemployment rate is lower. It has two relatively big cities but also a substantial rural population. In terms of income and education, it’s right about average. Missouri wasn’t hit as hard by the recession as many states, but its recovery has been relatively weak.

  538

UPDATE:

It could be a long night of vote counting in Missouri and Illinois. Based on the gender split in preliminary exit polls, Trump narrowly leads Cruz 40-36 in Illinois, with about 20 percent of the vote for Kasich. In Missouri, Cruz has a very narrow 42-40 lead over Trump from the exit polls.

The Democratic side is just as close, although with good early news for Sanders. He leads Clinton by 4 points in the Missouri exit poll, and by 3 points in Illinois.

  538

The pundits seem to be in denial about Bernie Sanders. He couldn't win Michigan. But he did. He couldn't win Missouri and Illinois. But...he's ahead in the exit polls.  *

(Missouri primary results from the Missouri Secretary of State can be found here.  Only 20 of 3041 precincts reported at 7:45 pm CST.)

* And check this out:

Who do Americans think would be the most trustworthy person to lead the nation’s military? The answer may surprise you. According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, the highest-scoring candidate for the post is Democrat Bernie Sanders, who wins a total of 38 percent of those surveyed among Democrats, Republicans and independents. Hillary Clinton also beats out her Republican rivals, placing second with 31 percent overall.

  Reuters

UPDATE 9:00PM:

When I checked in with the State of Missouri results at 7:45pm, with 20 precincts reporting (small counts, rural areas I'm guessing), Hillary had twice the votes that Bernie had.  At around 8:15, she had about 11,000 votes to his 8,000 with 300+ precincts reporting.  Now, at 9:15, with 1054 of 3041 precincts reporting, Bernie has 71,275 to Hillary's 64,578.

9:45 pm:

Bernie Sanders:  131,834
Hillary Clinton:  113,937

Unfortunately, it looks like Missouri is the only state with a primary today that's going for Sanders.

UPDATE: 3/16

Well.  She pulled it out in the end.  Hillary: 310,602.  Bernie: 309,071.  So very narrow.

Trump (382,093) eked out a win over Cruz (380,367). Who is the lesser of two evils there?  The Missouri Republican party has a convoluted way of dividing up delegates.

If a single candidate gets more than 50 percent of the state's overall vote, that person will receive all 52 delegates. However, if none of the four contenders have a clear majority, it will turn into a winner-take-most situation, with 12 delegates being awarded to the Republican with the most votes in the state, and the remaining 40 split up by congressional district (the winner of each district receiving five delegates).

  Bustle

A little better than "winner take all" - but just another example of how the game is rigged, and your vote really isn't what you think it is. Or what it should be, perhaps I should say.

What a way to run a country.

UPDATE 3/18:

Since the vote was so close, Bernie Sanders could have asked for a recall.  He said he'd "prefer to save Missouri taxpayers the money."  Delegates will be evenly split, but Hillary will get a bonus 2 for having been the winner.

It's interesting to see that St. Louis and Kansas City both went with Hillary while surrounded by more rural counties who went with Bernie.  Also interesting that the county housing the state capitol went for Bernie.  (Perhaps those people are too close to politicians and the way things are run.)  It would be more interesting to understand what is happening in the counties that caused the people to go whichever way they did.  I don't have an answer.