Sitting Here in Limbaugh

The quasi-conservative entertainer Rush Limbaugh had a plan. Up until the Texas primary, he'd been urging his Texas radio audience, who proudly call themselves "ditto-heads," to place a vote in the state's election for none other than Hillary Clinton. His aim is to hand the New York Senator a victory in the Lone Star state, and thus prolong the Democratic contest.



As my colleague Tommy Christopher reported yesterday, the theory is that the longer Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama go at it, the better chance John McCain has of winning. Ever creative in his choice of words, Rush's flourish was especially priceless:

"We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically. It's obvious the Republicans are not going to do it, they don't have the stomach for it."

So, here comes Limbaugh and his legendary stomach to the rescue. This is, of course, not the first time that Rush has advocated a tactical vote for Clinton, but he does seem to have softened on the idea of a McCain presidency. Back when Mitt Romney was still hanging on by a thread, Limbaugh put the choice this way:

"If I believe the country will suffer with either Hillary, Obama or McCain, I would just as soon that the Democrats take the hit . . . rather than a Republican causing the debacle."

In other words, vote for a Democrat so that he or she will be saddled with all of the crappy stuff that's going to happen because of the preceding Republican president's incompetence so that another Republican can be elected later.

So will this electoral three-card-monte actually work? Texas was an open prima-caucus, so Republican "ditto-heads" were free to follow their fearless leader in whatever manner prescribed. His show is a big deal in Texas, McCain has things sealed up, so why not keep things festering in the rival camp?

Maybe that's why Barack Obama had been advertising on Rush's show.

But how did Rush's dastardly plan work out? Well, exit polls show that 10 percent of those who voted in the Texas Democratic contest were Republicans. That seems significant, but, then again, that's the same percentage of GOP'ers who voted in Ohio. More number crunching will be necessary to decide whether or not those Republicans voted decisively for Clinton.