On the Ground in Pennsylvania - Same as it Was

2:55PM I made it. On the way in, I saw a heavy Hillary presence, and I realized, all of a sudden, that there are gonna be lots of women here. Awesome! Lucky for me, the good folks at Axe Body Spray heard my plea last week, and are rushing me a re-up.

I saw 1 Obama van on the way in, and I heard some drive-by chatter on the street. A man in a wheelchair said he couldn't wait to see the look on Hillary's face, but I didn't catch the rest.

I made a friend. That's Leigh Ann Caldwell from Pacifica Radio. She is graciously tolerating my hyper-puppy-journalist act, while trying to meet a deadline.

I will be here at the Park Hyatt and surrounding environs for the duration. The WiFi may be spotty, so I might have to get resourceful. Diana, Tom, Katherine, and the other "Regulars," if you would provide updates in the comments on returns, that would be AWESOME!

3:08PM I've gotta go get "magged," which I hope is just hard-guy slang for going through a metal detector.

3:21PM By the way, as I was just telling John Micek of The Morning Call, I think it is really bad form for Obama to split town to Indiana before the results are in. I didn't like it when Hillary did it in NC, and I don't like it now. I don't know what they spent their money on, but it should've been on the ground.

OK, I'm going to try and do the odd video update, and if all goes well, they will appear in the player below as I do them. Go to after the jump for more text updates tonight.
11:45PM Video update! OK, I gotta pack up here. Check back tomorrow for the rest of my pictures, video, etc., and I'll try to make sense of the world.

11:28PM The projection now is a 10 point margin, but I understand Philadelphia hasn't reported yet.

11:21PM I also spoke briefly with Kim Fremont Fortunato, President of Operation Warm. They give warm coats to needy children. I told her about the Hillary supporters who say they will vote for McCain if Hillary is not the nominee, and I asked her what she would say to them.

"I would say 'Support your party, support the Democratic nominee."



11:11PM Her name is Gwen Richmond, and she went to high school with Hillary. I got some cellphone video, which I'll put up when I can. She was nice, very excited. She said if we don't get a woman now, we never will. I hope that's not true.

A Hillary supporter just busted into the press room, joyfully rattling off info about the margin and the spending, and all the reporters yelled at her. I'm gonna go find her.

I said a quick "Hi" to Andrea Mitchell. She's one of the few TV people who does all the conference calls.

Obama is speaking. I'm working on pictures. I'm curious if he congratulates Hillary. Man, reporters are like piranhas! All the sausage is gone.

10:43PM An 8 point margin is annoying. It's almost the perfect margin to change absolutely nothing about this race. The overwhelming feeling from the Hillary supporters I spoke to is that there needs to be a joint ticket, and that the defeated candidate's supporters need to vote for the eventual Democratic nominee.

10:31PM I took a bunch of picures of the speech, now I'm back in the press room. Denise, I just got your email, yeah, I need a coupla Tylenols.

Ha, someone on CNN just complimented Hillary for "not eviscerating" Obama. Cool! Free pizza!

9:05PM By the way, you guys are really helping me out. For some reason, I can publish, but I'm not getting any other sites and we only have CNN in the press room.

9:02PM So much is happening here. Sandy Clark in the comments says ABC called it for Hillary, I know Dave has Fox calling it, too. I'm gonna try to read thru some comments, but I will definitely be writing more after Hillary speaks.

8:54PM The Hillary crowd on the risers keeps cheering for no reason and making me run in there. I got to meet Audrey, one of the press office girls that I talk to a lot, and her boyfriend. She said they really love me over there.


7:56PM I shot the breeze for a minute with The Economist's Steve Stromberg. He admitted to me that his entire belief system was a farce. Not.

7:55PM I see Dave is ready for a live results thread, that's cool. Just between us, I've heard that 4 pt early margin a few places. I'll keep an eye on the faces around here.

7:52PM OK, this is how it's done. I snuck into the traveling press room and swiped some deluxe eats, chit-chatted with Dana a little more, met Ann Kornblut, a writer I really respect, and I talked Craig Crawford's ear off in the parking garage.

It is the eve of the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary, and all of the pundits are bundled snugly in their beds, or stalactites for the conservatives, murmuring blissful non-sequiturs like, "BitterGate," and "Tuzla," and "More Parks sausages, Mom...please?"

The voters of Pennsylvania, of course, are lying awake, clutching a Bible in one arm and a Smith & Wesson in the other, enjoying their last few hours of relevancy before the carnival moves on to the next town, leaving a trail of candy apple wrappers and damp piles of sawdust in its wake.

My colleagues and I have done what we can to pick this all apart, and we will continue to do so all day tomorrow. I will be in Philadelphia all day tomorrow covering the primary from the belly of the beast. Check back here for updates tomorrow, as we find out if this is the end for Hillary Clinton's candidacy, or if she pulls a huge win to stay in and fight another day. Will Barack pull a miracle upset and win the state, or come close enough to make the remaining Superdelegate dominoes fall?

Here's a medley of Keystone-related videos to get you in the mood. See you back here tomorrow.

OK, live updates continue below:

3:35PM There should be a video up soon. I'm gonna mingle a little, and then I will check comments. Exciting!

By the way, I'm not kidding about Axe, that Shauna Alexander is, like, Kathy Bates from Misery. Every time I make a joke about Axe, they send me a bunch of free stuff. I'm wearing my credentials on an Axe lanyard! I should start cracking wise about Ferraris.

5:20PM OK, I was just on a line with the world's meanest lady. Look, it's a line, you gotta wait on it. Probably a New Yorker.

So, I got some pictures, which I am tagging and will upload momentarily. I will move them around a little when there's more space.

Yes, I met Dana Milbank, but we only talked off the record, like pals do. Sorry. I told him about my brief interview with Carville.

I talked to Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone. Did you know he's 38? I guess Rolling Stone isn't the anti-establishment mag it used to be.

Still no Hillary sightings, but I did befriend a Secret Service agent named Scott. Well, he said his name was Scott. Not very Secret of him. Wouldn't it be funny if those guys had to wear Secret deodorant? It is strong enough for a man.

Kevin Martin is an 18 year-old Obama supporter I met in front of the hotel. He said he hopes Obama and Hillary end up on the same ticket, that it would be a guaranteed win.

5:55PM By the way, they have free food and drink. They even have endive! Now who's elitist?

6:06PM I just talked to Noah from The Uptake, and he says he's hearing that turnout so far is nothing to write home about. That could be the narrative to emerge here, that voters are tired of the constant flaming mud being slung, and they yearn for a time when the Democrats were all holding hands and singing "Kum Ba Ya."

I wanted to do a video update to respond to comments, but it's not working right now. I am reading them. By the way, Diana, remember what I told you about Wegman's? This place gives it a run for the money.

Tom, I got rid of those spam posts. Hi, Joe Denver, Old Lady USA, Alicia, Tzada, keep the comments coming. I am completely cut off here. When I came back in, the lady on line in front of me was soooo mean. So I talked to her anyway. Then she was really mean. Some people just don't like to be cheered up. I took a picture of her, but only the empty mirror behind her showed up.

A reporter from Nippon TV just claimed the seat next to me (that I was secretly saving for Chelsea).

I'm going to head out to the street again, see what I can see. JoeD, sorry, I know I left a lot of good peeps off that list. See you guys in a bit, keep the news coming.

7:00PM There's some scuttlebutt around here that some early exits have Obama within 4 points. At this point, the trend becomes important.


7:37PM Been milling around some more. Most everyone here is really friendly.

I also said "hi" to Craig Crawford, who says Hillary needs at least a 200,000 vote margin here to stay in the hunt for the popular vote lead.

I talked a bit with Jim Axelrod from CBS, he's from Highland Park, NJ, so I trash talked about my HS football team owning his.

All of you Hillary supporters should be happy to know I've found The First Obama Sobriety Test. After 3 great videos of crazed Hillary fans, I got a chance to shoot firsthand a very interesting Obama fan. Unfortunately, I don't have a firewire, so you'll have to wait for Videos of the Week for that.

7:51PM OK, I'm stupid and have been doing this wrong all along. I'm moving the updates to the top of the page from now on.