Was Michigan really meaningless for Dems?

Exit polls from Michigan's Democratic primary yesterday - the one that didn't count for anything - are providing the first indication that Hillary Clinton may have been hurt by the sniping about race that took place over the weekend on the campaign trail.

Clinton was on the ballot in Michigan against Dennis Kucinich, Chris Dodd (who has already dropped out of the race) and "uncommitted."

Clinton managed to smoke "uncommitted" 55% to 40%, but looking inside the numbers there's some reason for concern for Clinton.

According to the Detroit Free Press, exit polls show 68% of black Michiganders who voted in the Democratic primary chose to vote "uncommitted" while 30% voted for Clinton.

Among women, 71% of white women voted for Clinton, while 34% of non-white women went for the New York senator.

Obama's campaign had urged voters who were in his corner to vote "uncommitted."

The Illinois senator, and former senator John Edwards removed their names from the ballot when the state party was sanctioned by the national party for holding its primary too early, violating national party rules.

There was plenty of good news for Clinton in the exit polls as well.

Voters were asked who they would have voted for if all the candidates had been on the ballot. Clinton prevailed with 46% to Obama's 35%. Edwards finished well back in third at 12%.

I'm not really sure how much can be read into all that, but the black vote can not be seen as good news for Clinton.

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On another matter, we're going to try a "quote of the day" feature. It sounds like fun and just may be, but it could be more time consuming than I can handle, so let's just give it a shot and see how it goes.

Today's quote comes from Karl Rove - who needs no introduction. No longer in the Bush administration - officially at least - Rove has even more time to sling mud than he did when he was a government official. A scary thought.

Check it out in a panel to the right, just under the picture of the White House.