"I'm winning the popular vote" is the new "Iraq had WMD"

You know, I really, really don't want to write about Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign anymore. She lost. It's over. I want to focus on McCain and the Republicans.

But, the Clinton campaign spinmeisters just can't help themselves. The latest whopper is her oft-repeated claim that she's won the most popular votes. It's not true -- and it wouldn't matter if it were true. Hillary told us tonight that she's been told that she's received more votes than any other Democrat who has run for the nomination. Not true, unless the votes are counted her exact way and some states aren't counted at all. Will this never end? Just because they keep repeating this new lie over and over and over, doesn't make it true.

Markos explains how the Clinton campaign fudges the numbers to give her the popular vote lead. Team Clinton has to do some contortions that no one else takes seriously:

A reminder -- the Clinton campaign keeps claiming that they lead in the popular vote. Just a reminder that the only reason they can do that, is to claim that Obama got zero votes in Michigan, and that voters in Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington don't count.

I don't understand how they and Hillary herself can make that claim with a straight face.

Josh Marshall deconstructs Terry McAuliffe's talking point along the same lines:

Even if you change the rules and fully seat Michaigan and Florida and count them for the popular vote totals and don't count any portion of the Michigan "uncommitted" (which were understood a the to be for Obama) vote for Obama, Hillary is still behind in the popular vote total. The only way she moves ahead in popular vote is if you do all that and don't count four of the caucus states.

Some stuff is just too ridiculous to let pass. You just have to assume this is just Terry's nonsense.

It is ridiculous. And, it is nonsense.

When the only way Hillary can say she won the popular vote is to count an election where no one else was on the ballot while ignoring other states, well, that kinda speaks for the desperation of the Clinton campaign.

Fortunately, Obama can make a valid claim tonight that he's gotten the majority of pledged delegates. While we know that Team Clinton never really understood the delegate math, it is the delegates that ultimately matter. And, there's no way the superdelegates are going to overturn the will of the pledged delegates. Not going to happen.

Obama speaks at 10:30 PM Eastern.