This is what happens when you diss the caucus states

If you're not a political super-junkie, you might not realize that when Iowa held its caucuses on January 3, that was only the first step in a four step process. The delegates selected on that day were for the county caucuses that happened yesterday. The county caucuses do the exact same thing that they did at the precinct caucuses, with the possibility of people shifting their votes to other candidates. The delegates selected at the county conventions then go on to the district and state conventions, where the actual delegates are selected.

In years past, the county conventions really didn't mean much, since the candidate had pretty much been decided by the time they roll around. In fact, the county convention is usually the step in the process where the presumptive nominee gains all of the Iowa delegates. But this year is anything but ordinary, and a funny thing happened today in Iowa - Barack Obama picked up 9 delegates over Hillary.

From the AP:

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama expanded his fragile lead in delegates over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday, picking up at least seven delegates as Iowa activists took the next step in picking delegates to the national convention.

Half the 14 delegates allocated to John Edwards on the basis of caucus night projections switched Saturday and Obama got most, if not all, of them.

Iowa Democratic Party officials said that with more than 86 percent of the delegates picked, Obama claimed 52 percent of the delegates elected at county conventions on Saturday, compared to 32 percent for Clinton. About 16 percent of the delegates picked at Saturday's conventions were sticking with Edwards, even though he's dropped from the race since Iowa held its caucuses in January.

Democratic Party projections said the results mean Obama increased by seven the number of delegates he collects from the state, getting a total of 23 compared to 14 for Clinton and seven for Edwards, with one to be decided.

I guess saying that a state doesn't count isn't a winning strategy for picking up delegates when every single one matters. Go figure!

Also, a note to the AP - let's not let the Clinton campaign edit your articles anymore, m'kay?

Twelve automatic delegates bring the state's total to 57. Obama has been endorsed by four of those and Clinton three, with the remainder uncommitted.

No matter how many times Mark Penn & Co say it, they are not "automatic delegates," they are "superdelegates," and undemocratic.