All through last evening as the election results were being reported, a number of people asked where CNN came up with their PA election results. Now we know - they cooked the numbers to give Hillary Clinton a 10% victory, not only by rounding up the percentages incorrectly but by manipulating the actual raw numbers or (more likely) by simply manufacturing them out of thin air. Here are the CNN numbers:
Clinton: 1,258,245 (54.6%) = 55%
Obama: 1.042,297 (45.3%) = 45%
The actual difference in percentages is 9.3%, therefore it should be rounded to 9% (99% districts reporting). But if the rounding out of percentages is done before the percentages are subtracted, we get a nice rounded number of 10%. But more egregious is how the numbers of votes that each candidate received are being reported - they simply cannot be correct, since they don't exist. It is a classic example of lies, damned lies and statistics.
CNN numbers: http://edition.cnn.com/...
Here is the PA primary election results as reported by the Pennsylvania Department of State this morning (99.34% districts reporting), the official reporting body. (Note: these numbers will change as more numbers are reported later today, but it will not negate what is being discussed here):
Link: http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/
President of the United States
Democratic Primary
Candidate Votes Percent
CLINTON, HILLARY (DEM)
1,237,696 54.3%
OBAMA, BARACK (DEM)
1,043,174 45.7%
First of all, the margin of victory is 8.6%, which rounded out would be 9% victory and not a 10% margin. Secondly, notice the difference in Hillary Clinton's numbers: she received 20,549 more votes than has been recorded thus far by the State Department's unofficial tally, while Barack Obama received 433 fewer votes. Where did the CNN numbers come from? It most likely came from back computing the numbers to give the desired result of a 10% victory to Hillary Clinton. That's easily done with a help of a programmable hand calculator with a simple election night algorithm.
Most noteworthy are the districts that have not yet completed recording their votes. They are mostly in the following counties: Philadelphia, Delaware, Chester and Lancaster (97 - 99% completed) that are part of the western suburbs of Philadelphia, where Obama won by margins of 55 - 45% to 65 - 35%. Thus, most of the currently uncounted votes should belong to Obama and not to Hillary, as is implied by the CNN numbers.
I believe that CNN should give us a thorough and honest account of how they came out with their election night results, which unfortunately are now being cited by many news outlets as their sole source of 'reliable' information, e.g, the New York Times.