For most Democrats, the Limbaugh effect involves a barf bag and a bottle of Pepto. In this case, the effect is the same, but the cause is a bit more specific.

Despite what you might be hearing on the cable news channels, Barack Obama won Texas last week, securing more delegates than Hillary Clinton. Sen. Clinton did, however, win the popular vote there by a slight margin. Not really a surprise, she had some help from an unlikely ally.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the impact of Limbaugh's subversion of democracy. Except that they got the winner wrong (Obama won TX), this explains pretty clearly what happened in the Texas primary, and how the Limbaugh Effect helped Hillary Clinton take the popular vote and the primary portion of Texas's hybrid prima-caucus.

Of the 181 voters she personally dealt with, 70 offered that they were “Rush Limbaugh voters” who were there to cast ballots for Clinton. “I’m here to vote for Hillary Clinton, I want to see the Democratic Party implode,” one voter told Kreissl, she recounted in an interview. “I was just stunned,” she said. “As an election official we can’t say anything. We just jot them down and let them vote.”

Kreissl, an Obama supporter, said she kept rough counts, but her fellow poll worker, a Clinton supporter, both estimated that as many as two-thirds of the voters were Limbaugh Republicans turned Clinton voters. About 800 ballots were cast in total there. “I’m an accounting professor, I know numbers pretty well,” she said.

Kreissl worked a 19 hour day to also help organize the caucus event later that night. Similarly, she said she personally checked in 20 Obama supporters and 17 Clinton supporters. Of Clinton’s 17, 10 identified themselves as Rush Limbaugh voters, she said.

She’s convinced the Limbaugh voters turned the tide in favor of Clinton. “I don’t think we were an isolated case by any means,” she said. “I think it was very widespread across the state.”

Now, I know a lot of Republicans. Most of them are good people who play by the rules and believe in fair elections. But I guess there are some who would rather follow Rush Limbaugh into hell than face Barack Obama in November. Maybe the Ohio Limbaugh voters didn't know Rush may have been asking them to commit a felony. Still, it's a moral issue, and they should all know that it was wrong. Shame on them.

Congratulations to Senator Obama on a big 61-38 win in Wyoming the other day, and best of luck in Mississippi today. The Magnolia State will go huge for Obama, particularly after Hillary burned Mississippi with a put-down last year in Iowa. As to the potential impact of the Limbaugh Effect on MS, I haven't heard a peep from the media or the Clintons. Despite the fact that Limbaugh's website depicts the Clintons with the bodies of cockroaches and the heads of Bill and Hillary, they haven't renounced his dirty tactics. I'm not holding my breath.