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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The 49-State Strategy?I don't expect this to affect Obama's support level, and it at least reflects some sense among his campaign staff: At Obama's Chicago headquarters, advisers said there was no reason to worry — West Virginia was demographically suited to Clinton and won't be part of their general election plans. But the liberal blogs should be up in arms. What happened to the cherished 50-state strategy?
74% of West Virginia Democrats Vote Against Presumptive NomineeThe media have been having fun reporting that something like 25% of Republicans in recent states have been voting against McCain; let's see them do the same for Obama. Nope, it's going to be "You inbred corn cousins, the only way you could vote against the Obamessiah is if thought he was a Muslim." Note, as usual, that it is white Democrats who think this. Matt Yglesias does his best to put lipstick on the pig: What's even more interesting is that no Democrat has won the White House without carrying Minnesota since 1912 (it went for Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose party) so given that Obama won Minnesota and Clinton won West Virginia, McCain is guaranteed to win the general election unless the eventual nominee can somehow completely replicate the social and political conditions prevailing in pre-WWI America. The outlook, in short, is very grim. Sorry, Matt. The issue is not whether you carry Minnesota in the caucuses (not even a primary). The issue is whether you can carry it in the general election. Hillary has a chance in Minnesota; Obama has no chance in West Virginia. It's true that Obama can cobble together an electoral map without WV, but when you say that PA and FL are out too, well, McCain's looking at winning easily. What is amazing is how many people are putting down West Virginia. Check out the (Not-So) Moderate Voice: Because, of course, that is exactly what Hillary is pitching to the Democratic primary voters of West Virginia (and presumably Pennsylvania, Ohio, and soon Kentucky) is that like the “White God-fearing citizens of Rock Ridge,” it is perfectly cool… no, it is laudatory, that they should not wish to live under the governance of a Black man– any Black man. Simple as that. She said it. This is why she should be the choice of the super-delegates, because, despite Obama’s significant lead in delegates and votes, (1) he’s still a Black man and hence cannot win a general election, and (2) his big lead is as a result of overwhelming support among Black voters, who, since they are not the target demographic, should be discounted accordingly. One thing is certainly consistent. The Hillary voters slag Obama and the Obama voters slag the Hillary voters. Aravosis admits what everybody's known for years: the media are in the bag for the Democrats: Why is the media even covering her? The only stories that should be written about Hillary Clinton is how much damage she's causing our party. How she's hurting fundraising at the DNC - they even admitted it, they're not raising the money they need to fight John McCain because of this woman. Labels: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Shocking Racism on the Campaign TrailOh, the humanity! Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.
"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive." Horrible, indeed! Granted, the idea of not voting for Obama based on his color is absurd, but this gal gets the vapors over it. There are some other incidents that are mentioned, but I note there's no discussion of the sexism that Hillary supporters have encountered on the campaign trail.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Ronulans Continue to AmuseAndrew Malcolm looks at their plans to take over the Republican Convention: In the last three months, Paul's forces, who donated $34.5 million to his White House effort and upward of a million total votes, have, as The Ticket has noted, been fighting a series of guerrilla battles with party establishment officials at county and state conventions from Washington and Missouri to Maine and Mississippi. Their goal: to take control of local committees, boost their delegate totals and influence platform debates. Unfortunately, he repeats some old nonsense about how McCain is still not getting 100% of the vote in the Republican primaries: Just take a look at recent Republican primary results, largely overlooked because McCain locked up the necessary 1,191 delegates long ago. In Indiana, McCain got 77% of the recent Republican primary vote, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, who've each long ago quit and endorsed McCain, still got 10% and 5% respectively, while Paul took 8%.
On the same May 6 in North Carolina, McCain received less than three-quarters of Republican votes (74%), while Huckabee got 12%, Paul 7% and Alan Keyes and No Preference took a total of 7%. In fact, many McCainiacs were voting in the Democratic primaries in an effort to throw a monkey wrench into their process. Regardless, the Paulistas are still getting that same 7% or so they were getting back in February. Captain Ed has more: McCain has been winning meaningless primaries by the same percentages that George Bush won them in 2000, and McCain significantly outperformed Paul in the 2000 races. At that time, no one seriously thought that Bush had an insurgent problem with McCainiacs, because he didn’t — and now McCain doesn’t have a problem with Ronulans, either. Winning 8% of the vote in a state where McCain didn’t campaign and where McCain-supporting Republicans crossed over to keep Hillary in the race isn’t impressive, it’s pathetic.  Labels: 2008 Republican Convention, Ron Paul
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