Final Stand

March 4th looks to be it. While I'm disappointed in Hillary's poor showing of late, at least we got a real primary this time around and we can all hope it's made whoever should win a better general election candidate that Walnuts McCain.

Electability

It's certainly true that at this moment Obama does better than Hillary vs. McCain. But the Obama campaign is kidding themselves if they think electability is one of Hillary's strong suits. For a lot of Democrats that normally might be inclined to support Hillary, the fear is she will unite the Republicans against her if she gets the nomination - including a number of Republicans who aren't so excited about voting for McCain. The reason Hillary is still standing, despite Obama's cash advantage and the press being passionately on his side, is that she clearly is more experienced and people believe that she'd make a good president while some worry the same may not be true for Obama. Electability is really a small issue that cuts both ways. The central dynamic is still inspiration vs. experience.

Bling

Roaming the blogosphere tonight I see that everyone is once again starry eyed by the amount of money that can be raised online. Look - I realize it's symbolic of a wealth of support if a candidate can pull in the kind of small dollar contributions Obama has managed to pull in. But what matters at the end of the day are votes cast. And recent history (*cough John Kerry vs. Howard Dean *cough or even, dare I say it, Ron Paul) tends to suggest that an ability to take in small dollar contributions online has almost no connection to vote getting power.

Simple answers to simple questions

Atrios wonders:

The question really is about why Obama can raise $5 million in a day and (presumably) Clinton can't.

Because the media has portrayed Obama as the winner in every contest since New Hampshire.

Going forward

The big states yet to vote are Ohio and Texas (Mar. 4) and Pennsylvania (Apr. 22). Hillary has the support of both governors Strickland (OH) and Rendell (PA). What should be news right now is that despite his huge victory in South Carolina, Obama was only able to fight Hillary to a draw. Now the race heads to states far more friendly to Hillary: Texas with it's large number of hispanic voters, and Pennsylvania and Ohio with their large numbers of white, middle class, blue collar voters.

Point is, Obama was at his peak heading into Super Tuesday after a big win in South Carolina and a lot of negative press surrounding the Clintons. Yet, couldn't win a single large state. This isn't to suggest he can't go on to win, but the media might, for once try analyzing this race from some place other than David Axlerod's mustache.

...I just realized that I pretty much echo a Mark Penn press release from earlier today. But what he says is true. Despite the enormous media hoopla after both Obama's Iowa win and South Carolina victory, he simply hasn't lived up to the hype when the actual voting takes place.

A vote for universal health care

If you want it, you'll vote for Hillary. If you don't, you'll vote for Obama.

Krugman:

If Mrs. Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, there is some chance — nobody knows how big — that we’ll get universal health care in the next administration. If Mr. Obama gets the nomination, it just won’t happen.

Tuesday

McCain will win big clinching the nomination. Hillary will win a majority of Super-Tuesday delegates, but Obama will do well enough to continue the campaign into March.

Post-debate

Hillary was again sharper and more succinct on policy and on how to affect the changes needed to take the country forward again. And we all know Obama is the more inspirational speaker. So the choice is clear - inspiration or experience?

After Bush, I'll take experience.

Who would have thought?

It's the week before Super Tuesday and the Republicans have their presumptive nominee while the Democratic Party is in turmoil.

Count me less than thrilled at this turn of events.

Go Mitt GO!

Florida votes tomorrow.

Endorsements mean nothing

Remember Howard Dean? Jimmy Carter essentially endorsed him on the even of the Iowa caucus, Gore and Bradley (together!) several weeks before that. What did it do?

Zip.


Every Obama victory will be played back as an exciting, historic moment, every Hillary victory as some kind of abberration. And so it goes.

The Ultimate Foil

Could Mitt win Florida?? Rasmussen has him beating McCain 27-23 with Giuliani at 20.

Go Mittens!

MoDo to the rescue

Of course we should all read and believe what she says!


...wtf is so seemy about B. Clinton raising questions about Obama's opposition to the war? Most columns from Maureen Dowd are far worse.

Um, no

Sorry, but this guy is an idiot:

“Bill Clinton seems to not be in his traditional mode,” said Jack Bass, an authority on Southern politics at the College of Charleston, who has observed Mr. Clinton for more than 30 years. “I’ve just never seen these negative emotions in public before. I know he has a temper, but this confrontational attitude with journalists, and the anger itself, is surprising to me.”

Do I really need to refute this? What about Big Dog's interview on Fox early last year where he excoriated Chris Wallace? Or there were his numerous run-ins with the media and Ken Starr during the Lewinsky scandal. It's hardly a secret that Bill Clinton has strong emotions and isn't afraid to air them out in public. If we're going to waste all this ink and spend all this oxygen demanding that our politicians tell us what they really think then let's not bash a guy who gets a little hot under the collar while defending his wife, mmmk?

Endorsed

The Grey Lady comes out in favor of the Senator from New York.