Vote '08

Listen to what she said this week to USA Today:

Yes, she played the race card: Several critics from around the political spectrum - from the New York Times’ editorial page to the Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan - say she did unnecessarily inject race into the campaign, as a last-ditch effort to derail Obama’s likelihood of being the nominee.

No, she didn’t play the race card: The counterargument is she’s merely reading from an AP story that (correctly) outlined how Clinton did vastly better than Obama in winning over white Democratic voters.

We tend toward the former. Although it’s entirely likely she wasn’t deliberately intending to make this point, there is a better-than-average chance that this is part of her subconscious belief it’s why she can win. This campaign has already created several scabs on the racial front that aren’t worth picking.

Other thing, too — imagine either Obama or McCain bragging about how they can bring members of their own race to their side. Unthinkable.

What do you think? Please weigh in by posting a comment!

• “I, as you know, have great fondness and great respect for Sen. Clinton and I’m very loyal to her. Having said that, I’d like to talk with her and [get] her view on the rest of the race and what the strategy is.” - California Senator & Clinton supporter Diane Feinstein
• “[Clinton adviser Harol] Ickes said that seating Florida and Michigan — and assigning delegates according to the January voting — was part of a broader strategy to bring Clinton within 100 delegates of Obama. Then she would continue to press her case with superdelegates — party insiders whose votes will decide the nomination — that they should give her the nomination because she could pose a stiffer challenge to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.” - the L.A. Times
• The 5 Mistakes She Made on the Campaign Trail by Karen Tumulty of Time Magazine
  
• “Gen. Douglas MacArthur said that every military defeat can be explained by two words: “too late.” Too late in anticipating danger, too late in preparing for it, too late in taking action. Clinton’s political defeat can be similarly explained — too late in recognizing that the electorate does not acknowledge her entitlement to the presidency, too late in understanding that she had a serious challenger, too late in anticipating that she would not dispatch Barack Obama by Super Tuesday (Feb. 5), too late in planning for the special challenges of caucus states, too late in channeling her inner shot-and-a-beer hard hat.” - George Will
• “Every time Barack Obama’s pastor got him in trouble, Hillary Clinton bailed him out.” - Joan Vennochi, Boston.com
• “Would Sen. Clinton take [the VP slot]? I think if it was offered in the right way, yes.” - ABC’s George Stephanopoulos
• “Mike Huckabee felt similarly justified in staying in the race for the Republican nomination until John McCain reached the majority threshold required for nomination…. He chose to run a positive campaign. He didn’t knock McCain. He just articulated the case for his own candidacy. But Hillary won’t avail herself of that option because it does not serve her long-term fallback position: a shot at the nomination in 2012.” - Former Clinton adviser & current GOP strategist Dick Morris
• “Clinton is not campaigning to be the Energizer Bunny, which, against all odds, keeps mechanically bobbing forward and backward because, darn it, the batteries still work. She has talked in recent days about being a fighter. Fighters may never give in, but sophisticated leaders do.” - Editorial for the Seattle Times
• “As we enter the final four weeks of this contest, let’s keep working our hearts out.” - Hillary Clinton on her campaign website’s blog

What do you think she should do? Post a comment! Which above statement do you agree with or identify with the most? Come on, please post a comment. If you read this blog, you need to weigh in here. Your e-mail or identity will not be revealed to the world. Sound off! Tell us what you think! Come on! Be a part of democratic discourse! It doesn’t have to be long - just one sentence will do! Please?

Finally, from Craigslist-DC, posted yesterday: 

  SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Former Sen. George McGovern, who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton, is urging her to drop out of the Democratic presidential race.
      McGovern said Wednesday he has decided to endorse Barack Obama.
      After watching the returns from the North Carolina and Indiana primaries Tuesday night, McGovern says it’s virtually impossible for Clinton to win the nomination.
      McGovern says he is calling former President Clinton to tell him of the decision and adds that he remains close friends with the Clintons.

& don’t forget - it’s because of the work of George McGovern [both behind the scenes & on the campaign trail in 1972] that the Democratic party finds itself in the current superdelegate mess…

  WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has lent her presidential campaign $6.4 million over the past month, a campaign aide says.
The money more than doubles Clinton’s personal investment in her bid for the Democratic nomination. She gave her campaign $5 million earlier this year.
Clinton has been struggling financially behind the record fundraising of her Democratic rival, Barack Obama.
Obama has routinely outspent her in primary after primary. Clinton’s campaign reported raising $10 million online after her victory April 22 in Pennsylvania. But Obama has shown little difficulty tapping his vast network of donors. He spent more than $7 million on advertising head of Tuesday’s primaries in North Carolina and Indiana to her nearly $4 million.

Hillary Clinton can’t close the deal, & her prospects for securing the Democratic nomination are slimmer as of this morning.

Exit poll results here. Interesting tidbits:

• The college student vote was decidedly split in both states
• Voters who called the Jeremiah Wright issue “an important factor” in their vote went overwhelmingly for Clinton. The inverse was true for Obama - voters who didn’t care about it went overwhelmingly for him.
• Voters who made their minds up in the last week swung Clinton. Guess that gas tax holiday pander worked for a lot of folks.

Now for some Cherokee County results! This is the only North Carolina county in the NewsChannel 9 viewing area [in red in the above map]. Despite a huge loss across the state [particularly in the central region known as the “research triangle,”], Clinton won huge in Cherokee County, 73%-25%. Interestingly, neighboring Clay County had the exact same percentage with about half the number of voters than Cherokee County. Details here from the hometown paper, the Cherokee Scout.

Another interesting Cherokee County factoid:

• Total Democratic voters: 3224
• Total Republican voters: 1075

A majority-Democrat county in the south? Yes, it’s more common than you think - Grundy County, Tennessee often shakes out the same way, too. The reason? Many southerners are so conservative that they vote against Republicans because of “that rogue Abraham Lincoln.” No, seriously.

What about Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” effect? It seems to have been a factor in Indiana, as outlined here. [by the way, we’d like to go on the record to say we have absolutely no problem with the strategy behind Operation Chaos. Democracies are messy things, & voters of all stripes have every right to vote how they want. To try to put a stop to it somehow would tarnish the democratic values we all share.]

Obama’s victory speech in North Carolina:

Clinton’s “victory” speech in Indiana [2 parts]:

So what happens next?

..ONLY THE UNCOMMITTED/UNDECLARED SUPERDELEGATES KNOW FOR SURE! STAY TUNED!!

Above: a last-minute negative ad from Clinton attacking Obama’s refusal to pander to voters with this ‘gas-tax holiday’ nonsense.

Below: I’m not sure who produced this ad, but it repeats a Clinton soundbite from yesterday’s “This Week” that caused our jaw to drop.

“..not gonna put my lot in with economists”??? Excuse me?

(above: Madam Toussaud’s wax renderings of the Democratic candidates)

An exciting hour for Sunday morning talk show fans.

After the jump, see Obama’s hour-long interview on NBC’s Meet the Press & Clinton’s interview/town hall on ABC’s This Week.

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The horse on the left, Eight Belles, the one Hillary Clinton picked to win, placed in the race.. but suffered two compound fractures & immediately had to be euthanized. So sad.

& the horse on the right, while it wasn’t Barack Obama’s pick, was named “Big Brown.”

So you can bet that you won’t hear either candidate making any type of metaphors on this race & their campaigns.

Happy Kentucky Derby weekend!

We’re a fan.. we’ve been to 9 of them. The above photo is the 1998 race from our perspective in the stands.

After the jump.. find out which horses the candidates are picking to win the Run for the Roses & see how the polls are shaping up for the other “biggest horse race in town.”

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Interesting pair of articles from the Politico’s John F. Harris & Jim Vandehei about the attacks either campaign is keeping itself from pursuing:

What Hillary Clinton Wishes She Could Say

What Barack Obama Wishes He Could Say

What do you think?

Very interesting NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll out today about what the current campaign’s biggest political albatrosses are at the moment (what do I mean by “albatross?” click here). In other words, what could be a “dealbreaker” for voters with any particular candidate.

We’ll dive into the details after the jump… you may be surprised which candidate has the biggest liability.. & what it comes from.

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