Obamarama

[bascule]

Looks like he may have topped Clinton in total delegates after Super Tuesday:

 

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8358.html?reddit

 

Anyone else happy about this? I sure am...

[Mr Skeptic]

I have nothing against women, but I too am glad that Obama did so well against that particular woman.

[Phi for All]

My district caucus gave him 7 votes to Hillary's 3. I was very unhappy about the turnout, just 41 people for a really large area.

[ParanoiA]

Yes, I'm quite happy about Obama's position so far. The conservatives are scared of him, not Hillary. I want to see the republican party splinter some more. There's talk of a McCain-Huckabee ticket, the two most hated by the conservative base....awesome.

 

Now if we could just get the dems to fall apart...

[Phi for All]

Now if we could just get the dems to fall apart...

An Obama-Hillary ticket?

[iNow]

Obama/Paul would be a cool ticket...

[ParanoiA]

Ahem...I think Paul/Obama sounds better.

[ecoli]

They are my two favorite candidates right now, but for different reasons.

 

If you put together Obama's youth, speaking and ability to unify and Paul's ideology, you would be describing my dream candidate.

[ParanoiA]

They are my two favorite candidates right now, but for different reasons.

 

If you put together Obama's youth, speaking and ability to unify and Paul's ideology, you would be describing my dream candidate.

 

Hell yeah, I like it.

[D H]

If you put together Obama's youth, speaking and ability to unify and Paul's ideology, you would be describing my dream candidate.

Nightmare, then again maybe not. Hmmm. On second thought, I like it a lot, as that combo would be a sure shoe-in for the Republican candidate.

[DrDNA]

If all the single white females, females over 60, high school drop outs, and Hispanics would come on here and start blogging, instead of voting in the polls for the wrong candidate, then maybe Obama could get this over with.

[Pangloss]

Looks like he may have topped Clinton in total delegates after Super Tuesday

 

Clinton is still ahead on the delegates, and would be even farther ahead had Florida been counted (a subject that was being whispered quite a bit behind the scenes today). And Hillary also appears to have gotten more overall votes (just barely). One analysis I read today showed that most of the remaining February votes are likely to go Obama's way, although March looks more promising for Hillary.

 

But given the revelation today that Clinton made only $13 million to Obama's 32 in January, and Clinton having to loan her own campaign $5 million (the same amount Obama raised online today), all the momentum does appear to be on Obama's side. Hillary's going to have to do something dramatic over the next few weeks if she is to have a chance to put this thing away before the convention.

 

On the other hand, it's not at all clear that Obama can put it away before the convention either. Both the Clinton and Obama camps talked about that possibility today. As much talk as there's been about the Republicans being unable to pick somebody, the Democrats don't seem to be in any big hurry either. Howard Dean told the two campaigns over the weekend that whatever they're going to do, they'd better have it done before August.

 

BTW, here's an interesting article talking about Florida delegates being locked out of a close race:

 

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/state/epaper/2008/02/07/m1a_FLA_DEMS_0207.html

 

"The ironies are somewhat rich," said Allan Katz, a Florida member of the Democratic National Committee.

 

With more than half of the Democratic primaries completed, Clinton was leading the race with 1,045 delegates to Obama's 960, according to an Associated Press estimate.

 

So, Florida's 210 Democratic delegates - 185 pledged and 25 "superdelegates" - easily could have made a difference, except that the DNC ruled them worthless after the state moved its primary to before Feb. 5 in violation of national party rules.

 

The article also mentions that the DNC is actively putting pressure on Florida officials to hold a caucus so that its delegates can be used. I can't imagine the Obama campaign likes that news a whole lot, but if there is a caucus held there will probably be time for both sides to campaign here, and the numbers will likely be very different from what they were two weeks ago.

[iNow]

What is a brokered convention? What might it mean if the Democrats had one?

[DrDNA]

What is a brokered convention? What might it mean if the Democrats had one?

 

"In politics, a brokered convention--where the nominee is determined at the convention and not beforehand in the state primaries and caucuses--"

http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/4/5/142652/1481

 

If you follow the link, the guy goes into detail about the ins and outs of brokered conventions. It's more interesting than I thought it would be....

[Pangloss]

The conventional wisdom is that late in the election cycle if one party has chosen its candidate and the other has not, then the party with the candidate will have an advantage. Certainly one can see how this might be a factor in the normal pattern of fundraising, for example.

 

But I think this election cycle is breaking all the rules. Well, technically every election re-writes the rulebook a bit, but this one more than most, or so it seems to me.

[ecoli]

I think that's why Romney suspended his campaign... he's trying to give the party an edge on the dems... they're going to need it big time, but I suspect that it won't matter.

[D H]

I suspect otherwise -- that the Democrats are once again on the verge of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[DrDNA]

Looks like Watson has company.

 

 

Obama will be assassinated if he wins: Nobel winner Lessing

 

If Barack Obama becomes the next US president he will surely be assassinated, British Nobel literature laureate Doris Lessing predicted in a newspaper interview published here Saturday.

Obama, who is vying to become the first black president in US history, "would certainly not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would murder him," Lessing, 88, told the Dagens Nyheter daily.

 

Lessing, who won the 2007 Nobel Literature Prize, said it might be better if Obama's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton were to succeed in her bid to become the first woman president of the United States.

"The best thing would be if they (Clinton and Obama) were to run together. Hillary is a very sharp lady. It might be calmer if she were to win, and not Obama," she said.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080209175746.yzhlvcyb&show_article=1

 

I wonder if her views have anything to do with the fact that she is an elderly white female....fits the would vote for Hillary profile perfectly (as reported by polling results.....except Brits were not included of course.....)

[CDarwin]

What is this, 24?

[Pangloss]

The pending-assassination theory is also common in the African American community. One of my students expressed it to me the other day. And I saw a bit on Bill O'Reilly last week quoting a famous rapper saying the same thing (which may well be where my student got it).

 

It's almost like a pre-conspiracy conspiracy theory. (lol)

[iNow]

I've never seen in an election cycle the argument, "He's more likely to be assassinated." That's so twisted and jacked up, I cannot even say. The worse part is that these retarded comments by a few retarded people (Bill O'Reilly? I rest my case...)... will be enough to sway a few votes from Obama to Clinton.

[Sisyphus]

I've heard a few people say that, too. White Obama supporters all (so it's not a "black community" thing, and it's not a ploy to sway votes to Clinton). They were also all boomers, interestingly. I think part of it is that he reminds people of Bobby Kennedy: young, charismatic, offering hope and inspiration in a dark time, etc. Add that to the fact that he is black and that we all know that racism is not a thing of the past. And that a black president was impossible for so long that the very possibility now seems too good to be true, that it has to be snatched away somehow. To me, it's not surprising at all that so many people start thinking along those lines.

[Pangloss]

I've never seen in an election cycle the argument, "He's more likely to be assassinated."

 

It's really obscure, but it rears its ugly head every once in a blue moon. I'm pretty sure I remember it coming up during Kennedy's 1980 run. (In which he actually won several primaries against a sitting president! Talk about drama!)

 

 

That's so twisted and jacked up, I cannot even say. The worse part is that these retarded comments by a few retarded people (Bill O'Reilly? I rest my case...)... will be enough to sway a few votes from Obama to Clinton.

 

No no, O'Reilly would completely agree with you, and denounced the rapper's comments.

 

But yes, I share your pessimism about what this may mean. Rappers are hyper-connected with the African American social community -- he had to be reflecting something he had heard somewhere. I really think it's easily dealt with, though -- just get a few rappers to come out against the idea.

 

I think part of it may lie in the fact that Obama's support has been primarily amongst the more affluent and politically-minded. It's almost as if the lower-economic-tier African American community, less familiar with politics and feeling honor-bound to vote for Clinton after the economic improvements of the 1990s, is embarassed not to be voting for a black man, and needs a reason.

[john5746]

I think that's why Romney suspended his campaign... he's trying to give the party an edge on the dems... they're going to need it big time, but I suspect that it won't matter.

 

I think he tried to get Huckaby to end his campaign. When he didn't, Romney knew there was no chance for him. Ambition is job one for these guys.