Sweep
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | John McCain | Presidential Nomination Races — Comments (27) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Obama and McCain win big. McCain is clearly headed to the nomination and Huckabee's insistence on remaining in the race increasingly looks like a joke. I haven't minded having him in thus far because if he serves as a punching bag for McCain every week and allows the latter to bask in electoral glory and valuable free media, he will actually be doing McCain something of a service. But Huckabee seems bound and determined to try to prolong the Republican Presidential race. This, by all accounts, is making the McCain people mad and will interfere with party unity. One wonders what Huckabee will get out of this, save enmity. I suppose he thinks that if McCain fails, he will be the frontrunner in 2012 and by staying in the race for a long time, he will be able to establish himself as the frontrunner. I am not so sure that is the case. What I am sure about is that Huckabee's vanity has overcome whatever good sense he might possess.
As for Obama, his machine rolls along. Hillary Clinton is clearly on the ropes, but given the extremely tight delegate race, I am not yet prepared to count her out. If Ohio and Texas roll the right way for Clinton, this may yet turn into trench warfare.
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She has the governor and the d machine in PA. I think she will take PA.
...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...
---Thomas Paine---
politics.
Gov. Rendell-
"You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate," Rendell told the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in remarks that appeared in Tuesday's paper.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080212/ap_on_el_pr/rendell_racial_politics_...
And yet they call us racists.
This just gets better by the minute.
Brilliant.
When will the African American community wake up and figure out that the real politics of race lives in the Democrat party, not the GOP? Probably never.
....to stay viable out there. If she doesn't post convincing wins there, Obama's lead will be enough so that the DNC can seat MI & FL without consequence, and the superdelegates will likely fall in behind Obama for the most party.
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
out of the race.
I will be surprised if she stays past March 5.
I will not be surprised if she gets out prior to March5.
Apparently Texas allocates it's delegates in each state Senate district based on turnout in the most recent elections. Hispanics are notorious for not turning out to vote and did not turn out in great numbers in the most recent elections. However, in the large urban districts that would favor Obama by large majorities, the turnout being used to allocate delegates has been historically high. Even if Obama lost the popular vote(he won't), he would still likely come away with more delegates in Texas.
All Obama has to do is make a decent showing in Ohio and this thing is over. Hillary is toast.
What I am sure about is that Huckabee's vanity has overcome whatever good sense he might possess.
staying in because he believes that he needs to fight against things like ESCR and gay marriage? Without social conservatives, McCain will go down hard in November.
McCain is a real social liberal? If Huckabee had a great record on tax cutting or immigration (McCain's weak spot) he'd have a point, but its not like McCain is a pro choice NYC mayor.
But I think Huckabee is placing his personal ambition over the part itself. There is no way he is winning popularity for 2012 with these antics since if he keeps up people will blame him if McCain loses.
Also am I the only one who can see an evangelical ticket with him at the head? If he does that I think his chances of ever winning the presidency is nil because he will be one of the most reviled men in the party for giving Hillary or Obama the white house.
I would say that IF McCain loses this year that Romney is better positioned to lead the Republicans in 2012. How Romney exited the race will be seen by Republicans as beneficial and supportive to the party for the coming general election, whereas Huckabee will appear to be placing personal ambition above a party win in the general election. I really don't understand Huckabee's reasoning for sticking in the race but it is increasingly appearing to be vain, self-centered, and vindictive. Why, I don't know.
"Glory is not a conceit. It is not a decoration for valor. Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely and who rely on you in return."-Senator John Mc
Just now beginning to notice this fellas? Cause... damn.
You can't afford the price of free corn.
quiting is just easier for some than others. Perhaps sports games like football should do the same and when one team is down by so much , the game is called and everyone goes home. No wonder we are getting closer to resembling France every day.
In every sport I know they send in the backups (or their backups). Basketball even has a name for it: garbage time.
Coaches do this because there's no point risking injury for a lost game. Huckabee is risking damage to the party with his effort of vanity.
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"If we want to take this party back, and I think we can someday, let’s get to work." – Barry Goldwater
Wicon42 is absolutely right. Huckabee had and has every right to stay in the race as long as he has a chance to keep McCain from winning the nomination on the first ballot. So things didn't work out for him in Virginia, but he had every right to try.
Seems like moderates always want to quit. For Example:
Opposing global warming is not politically popular so don't try, just quit.
Opposing Illegal Immigration, too hard because might upset Hispanic vote, just quit.
Getting a conservative court nominee a fair up or down vote, too hard just quit.
Cutting taxes on highest incomes because it will increase job creation, too hard because people will say you are giving tax cut to rich, so just quit.
Any more that we should add?
They should have crowned the Patriots with the Superbowl title after the playoffs as the Giants didn't have a prayer nor did they deserve to win, they should just concede for the sake of the NFL and save yourself the embarassment......
You have to play the game first and this game has been played for the better part of two months. The Giants played and won. McCain played and won. Huckabee has no chance. It is a near impossibility (I won't call it a true impossibility due to the fact that the probability theory is real and true and there is no such thing as "zero chance").
"Glory is not a conceit. It is not a decoration for valor. Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely and who rely on you in return."-Senator John Mc
to campaign. It only highlights the center-left position McCain has on some issues. I think it benefits the party to continue discussion and debate. If McCain thinks all Republicans are simply going to march behind him when Huck gets out - he's sadly mistaken. McCain hasn't make any attempt to win over conservatives.
Were I might vote for McCain in Nov, I will never support him unless he moves to the right. I will do my best to elect conservative Congressmen and I will bombard McCain every time he drifts to his liberal friends on the left.
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"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -- James Madison
that analogy doesn't fit this scenario at all.
you know so little about those who follow Huck.
and admit his defeat.
He cannot win mathematically.
His only role now is to give the false impression he has been a conservative when he has not been.
He is a pro-life moderate.
A lot like McCain.
Texas is a weird animal. I'm still researching it, but the rules are arcane -- apparently, because turnout in the last two elections in the Hispanic regions of the border was low, those areas don't receive as many delegates as the African-American areas of Dallas and Houston, which had relatively high turnout. This could work against Hillary in delegate-count.
Personally, I and several other die-hard conservative Republicans I know are considering the unthinkable -- we may well vote for Hillary in the Democratic primary. First, we believe she'll be easier to beat. But more importantly, we could (VERY grudgingly) fathom a Hillary Clinton administration. At the very lease, we believe she would keep us safe. We are very, very frightened about what a Barack Obama administration would do for this country.
Any Texans with us?
---
According to Democrats, it’s greedy to want to keep your own money, but it’s “justice” to demand someone else’s.
--Jonah Goldberg
Anything we can do to help the dhimmies implode is, well, the neighborly thing to do.
But I think Hillary's just going through the motions now. Her heart is not in it. She is rich, powerful and middle aged. You can see the look in her eyes: "What the heck have I stepped off into?" She is looking like Mitt did just before his CPAC spech.
I think she is gone by March 5, latest.
Then we need to think about what BHO is going to do with months of time on his hands and many millions in his wallet before the federal finance of the fall election.
The bickering that is trying to transform Huckabee, a moderate, into some sort of great REganesque conservative needs to stop yesterday.
We need to get the poison out of the well or get used to a guy that is going to fold like the empty suit he is.
keeping that toxic couple out of the white house is job one.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
Delegate lead offically now. On the other hand Hilary has the following cards
1- Superdelegates naturally predisposed to favour her.
2- Ohio, Texas and Pennslyvania will be diffcult for Obama to win. ( apparently she'd have to average 63% in these and other states so this won't let her win on there own.)
3- Michigan and Florida
Whether she can turn some combination of these, or another factor, into a win will be interesting to watch. I'm starting to think that the future markets might be somewhat overpricing Obama, though the lead is definitely his. Another possibility is a drop out before Texas and Ohio.
"Time and the bell have buried the day, the black cloud carries the sun away."
T.S Eliot, Four Quartets.