Can we really elect a woman? African American?

that will be the challenge - a Viet Vet - lots of video of him captured - toss in a happy Huckabee by his side to capture the south - add a husband who wants to be on stage more than Hillary - with maybe no real running mate - can the Dems pull it off?

Man Overboard

“I think there’s some people who thought it was all going to be done tonight, but it’s not all done tonight,” Romney said. “We’re gonna keep on battling. We’re gonna go all the way to the convention. We’re gonna win this thing, and we’re gonna get in the White House.” - Super Tuesday


Oops.

Seems that he took a second look at the count and realized just how far behind he is. With Romney bowing out, we have to think that McCain is a cinch. Right?

Huckabee Girl

It was only a matter of time.

Well, blogger won't let me embed the video, so you'll have to go to Super Deluxe.

Funny-ish

Would You Change Our Primary System and How?

I heard on CNN today that they were wanting people to go to their website to write how they would change our primary system. Until this year I never questioned our system that much, and that might be because it has never been this close.

Personally I think every state should be the same and consistent. I also feel that everyone should be allowed to vote for all of the parties. The primaries would also look different if our government was more then a 2 part system. Why can't Obama, Cliton, Huckabee, and McCain all run for president in the general election to let the public decide?

How would you change it?

Democracy in Action or Pumping Margins

I have been watching a lot of coverage of the primary election coverage and I cannot help be a little cynical about this whole process. Are the primaries a bigger deal this election year because of the tight races or has the media hype helped? Why would the media hype a primary you ask? They know what their share numbers are for the general election and what if they could recreate that atmosphere for these big primary days? The ad dollars are almost endless. Especially for the television news stations. I am very surprised watching the super Tuesday coverage that NBC will only have an hour special after their prime time programming and that CBS is waiting till 9pm to air their program. You would think without new programming that election coverage would bump their numbers, but maybe they are giving in to CNN and FOX News?

Obama-Mama

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to prosper.” - Benjamin Franklin

My best friend freshman year loved to plaster that quote everywhere.

Politics and liquor seem to have a lot in common with each other. (Political scandal, what?) It's no wonder a search for "Political drinking games" turns up 247,000 hits on Google. Most of these seem to resolve around the State of the Union address.

Of note today, however - some guys at the University of Central Florida have derived the Super Tuesday Drinking Game. How fun given today is also Fat Tuesday!

A group of my politically savvy friends are heading to a campus bar tonight to watch the results come in.

Tomorrow could be rough.

YES, WE CAN

Today somebody sent me an interesting video: it is the will.i.am song "Yes we can"...I know it has probably been around for a while but I don't have a TV and so I am feeling like "sitting behind the woods" and missing out on some "crucial exposure" to a major part of the media output.

I was fascinated how the speech was turned into a song. It just shows how much how important it is to draw the audience into it. Rhythm is very important to every oral performance and the repetition of certain words by the singers makes the statements even more powerful. I think it is an interesting way of "processing" and "recreating" a speech like that.

www.yeswecansong.com

Yet another reason not to have a general election

Gawker has a little item today about all the idiocy happening on this Super Tuesday.

Apparently a few Wisconsinites went out to the polling centers, not realizing that their primary isn't until February 19th. They started lining up at 6:30 am.

Voting machines were malfunctioning in Hoboken.

The Drudge Report is claiming that "the board of elections failed to deliver voting equipment to polling places ALL OVER LOS ANGELES."

Hooray for democracy in action!

Election Ads (kind of)

Happy Super Tuesday, everyone! Because so many media are covering SOME aspect of the election in some way or another, I thought I’d look at one we hadn’t talked about: Advertising. And I’m not talking about ads for the candidates.

This morning, I noticed two ads alone that somehow incorporated the “election theme” into the item they were trying to sell. First on Lifetime (a cable channel marketed towards women) they had an informational commercial about heart disease. For example, “Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women ages 65 and older. It's the second leading cause for women 45 to 64 and the third leading cause for women 25 to 44 years old.” <http://www.mylifetime.com/livinghealthy/getthefacts/ > At the end of the commercial, they closed with a line something like “Heart Disease isn’t just a health issue. It’s an election issue.” Hmm- I just found it odd that they threw in an election reference.

Another commercial I have seen recently (and find kind of ridiculous) is commercial for Swiffer. It shows the cleaner as a candidate in the election. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M24TR6ULIb0&feature=user >

I also saw an article about Pizza Hut incorporating the elections in a pizza ad.

Pizza Hut ad campaign spoofing 2008 election
By Tali Arbel
Associated Press

Pizza Hut is turning the 2008 election campaign into an ad campaign. The Yum Brands Inc. subsidiary has released a new commercial for low-priced pizza featuring sound clips of the presidential delegates and asking viewers to “please vote” just as the primary voting season is set to blast off with the Iowa caucuses.

The 30-second commercial uses a bewildering series of snippets of debate chatter to try and answer the questions, “What is your plan to improve the U.S. economy?” and “Are people seeing lower prices now?”

The ad, which is airing nationwide, then asks viewers if they are “Confused?” and presents a Pizza Hut pie as an easy cost-saving choice.

“We are also using our marketing clout to remind Americans to vote in this important presidential election, no matter their political affiliation or who they support,” in addition to selling pizza, said Scott Bergren, Pizza Hut Inc. president.

<http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801060410 >

Superbowl influence

I found this article about Hilary on the Letterman Show talking about the Giants' superbowl victory (which I am still very bitter over).

NEW YORK (AP) — That rough, husky tone to New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's voice didn't come from the campaign trail.

"Every New Yorker has a sore throat after last night," Clinton told talk-show host David Letterman during her appearance Monday on "The Late Show." She said she had been rooting for the New York Giants while watching the Super Bowl in a Minneapolis sports bar.

Clinton said she was modeling her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president on the Giants' last-minute, 17-14 victory over the undefeated New England Patriots.

"I took a lot of heart from that, Dave," said Clinton, who is neck-and-neck in many polls with rival Barack Obama on the eve of the 22-state nomination contest. "The fourth quarter before Super Tuesday, you've got to keep going."

Ok this might be a stretch, but does anyone else feel like Clinton is more like the Pats and NOT the Giants? I really don't think that she is considered the "underdog" in her political competition.

Wrestlers in Politics?

Okay, I know I haven't been around much on the tubes of the internet this semester. I just haven't found anything to write about that I had strong feelings about. This only sort of got me interested. Mostly made me laugh.

We all know about wrestling in politics as Jesse Ventura. At least that is what I believe the public in general knows it as. Never before have I heard of professional wrestlers proclaiming who they are voting for.

Now I have. At the news site Inside Pulse's Wrestling section, a story popped up about just such an occurrence. Here are the ties being made.

Barack Obama:

Hulk Hogan

Mike Huckabee:

Ric Flair (Dirtiest Player in the Game?)

Ron Paul:

Val Venis (Sean Morley)

and

Glen Jacobs (Kane)

Looks like Ron Paul is leading the race of the squared circle supporters.

Lest you don't believe me, here is the story.

Obama watches The Wire

Well, now I just might have to vote for the guy. When asked about his favorite character from the show, Obama said, " I gotta say Omar's a great character ... He’s this gay gangster who only robs drug dealers, and then gives back. You know, he’s sort of a Robin Hood. And he’s the toughest, baddest guy on this show, but he’s gay, you know. And it’s really interesting. It’s a fascinating character."

Of course people have picked apart the quote. Turns out gay people have taken offense to the "but he's gay" part, saying that Obama seems a little too surprised that a gay man can be the baddest guy on the show. A guy tries to answer a simple question with a simple answer and look what happens. This is why candidates refuse to ever answer a question without using the vaguest language possible.

Super Tuesday

With all the early primaries, I think the people of Indiana will be left out when it comes time to choose a presidential nominee. By the time May gets here, our votes won't have much impact on the partys' choices. The good news however, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was anticipating that the candidates would have been sifted out on February 5th, but apparently it can't happen that early...this year.

>>>>>>>>>>>>
Super Tuesday Won't Decide Nominations

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer

(01-24) 09:53 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

Don't look to crown any presidential nominees on Super Tuesday.

The race for delegates is so close in both parties that it is mathematically impossible for any candidate to lock up the nomination on Feb. 5, according to an Associated Press analysis of the states in play that day.

"A lot of people were predicting that this presidential election on both sides was going to be this massive sprint that ended on Feb. 5," said Jenny Backus, a Democratic consultant who is not affiliated with any candidate. Now it's looking as if the primaries after Super Tuesday — including such big, delegate-rich states as Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania — could grow in importance.

"Maybe some states were better off waiting," said Backus.

That doesn't mean Super Tuesday won't be super after all. Voters in more than 20 states will go to the polls on the biggest day of the primary campaign, and thousands of delegates will be at stake.

But it's possible Feb. 5 might not even produce clear front-runners.

Here's why:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the race for delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer. She has 236, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates, giving her a 100-delegate lead over Sen. Barack Obama.

There will be nearly 1,700 Democratic delegates at stake on Feb. 5, enough to put a candidate well on his or her way to the 2,025 needed to secure the nomination. But even if somehow either Clinton or Obama won every one of those delegates, it wouldn't be enough. And with two strong candidates, the delegates could be divided fairly evenly because the Democrats award their delegates proportionally — not winner-take- all.

The biggest prizes among the Democratic states are California (370 delegates), New York (232) and Illinois (153). All three states award Democratic delegates proportionally, with most delegates awarded according to the popular vote in individual congressional districts, and the rest based on the statewide vote.

The wild card for the Democrats involves the superdelegates, nearly 800 elected officials and members of the Democratic National Committee. They are free to support any candidate they choose at the national convention, regardless of the outcome of the primaries.

The AP has interviewed more than 90 percent of the superdelegates who have been identified by the party, and most have yet to endorse a candidate. Many say they will not make endorsements until after their states vote.

The Republicans have a better chance to produce a clear front-runner because several states, including New York, New Jersey, Missouri and Arizona, award all their GOP delegates to the candidate who wins the popular statewide vote. But a Republican candidate would have to attract support across the country to build a formidable lead.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the race for delegates to the Republican National Convention with 59. He is followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 40 and Arizona Sen. John McCain with 36.

There will be more than 1,000 Republican delegates at stake on Feb. 5, enough to give a candidate a substantial boost toward the 1,191 needed to win the nomination — but only if one man emerges victorious in numerous states.

"I think you could have two or three viable (GOP) candidates" following Super Tuesday, said Ohio Republican Chairman Robert Bennett.

"Somebody's going to have some big wins, but you're going to go into March 4, and you're not going to have an apparent (GOP) nominee," Bennett said.

Ohio is waiting in the wings with its 85 Republican delegates on March 4, a date it shares with Texas, which will award 137 GOP delegates.

Other big states with later contests include Maryland and Virginia on Feb. 12, Wisconsin on Feb. 19 and Pennsylvania on April 22.

Four years ago, Sen. John Kerry clinched the Democratic nomination on March 2 — the earliest date in modern times — with a string of Super Tuesday primary victories. In 2000, George W. Bush and Al Gore both clinched their parties' nominations on March 14, each sweeping a string of Southern primaries that day.

This year, Super Tuesday has grown to include more than 20 states, and it was moved up to Feb. 5 as states leapfrogged each other in an attempt to increase their influence in picking the nominees.

With so many states voting so early, the stage was set for a lengthy general election campaign after nominees were settled early in the year.

Some think that is still a good bet, especially if candidates who don't fare well on Feb. 5 decide to drop out.

"It may take a while for Obama or Clinton to get 50 percent plus one of the delegates. But if it does narrow to a two-person race, then the Democratic nomination will be determined relatively soon," said David Rohde, a political science professor at Duke University.

Rohde said it is possible for the nomination contests to drag all the way to the conventions this summer. But he added, "It is also possible for aliens from Mars to land tomorrow and interfere with the election."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/24/politics/p001610S09.DTL

http://citizensugar.com/986543

With the already familiar primary circuit a mainstay in the minds of voters and the still-large field of candidates yet to be winnowed, strategists have been looking to the Super Tuesday votes of more than 20 states to finally crown unofficial nominees.

But that's mathematically impossible, according to number crunchers.

In the Democratic race, with 1,700 delegate votes up for grabs, even if one candidate wins every state, the take won't be near that. The two strong leading candidates will likely split the votes, as Democrats award their delegates proportionally — not winner-take- all. This math leaves Democrats without the 50 percent support required at the convention. To see what happens to Republican numbers, read more.

Republicans have more than 1,000 delegate votes at stake, though to secure an untouchable status, a candidate would have to win most of those states. This is tricky given that candidates' support tends to break along demographic lines, with no one emerging yet as a solid national pick. Republican candidates will have to appeal nationally in order to hope to fare well on Super Tuesday.

The Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests would have been the earliest date in modern history that a candidate would have emerged as a presumptive nominee. Are you glad the race is still so dynamic? Or are you ready for the general election already?

Quick Post: Obama has momentum and the media are helping.

After the last debate and really since Obama's big SC win...the media have been quite fervently pushing for Obama. I, of course, think this is great...but those undecided voters may be turned off by it. First of all, I stand very confident on Obama's electability over Hillary (see my latest facebook note) and I think the media agrees.

Watching Countdown the other day, Oberman who is very liberal, began his newscast with a Obama love session followed by a Billary berating. Cool, but don't you tag Obama as this ultra-liberal because he isn't.