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Clinton Stands Firm
Tweet Share on Facebook March 31, 2008 CommentHillary Clinton was in Indiana this weekend, telling cheering audiences there was no way she was about to drop out of the race for her party's presidential nomination:
I didn't think we believed that in America. I thought we of all people knew how important it was to give everyone a chance to have their voices heard and their votes counted, and we're going to give Indiana that chance on May 6th...because, you see, I have this old-fashioned idea that the more people who get a chance to vote, the better it is for our democracy.
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Obama's Elder Problem
Tweet Share on Facebook March 28, 2008 CommentAlthough the National Review Online may have unknown motivations for saying so, a new article on the website concurs with my contention that Barack Obama, if he secures the Democratic nomination for president, may do so without the support of the most important Democratic constituency: older, white middle-class voters, including union members.
If, as current polls predict, Barack Obama loses Pennsylvania by a double-digit margin on April 22, the truly ominous omen will not be the loss itself, but his campaign's catastrophic inability to tailor its message to vital demographics.
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Is McCain the Return of the Fiscal Conservative?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 26, 2008 Comment (1)Ah, finally, one of the presidential candidates actually offers a common-sense approach to resolving the mortgage crisis. Sen. John McCain yesterday "derided government intervention to save and reward banks or small borrowers who behave irresponsibly...."
McCain offered few specifics about how he'd handle the crisis, which could be over or at least wound way down by the time the next occupant of the White House is sworn into office in late January 2009. However, unlike his two Democratic opponents, McCain emphasized government help in exchange for tough controls to prevent financial industry recidivism, signaling a possible GOP return to small-government conservatism.
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4,000 Dead in Iraq Underscores GOP and Democratic Approaches to War
Tweet Share on Facebook March 24, 2008 CommentContrasting mental images. Think of a blond beauty. Think of a roadside bomb in Iraq claiming the lives of four U.S. soldiers. What do they have in common?
The U.S. war effort in Iraq. As yesterday marked five years since former POW Jessica Lynch was captured in Iraq, news broke that the American death toll in Iraq passed another milestone—that of 4,000 dead.
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Update Your Sin List
Tweet Share on Facebook March 21, 2008 Comment (2)This Easter, it's time to update your sin list.
The pope believes the modern world "is losing the notion of sin," so the Vatican has updated its sin list, which is a heckuva lot hipper than it used to be, including, for example, not fighting for social justice and contributing to environmental pollution.
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Obama Speech Falls Short
Tweet Share on Facebook March 19, 2008 Comment (1)How effective was Barack Obama's Tuesday speech on faith and race, in terms of putting to rest questions about his ties to controversial minister Jeremiah Wright? Polls reflecting America's reaction to the speech won't be out for days or weeks, but it appears the speech did little but preach to those already in Obama's flock.
Obama had the opportunity to lure undecided Reagan Democrats, independents, evangelical Christians, and American Jews, deeply suspicious of Wright's close relationship with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. But he said renouncing the pastor would be like renouncing part of himself. In so doing, he thrilled African-American and liberal Democratic supporters but lost an opportunity to appeal to centrist voters, who will be critical to victory in November should he secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
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Salmon Depletion Is a Bad Omen
Tweet Share on Facebook March 17, 2008 CommentFor those of us who hate to succumb to stories of environmental doom and gloom, there's a situation brewing out west that gives doom-and-gloomers new credibility and new reason to howl. The headline:
The largest salmon run in the largest estuary on this hemisphere's Pacific Coast has collapsed.
Why should we care, as firedoglake.com's Dr. Kirk James Murphy so aptly put it, "about [the collapse of] a bunch of fish and a big marsh?"
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Obama at a Crossroads
Tweet Share on Facebook March 12, 2008 CommentThe opening line of an Associated Press report posted online last night was not pretty:
Whites largely shunned Barack Obama in Mississippi 's Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday as the Deep South showed once again its reluctance to embrace him across racial lines.
Is this the beginning of the end for Obama? As I posted earlier this week, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jonathan Last wrote that Obama's victories have come mainly in states unlikely to be won by the Democrats in November in any event: states like Idaho, Utah, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Now there are questions about Obama's ability to win over white southern Democrats. Finally other writers are agreeing with what I referred to weeks ago as the Obama "phenom": That it is starting to show cracks. Consider this online Seattle Times op-ed by one John Carlson in which he tracks the excitement over Obama's campaign as trending down from a previously high arc:
But excitement is closely tied to momentum and the Obama campaign is losing both. The affection for him is genuine, but it's less a long-term romance than a crush.
Six days ago, Rasmussen Reports released a poll showing: "In Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton has opened a fifteen percentage point lead over Barack Obama. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows Clinton attracting 52% of the vote while Obama earns 37%."
The Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton race for the Democratic nod has been harder to follow than a ping-pong match. It sure looks as though heading into Pennsylvania, a very long six weeks from now, Obama faces the toughest phase of his historic campaign thus far.
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Is Obama Really Better Against McCain?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 10, 2008 Comment (1)Polls showing Barack Obama as more likely than Hillary Clinton to beat John McCain in a matchup this fall have never made much sense to me.
I've always seen Clinton as a bigger threat to McCain because of her more moderate record and her vote for the war. Yet these polls have proliferated in the media and on the Internet for months now.
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Pelosi Stands Up for Clinton
Tweet Share on Facebook March 7, 2008 CommentThe week in politics ends with John McCain scrambling to stay in the news and his Democratic rivals fighting over superdelegates.
Hillary Clinton scored more than just three presidential primary victories this week. She also helped freeze a movement of top Democrats set to call on her to concede to rival Barack Obama. A group of uncommitted superdelegates were ready to make a show of support for Obama by trying to pressure Clinton to give up, said Tim Roemer, a former congressman who's rounding up backers for Obama. Now, after her wins in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island, many will still back Obama without calling on Clinton to quit, he said.
