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Congressional Democrats Came Up Short
Tweet Share on Facebook November 5, 2008 Comment (2)President-elect Obama's victory has overshadowed the fact congressional Democrats did not pick up anywhere near the number of seats some pundits and pollsters were predicting and hoping they might win.
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Barack Obama's Suburban Revolution
Tweet Share on Facebook November 5, 2008 Comment (6)Several important milestones were reached with President-elect Obama's historic win. I mentioned earlier, but want to discuss in greater detail, Obama's Suburban Revolution. This revolution was in evidence not just in the South but also in the Southwest. It is driven by the politics of liberal northerners from outside such states as Virginia, North Carolina, and Colorado, who flocked to new areas in great numbers—wooed by cheaper real estate and warmer climes.
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Sarah Palin's Progress
Tweet Share on Facebook November 4, 2008 Comment (149)Gov. Sarah Palin's god was apparently not listening when she voted in the pre-dawn hours in Alaska:
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President-Elect Barack Obama: an End to the GOP’s Southern Strategy
Tweet Share on Facebook November 4, 2008 Comment (3)President-elect Barack Obama's win is so cataclysmically historic one knows not where to begin. First, his victory signifies the death of the Old South and President Nixon's infamous "Southern Strategy," which the GOP has used successfully for almost four decades to win presidential elections:
When President Lyndon B. Johnson championed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, some Republican strategists saw a potential bonanza in the South. They thought their party could reap the votes of white people uneasy with Democrats, or downright hostile to them, for advancing the cause of black people.
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Barack Obama's Debt to Hillary Clinton
Tweet Share on Facebook November 4, 2008 Comment (55)Jeffrey Toobin on CNN points out there were polls earlier in this race showing as many as half of Hillary Clinton supporters would not vote for Senator Obama and now we're seeing data showing that almost all of her supporters did end up voting for Obama. Toobin credits that to Hillary Clinton's tireless stumping for Obama. And I would add that even former President Clinton, no friend of Senator Obama, came out with great fervor for him toward the final days of the campaign. Has Obama repaid the favor?
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More Exit Polls, More Grains of Salt
Tweet Share on Facebook November 4, 2008 CommentGo vote if you haven't already. I remember being furious at the TV networks in 1980 when they declared Ronald Reagan the victor in the presidential race before polls had closed out West. Nonetheless, some pilfered and alleged exit poll results are showing up on the web and I share one website herewith for the most hard-core political junkies:
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Obama's Pennsylvania Victory
Tweet Share on Facebook November 4, 2008 Comment (2)NBC News and several other news outlets have projected Sen. Obama as the winner in Pennsylvania, which isn't a deal-killer for Sen. McCain but it is close to one. Without Pennsylvania:
Unless another blue state flips to Republican hands, McCain now must win every remaining battleground state to overtake Obama. Also, a stinging loss for McCain in New Hampshire, where McCain's primary victory in January jumpstarted his flagging campaign in early 2008. NBC projects the Granite State, where Obama lost his own primary bid to Hillary Clinton, to go into the Democrat's column tonight.
Republicans, who had small hopes that tonight's results might not be the rout polling projected it would be, must be losing all hope at this point.
- Click here for the latest election results
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Don't Forget the Ballot Initiatives—Barack Obama and John McCain Have Company Today
Tweet Share on Facebook November 4, 2008 Comment (6)Because the mainstream media have already declared Barack Obama the victor, the presidential race has become, well, less of a race and, therefore, less interesting to write about. Having spent the better part of the last few years writing this story, tonight's results will feel more like having a long-needed tooth pulled than popping a champagne cork. But then, I haven't spent two years raising money or knocking on doors or giving speeches as surrogates as many of my friends have. However, today's extensive voter turnout, high-energy attitude among Democrats, and long faces in the GOP camp signal what sure looks at this point as an Obama victory
The outcome seems less certain, however, for some of the more significant ballot initiatives that will be decided today.
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John McCain Should Have Touted Divided Government Sooner
Tweet Share on Facebook November 3, 2008 Comment (2)Sen. John McCain's rallying cry to his troops as the campaign comes to a close has been, "Elect Republicans or else." McCain is trying to instill fear in voters that if Democrats win the White House and gain seats in Congress, they will raise taxes, weaken the economy, and create all manner of political ills.
It's not a very persuasive battle cry, if you consider what Democrats are, in turn, saying about the current Republican occupant of the White House. One Democratic strategist told me recently that Democrats will spend the next two decades campaigning against Republican governance, believing President Bush has wrecked the economy, impaired the nation's military prowess, and crushed America's prestige as the world leader—some of which he accomplished while his party ran Congress and some of which he did while the two parties shared power.
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John McCain's and Barack Obama's Billion-Dollar Election
Tweet Share on Facebook November 3, 2008 Comment (52)If nothing else is obscene about this presidential election (and plenty is IMHO), then the fact that together the candidates will be spending $8 per vote to win the White House clearly meets and exceeds the obscenity descriptor.
