Posts filed under 'Primaries'
Clinton supporters are making a statement that they are NOT going to unite behind Barack Obama. There are a variety of reasons why; Michigan and Florida, poor treatment of Senator Clinton by the media, disrespectful behavior by Obama supporters, or simply doubts about Senator Obama and his qualifications. For these, or other reasons, many Clinton supporters are actively campaigning for Senator McCain. The site Just Say No Deal lists over 125 sites, many newly started, that agree that they will not be voting Obama in November. Some like Savage Politics are even raising money for Senator McCain. Many are planning to donate to the McCain campaign on July 4th to show their committment. Here are just a few of the numerous sites committed to NOT unifying the Democratic Party.
clintondems.com
hireheels.com
hillarysupporters.com
clintons4mccain.com
riverdaughter
hillaryclintonforum.net
womenforfairpolitics.com
donedems.com
pumaparty.com
savagepolitics
hillarygrassrootscampaign.com
pumapac.org
millionwomenmarch.blogspot.com
Clinton Supporters Making A Statement About Not Supporting Obama

Tags: Clinton, clinton supporters, Democrats, mccain, Obama, unity, unity nh, unity rally
June 27th, 2008
The Obama campaign showed its sensitive side today by becoming unglued at the suggestion that Senators Obama and McCain make a joint trip to Iraq in the near future…
“John McCain’s proposal is nothing more than a political stunt, and we don’t need any more ‘Mission Accomplished’ banners or walks through Baghdad markets to know that Iraq’s leaders have not made the political progress that was the stated purpose of the surge. The American people don’t want any more false promises of progress, they deserve a real debate about a war that has overstretched our military, and cost us thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars without making us safer.”
Since Senator Obama has been to Iraq only once on a two day tour in 2006, this lead The National Review to ask, “Is Obama Willing To Meet Ahmadinejad, But Not Petraeus?” and Red State, Barack Obama: He’ll Meet With Ahmadinejad, But Not With the Troops in Iraq. For a candidate with virtually no foreign policy, it is odd that he’d pass up any oportunity to gain a better understanding of the region, the troops, and the politics of Iraq.

Tags: ahmedinejad, baghdad, foreign policy, iraq politics, iraq surge, iraq troops, iraq war, national review, obama iraq, obama mccain, red state, visit iraq
May 28th, 2008
The political commentariat is now operating under the assumption that Sen. Obama has at long last clinched the Democratic nomination by his landslide victory in the North Carolina primary and his near upset of Sen. Clinton in Indiana. This is wrong from the standpoint that Sen. Obama was effectively assured of the nomination following his string of victories following Super Tuesday, long before this past Tuesday. Indiana and North Carolina did not change anything except convince many of what was already, for all intents and purposes, inevitable.
Sen. Clinton intends to carry on, of course, because she is Sen. Clinton. As David Kahane writes, “She’s not going to quit because she has nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do. She lives for this, and without it, she has no life. In fact, without it, she doesn’t exist at all.” Since her husband raised his right hand in ‘93 she has been preparing for the day that she could raise hers. Until Sen. Obama’s nomination is official, she is not going to let that go.
Though it is all but inevitable at this point, it is only all but inevitable. That is how she will view the situation at least. She will look forward to large victories in the upcoming Kentucky and West Virginia primaries, hoping significant margins there will stoke further discussion of Sen. Obama’s inability to win over white, blue-collar voters and give Democratic super-delegates further pause as they size up the strength of Sen. Obama as a general election candidate. She will also continue to push for the seating of Michigan’s and Florida’s delegates at the convention (she sent a letter to Sen. Obama today laughably urging him to support that effort), arguing–not without some semblance of a point–that to deny those delegates seats would be to disenfranchise Democratic voters in those respective states and harm Democrats politically in what will be two pivotal battlegrounds in the fall.
Ultimately, these efforts will fail and Sen. Obama, warts and all, will accept the nomination in Denver this August. All that is really left to be decided is whether Sen. Clinton can and even wants to muscle herself onto the ticket and how exactly such a ticket would play in the fall. The race for the Democratic nomination is essentially decided and has been decided for sometime, but the saga and theater shall continue hence.

Tags: Clinton, Democrats, General Election, Obama
May 8th, 2008
Conventional wisdom for some time has been that this is a Democratic Presidential year. However, that theory is starting to be tested in a serious way. All signs indicate that the Democrats will be fighting through August where the nominee could be chosen at convention. This creates a huge challenge for the Democrats. First, the two candidates are beating each other up, and showing off each others flaws in big ways. Senator Clinton’s Bosnia remarks and Senator Obama’s ‘bitter’ comments could haunt them throughout the campaign, and if they keep up this pace more damaging remarks will likely come. Second, they have very little time to unite the party. Particularly in a contentious contest they may not win over the other candidate’s supporters. They have 2 months and 6 days from the end of their convention till the general election vote, which means they need to unite the party almost instantaniously, whereas Senator McCain will have had almost eight months to do that. Senator McCain has a huge time advantage not only in unifying his party, but in strategy and in direct campaigning. He stays above the fray, and can emphasize his strengths with little challenge from the left as they are preoccupied.
The decisive advantage that the Dems have had throughout the campaign is money. However, as asked in an article at The Pink Flamingo you have to wonder how much money the candidates will have on hand. Senator McCain, on the other hand, has had the luxury of saving his pennies. Obviously he has taken in less, but at this point in the race he needs less. Also, there is a strong possiblity of contributions increasing. No one wants to put their money on someone who can’t win and as it becomes clearer that his odds of victory are excellent people may be more willing to part with their cash; not to mention that he has Romney and Huckabee helping raise money now as well. Finally, Senator McCain has always had an appeal with Independents and moderate Democrats. If the other candidate comes out their convention battered or damaged Senator McCain could overwhelmingly win middle-of-the-roaders.

Tags: august, campaign 2008, campaigning, candidate funds, convention, democrat convention, Democrats, independents, mccain, middle of the road, republicans, victory 2008
April 14th, 2008
The problem with the Obama candidacy is that the public doesn’t know much about him. We know he’s an excellent speaker, a charismatic and charming guy; but we don’t know much about him of substance. To his credit his campaign has brilliantly utilized this by featuring change as a theme. The change theme promises something new and different without really having to say what that change is. The question becomes are people going to be satisfied with the promise of change without any real clue to what that change entails.
I have to admit that I’m one of the people that started out simply liking the idea of a President Obama. I love the idea of a non-white and/or non-male president. It promotes the idea that anything is possible and it shows that the country is showing signs of growing up and getting beyond past prejudices. Senator Obama’s message of unity is also very appealing to many of us who are fed up with political divisiveness and bickering. However, there is a lot more to being president than broad concepts. There has been little focus on the who’s, what’s, where’s, why’s, and how’s of change. Understandably some people have been caught up in the grand speeches and broad concepts, but responsible voters need to also consider the policies and experience of a candidate.
The reality is that Senator Obama would have a difficult time being a ‘uniter and not a divider’ because he is so liberal. He’s ranked as the most liberal senator and his positions reflect that. Whether it is health care or taxes, his positions are not ones that engender compromise. In foreign policy, it appears that Democrats have taken to pandering to the far left, and forgotten to listen to the experts. Withdrawal plans put forward have not only been unwise, but functionally impossible. The lack of knowledge and experience in foreign policy matters is problematic. The presidency is not for beginners, and while Senator Obama has tremendous promise, earning ones stripes as president is risky at best, as it leaves citizen hoping we won’t need another change candidate.
Published at Purple People Vote

Tags: Barack Obama, candidate, change, experience, foreign policy, hope, left wing, liberal, primary, speaches, speaker, uniter, unity, voters
March 19th, 2008
So far, John McCain is the projected winner of Vermont and Ohio. Barack Obama has won Vermont, and so far Ohio and Texas are too close to call for the Democrats.
UPDATE, 9:01 PM ET: FOX projects that John McCain has clinched the Republican nomination with his victories in VT, OH, TX and RI… McCain will be visiting the White House and the RNC tomorrow… To receive endorsement of President George W. Bush… Mike Huckabee expected to dropout…
UPDATE, 9:34 PM ET: Hillary wins Rhode Island…
UPDATE: Hillary wins Ohio… Tight race in Texas…
UPDATE: DONATE!!! DONATE!!! DONATE!!! DONATE!!!
UPDATE: Cut to the video…
[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=vSfbZ-5c0Do]

Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, McCain Wins, Ohio, Super Tuesday II, Vermont
March 4th, 2008