The 2008 presidential field at-a-glance

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

What, his college didn't provide a meal plan? Why in god's name was he out hunting his own dinner like Elmer Fudd? His poor roommates. Geez, I thought the guy was a freak before. Sick sick sick.

But it might explain why he need to lose 100 pounds. I'm seeing some kind of deep fried action in the popcorn popper.

[jon1856]

Rather interesting op-ed article, NOT a cartoon, from Cagle:


Super Tuesday’s over and there were no absolute winners — until Mitt Romney dropped out of the race.

Nonetheless, even before Romney withdrew and McCain, in effect, became his party’s nominee, we might as well have canceled the rest of the primaries and caucuses, since the media had already decided that this year’s standard bearers would be John McCain and Barack Obama.

Yes, somewhere along the line, the role of the media has changed from reporting on the primaries to deciding the primaries. They pick their favorites, they give them preferential treatment, they tear down their opponents, and they anoint their winning candidates even before voters have a chance to go to the polls.

http://www.caglepost.com/column.aspx?c=5328&pg=1

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by jon1856

Rather interesting op-ed article, NOT a cartoon, from Cagle:


Super Tuesday’s over and there were no absolute winners — until Mitt Romney dropped out of the race.

Nonetheless, even before Romney withdrew and McCain, in effect, became his party’s nominee, we might as well have canceled the rest of the primaries and caucuses, since the media had already decided that this year’s standard bearers would be John McCain and Barack Obama.

Yes, somewhere along the line, the role of the media has changed from reporting on the primaries to deciding the primaries. They pick their favorites, they give them preferential treatment, they tear down their opponents, and they anoint their winning candidates even before voters have a chance to go to the polls.

http://www.caglepost.com/column.aspx?c=5328&pg=1

well ins't that the media's job...to tell us what to think?

[UGAalum94]

I agree with that somewhat Jon, but I think the internet will make it a lot better. I think the power of the MSM is declining, but that candidates having figured out how to use blogs on online news sources as effectively as I think they will the next primary election cycle.

Right now, we all read the internet political sites that reflect our biases. (For example, one heartwarming online internet poll in January on Instapundit had Thompson up by a huge margin, but Instapundit is in Tennessee and presents an outlook attractive to the kind of people who would most like Fred, so you had to know to take it for what it was worth.)

The next level will be broadening the messages across some blog networks maybe.

Now, I don't think blogs will be a big factor as much in the general elections because I don't know that a significant portion of the American public wants to read its news and political coverage online. Some of us like our info. prepackaged and presented with lots of scrolling graphics and good looking reporters.

But for the primaries, I think it may go that way since you're kind of looking at political junkies following the primaries closely in most years without a TV writers strike.

[DaemonSeid]

AUGUSTA, Maine - Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton in Maine presidential caucuses Sunday, grabbing a majority of delegates as the state's Democrats overlooked the snowy weather and turned out in heavy numbers for municipal gatherings.

Democrats in 420 Maine towns and cities were deciding how the state's 24 delegates will be allotted at the party's national convention in August. Despite the weather, turnout was "incredible," party executive director Arden Manning said.

With 99 percent of the participating precincts reporting, Obama led in state delegates elected over Clinton, 2,079 to 1,396, with 18 uncommitted.

Obama exulted in his recent victories in Maine and elsewhere, telling a crowd of 18,000 Sunday evening in Virginia Beach, Va., that "we have won on the Atlantic Coast, we have won on the Gulf Coast, we have won on the Pacific Coast" and places in between.

Obama won 15 of Maine's delegates to the national convention and Clinton won nine. In the overall race for the nomination, Clinton leads with 1,136, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Obama has 1,108.

The voting came a day after Obama and Clinton made personal appeals here, and after Obama picked up wins in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington.

Organizers had expected heavy participation at the caucuses, but snow was falling and gusting winds hit as many of the gatherings were scheduled.

The weather didn't appear to have hurt turnout. Caucuses started late in Bangor and several other locations across the state because so many people showed up that they were lined up outside the doors.

In Maine's largest city, Democrats carrying "Obama" and "Hillary" signs waited to get into the citywide caucus at Portland High School in separate lines that snaked nearly three city blocks in opposite directions.

Colin Johnson, an Obama supporter in Portland, said the Illinois senator is not a typical politician. "I'm convinced he's a once-in-a-generation leader," he said.

"He's young and energetic and Washington and the White House could benefit from some fresh air," said Joe Lewis, another Obama supporter.

But Tony Donovan said Obama can use some more seasoning. Donovan was supporting Clinton because she, like him, was a baby boomer who shared similar values and because she has the experience and the team to lead in Washington.

"Obama's a great guy. He'll be great in eight years," Donovan said. "He doesn't have the experience in the Senate. He doesn't have the experience in Washington. He's not ready."

A line waited to get into Augusta's caucus as Gov. John Baldacci, a Clinton supporter, addressed the crowd of a couple hundred at the city's Cony High School. Asked why he decided to wait in line to participate, John Brandt said, "Getting rid of Republicans, once and for all."

Though Maine's national delegate count is small, Clinton and Obama, along with surrogates, came to the state Saturday as their campaigns drew tighter after Super Tuesday.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080211/...maine_caucuses

Man I can't wait for tomorrow!

[scbelle]

Me either! I'm getting ready to be on a conference call with Obama in about 45 minutes... I can't wait to hear what he has to say about his stellar weekend! I'm really hoping his roll continues.

[RU OX Alum]

a tourament a tourament a tourament of lies

i decline

i feel fine

[PeppyGPhiB]

I attended a Democratic caucus in Washington this weekend, and I'd just like to say that it was truly inspiring to see SO MANY people that passionate about an election in this country. There were so many cars that I had to park about a mile away from the junior high school where my local caucus was held, and once I got to the school, there was probably 1,000 people crammed into the tiny gym and school library. My precinct, and a few others, had to go outside to conduct our business because it was simply too loud and crowded inside. The organizers were in no way expecting such a record crowd, but all agreed it was a GOOD problem to have this time.

For the person who asked about the voting that takes place at caucuses, yes, there is voting but not necessarily consensus. At my caucus, when we first got there, we signed in with our precinct, listing a preliminary candidate preference on the sign-in sheet. After a lot of reading of the rules, a person assigned to record the votes used a formula to determine the breakdown of delegates proportional to the votes casted for each candidate on the sign-in sheet. In the case of my precinct, we had 8 delegates to be assigned, and preliminary votes gave Obama 6 of those delegates and Clinton 2. We also had two people that were undecided, however they were mathematically unviable compared to Obama and Clinton. So, the Obama and Clinton groups each selected one representative from their side to speak for one minute about their candidate, trying to woo the undecideds and other candidate supporters. Then we had a few minutes of mingling with each other, after which the chair asked if anyone would like to switch sides - in our case, the two undecideds decided to move to the Clinton camp, and a couple of Obama people switched to Clinton, too. Then they re-tallied the votes at that point and used the formula again to determine how many delegates each candidate now had. It ended up being Obama=5, Clinton=3. Then the chair asked for volunteers from each side to be their respective candidates' delegates to the next convention. The end.

[UGAalum94]

PeppyGPhiB,

What you described sounds like the way I understood caucuses like the Iowa Democratic caucus, and it sounds pretty cool.

But in the Republic Iowa caucus, apparently you just show up write your vote on a ballot and go, or at least that's what I understood.

And I'm still trying to figure out how a state primary convention would be different than a caucus other than being held all in one place. Do they do county delegates first, maybe?

[DaemonSeid]

Something else funny happened a while ago...


I had an atheist tell me that they want to see written proof that Obama is not a Muslim........

Their belief is.....they don't like being lied to....

My questioon however...is if you don't believe in a higher power, then what difference is it going to make what religious affiliation he is?

[shinerbock]

Obama certainly has broad support. However, like Ron Paul, I've found that many of his supporters (young people) have the dedication without possessing substantial knowledge about the candidate or politics/government in general.

I suspect this is a common phenomenon for candidates where the appeal arises from character qualities, instead of substantive issues. Of course, I don't see the character qualities that drew college kids toward Ron Paul, unless you consider whining to be a quality.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Obama certainly has broad support. However, like Ron Paul, I've found that many of his supporters (young people) have the dedication without possessing substantial knowledge about the candidate or politics/government in general.

I suspect this is a common phenomenon for candidates where the appeal arises from character qualities, instead of substantive issues. Of course, I don't see the character qualities that drew college kids toward Ron Paul, unless you consider whining to be a quality.

I think libertarian leanings are always a hit with the college kids. Drug policy alone probably hooks a lot of them.

[shinerbock]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I think libertarian leanings are always a hit with the college kids. Drug policy along probably hooks a lot of them.

Often so. I told all my friends that they were attracted to Ron Paul because he has an emo, "my parents hated me" attitude just like they did.

[DaemonSeid]

anyone watching Larry King?

[honeychile]

Whether you agree with it or not, this article (courtesy of the Washington Post) does have an interesting aspect to the Democratic race.