Tuesday’s campaign round-up

April 22, 2008

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* The very last Pennsylvania polls to be released before voting began this morning both show Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama by 10. The final Zogby tracking poll in the state shows Clinton up 51-41, while the latest InsiderAdvantage poll shows her up 49-39.

* In terms of national polls, the latest numbers from USA Today/Gallup show Obama solidifying his support nationwide. He now leads among Democrats 50-40, and the 10-point gap is up 3 percentage points from a month ago. The news was not all bad for Clinton, though — in hypothetical general election match-ups, her margin of victory over John McCain (50-44) was greater than Obama’s (47-44).

* On CNN last night, Larry King asked Clinton about staying in the race until the convention. Clinton responded, “Well, I’m going until we get Florida and Michigan resolved. I’m going until everybody’s had a chance to vote in this process. I’m going until the automatic delegates have made their judgments, based on their independent assessments, as to who of us would be better against John McCain in the fall and who would be the best president for our country.”

* Cindy McCain denied reports about her husband’s explosive temper while appearing on “The View” yesterday, insisting that he’s simply “passionate about the future.”

* Jon Stewart asked Obama last night if he planned, once in office, to “enslave the white race.” Obama responded, “That is not our plan, Jon, but I think your paranoia might make you suitable as a debate moderator.”

* Good advice: “Clinton, speaking to reporters in Conshohocken just now, said she’d campaign for a united Democratic Party, no matter who’s the nominee. ‘Anybody who supports Barack or me would be very foolish to think voting for Senator McCain makes any sense,’ she said.”

* Unfortunately, it appears Obama is just as confused as McCain when it comes to the correlation (or lack thereof) between vaccines and autism rates.

* Bill Clinton believes the Obama campaign played the “race card” against him.

* Obama got a little testy with reporters while he was having breakfast yesterday.

* Louisiana’s Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, John Kennedy, was trashed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee just four years ago. Kennedy was a conservative Democrat at the time.

* Remember Ron Paul? Apparently, he’s been running radio ads in Pennsylvania in advance of today’s primary. (Yes, technically there really is a Republican primary.)

* Richard Nixon’s daughter supports Obama.

* I guess the long campaign is taking its toll — Hillary Clinton’s favorable numbers have actually fallen below Obama’s and McCain’s in New York.

How come CNN no show parade of glorious People’ Army marching to rousing national anthem?

  • Remember the Constitution? Apparently, it still says that only Congress shall have the power to declare war–and not the President–an interpretation not espoused by the Three Stooges of globalism. (Yes, technically there really is a Constitution and it is the Supreme Law of the Land.)

  • ““Well, I’m going until we get Florida and Michigan resolved. I’m going until everybody’s had a chance to vote in this process. I’m going until the automatic delegates have made their judgments, based on their independent assessments, as to who of us would be better against John McCain in the fall and who would be the best president for our country.”

    To clarify further, I’m going to wait until everybody’s had a chance to vote, and then I’m going to ask the “automatic” delegates to overturn the results of those votes.

    I believe in the democratic process, unless of course, I lose. In which case, the “independent assessments” of party insiders should usurp the democratic process.

    Indeed, I believe the voters should decide, but only if they decide what I want them to decide. Otherwise, insiders should decide for them.

    Thank you.

    P.S. Please stop calling superdelegates, superdelegates. They’re automatic delegates dammit! If Fox News can start calling suicide bombers, homicide bombers for Bush, then you can start calling superdelegates, automatic delegates for me.

  • “Automatic delegates”???

    Oh, good grief…. Mr. Google tells me that Hillary and her minions have been using this to avoid using the term “pledged delegates,” but it’s the first time I’ve noticed it — and it’s infuriating. It’s not bad enough that we have one party that engages in this kind of language manipulation (“enhanced interrogation methods,” “death tax,” etc.)? In Hillary’s view, we need two?

  • This won’t end with on June 3rd with last of the primaries. Hillary is collecting friends from the right and in the traditional media specifically to blast Obama all summer long, especially in the days leading up the convention in an continuing attempt to bloody him so much that the supers can’t possibly vote in his favor (regardless of what they may decide before July 1). This woman has sold her soul to the devil (i.e. Richard Mellon Scaife) for personal gain.

  • To follow up on the last 2 comments, I hope you’re planning to do a subsequent post on how utterly ludicrious Clinton’s statements were.

  • “I’m going until we get Florida and Michigan resolved.”

    They were resolved when Clinton agreed with the DNC’s plan to sanction states that scheduled primaries too early. Until she won those states.

  • How come CNN no show parade of glorious People’ Army marching to rousing national anthem? Chinese Media Critic

    We’re sorry……….the institution you are referencing is unable to provide coverage of the people’s misfit army, due to the tremendous amount of satellite reconnaissance work involved in establishing missile coordinates for all of the factories producing poisonous toys, pet products, cosmetics, clothing, and food for the free world. Please try again later.

  • Grumpy (#7),

    You might be able to claim she won Florida since both her and Obama’s names were on the ballot, but Michigan? Come on. Obama wasn’t even on the ballot. And 40% of the people came out for a meaningless primary to vote “not Hillary” on that fine winter day. You can’t possibly be serious when you say she won Michigan.

  • Bill Clinton believes the Obama campaign played the “race card” against him.

    Some people just don’t know when to retire. Just fade away, Bill.

  • The only way we’re ever going to be rid of the Clintons is when we drive cedar stakes through their hearts and leave the bodies out in the daylight to combust.

  • Hillary Clinton (#3) – “Please stop calling superdelegates, superdelegates. They’re automatic delegates dammit!”

    To be technical, the so-called superdelegates are more properly called ex officio delegates. For the Late-Latin-impaired, here’s Merriam-Webster: “by virtue or because of an office “. And here’s American Heritage: “By virtue of office or position”. Finally, Oxford: “by virtue of one’s position or status”.

    “Superdelegate” is a recent (2000) and superfluous neologism occurring only in the American Heritage: “An elected official or political party leader who attends a presidential nominating convention and who may or may not have made a commitment to vote for a candidate.”

  • Good on Julie Nixon Eisenhower and her sister-in-law Susan.

    I like the way their minds work!

  • I’m speculating here, but the word “superdelegate” I believe came about because these delegates actually have super powers by virtue of the fact that one superdelegate’s vote is equivalent to the votes of about 10,000 of us (correct me if I’m wrong on this number).

    Hillary is trying to manipulate the terminology by making the true, but irrelevant, argument that a superdelegate’s vote doesn’t carry any more weight than that of a pledged delegate. True, but again, a pledged delegate is actually sent to the convention to represent 10,000 of us while a super goes to represent one person — him or herself.

    The term is apropos. Superdelegates are exactly that.

  • Bill Clinton believes the Obama campaign played the “race card” against him.

    And I believe the McCain campaign is discriminating against me as a wealth-impaired non-Arizonan by not giving me $20 million worth of government land for $250k. Just getting that out there.

  • I believe the DNC actually calls them “PLEO” delegates. Stands for Party Leaders and Elected Officials.

  • The venom spent on themerisol detractors is misplaced.
    That the dosages of mercury administered through teh combination of multiple vaccines given to small children is NOT debated.

    Wherether this damages children is debated.

    Since the debate may well have been responsible for the removal of mercury from vaccines to restore trusted levels, I’m annoyed that the medical establishment seems to place equal weight behind their criticism that this publicity reduces vaccination rates (valid) and that mercury involved in the risky vaccines has never been proven to cause any mental problems (water under the bridge). By emphasizing the “craziness” of the anti-vaccine crowd, they run the risk of sounding suspiciously like shilling for the pharmaceutical industries. A charge that has proven valid all too often.

    Vaccinate. If it ever WAS risky, it isn’t anymore.
    That said, if pharma hurt kids because they’d make a little more money adding a mercury based preservative to their admittedly critical medicines, do we look the other way? I’m not even saying there’s any “there” there, I just get paranoid when the harping over controversial ongoing evidence (the CDC is STILL investigating) reaches levels this hostile and shrill. This is not Roswell. This is a situation where pharmaceutical companies are at risk for millions of dollars. There’s big money involved to shut this up if there’s any validity at all. If Obama wishes to flesh out controversies and is reluctant to bury issues people are still upset about, isn’t that a good thing in the super secret suirrel 1984 dystopia King George and Dick Cheney are trying to pass off as normal and necessary? It’s the opposite of “Trust us. We’re the government.”

  • That the dosages of mercury administered through the combination of multiple vaccines given to small children exceeded maximum safe dosages determined at the time (and unchanged, as far as I’ve heard) is NOT debated.

    Sorry, didn’t finish the thought

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