As an objective matter, it’s really not fair to compare expected results with actual results. But this is politics, and perception is reality. Yesterday’s results not only allow Wisconsin to maintain its reputation for surprising political pundits, but also extend the race for the nomination overall.<\/p>\n
Kerry — 40% (30 delegates)
\nEdwards — 34% (24 delegates)
\nDean — 18% (13 delegates)<\/p>\n
Kerry’s spin is true: a win is a win. He’s come in a solid first in 15 of the 17 races, and he’s the only candidate to win a contest since Feb. 3 — eight in a row. Kerry didn’t exceed expectations, but he’s still way<\/i> ahead of his competitors and the presumptive nominee. It’s hard to reasonably hold a win — even a narrow win — against him.<\/p>\n
That said, yesterday was supposed to be a knock-out punch for Kerry. Instead, with a 6-point win — the closest since Iowa — the fight continues.<\/p>\n
Oddly enough, Edwards’ spin is also true: he’s still in this thing. He closed very strong in Wisconsin, just as he has in every other state he’s competed in. He was running fourth in the state’s polls just a week ago, and ended up within single digits of the presumptive nominee. The strong showing will certainly offer him some momentum in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
Edwards also had one of the best quips I’ve seen in weeks: “Today the voters of Wisconsin sent a clear message. And the message was this: Objects in your mirror may be closer than they appear.” Nice one.<\/p>\n
Edwards’ support in Wisconsin buys him the most valuable commodity of all — time. In fact, looking ahead to Super Tuesday (March 2), Edwards can now target specific states where he’s likely to have stronger appeal, including Georgia, Minnesota, and Ohio. If he can win these three, that’ll buy even more time.<\/p>\n
Realistically, however, it’s hard to imagine the scenario whereby Edwards propels past Kerry. As of this morning, Kerry has over three times as many delegates. Kerry’s won 15 primaries and caucuses; Edwards has won just one. Even if Edwards can pull together a few victories on March 2, Kerry will still likely win twice as many states and delegates.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Edwards is proving himself an exceptional campaigner and, I believe, doing everyone a favor by keeping the process going a little longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As an objective matter, it’s really not fair to compare expected results with actual results. But this is politics, and perception is reality. Yesterday’s results not only allow Wisconsin to maintain its reputation for surprising political pundits, but also extend the race for the nomination overall. Kerry — 40% (30 delegates) Edwards — 34% (24 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}