THIS

Posted at May 15, 2008 9:37 AM in response to Edwards Pledged Delegate Endorses Obama

All this "dream ticket" talk is a tactical silver bullet "dreamed up" by Hillary shills and others who are allowing themselves to be be psyched out by Billary's mind games re "the white working class vote."

It is completely ignoring any consideration of how Obama and Hillary (and Bill) would actually lead and govern together -- which is very poorly, indeed.

That being the case, the onus is on them to explain what Hillary can do for Obama as VP that she couldn't do vigorously campaigning for Obama as his chief surrogate and validator to her base, during the general election campaign.

Posted at May 14, 2008 1:46 PM in response to Hillary-Backer Ed Rendell Suggests Obama Ask Hillary To Be Veep

Let's be clear: West Virginia is a completely anomalous state. It is no more an "electability test" than Arkansas or Oklahoma -- two other states which Hillary won by Mack-wide margins -- were electability tests.

Posted at May 13, 2008 7:59 PM in response to News Orgs Instantly Project Big Win For Hillary In West Virginia

Hillary now needs West Virginia and Kentucky to score a political point. But up until last week, they were right at the top of her list of the very kind of states that she has belittled Obama for winning -- states that, because they have tilted Republican in the last several presidential elections, could be seen as a challenge for a Democrat -- states that she has argued -- strenuously -- won't matter in the general.

For Hillary to strut around on these two wins will be the height of irony and rank hypocrisy.

The fact is, Obama is more likely to repeat his "red" victories in the general than Hillary is to repeat hers -- including West Virginia and Kentucky -- not least, because he won the first time by campaigning as a Democrat, while she will have won by campaigning as a de facto Republican.

Posted at May 12, 2008 11:24 AM in response to Upcoming Losses in West Virginia and Kentucky

What is self-evidently, indubitably, incontrovertibly, irreducibly, and indelibly the case is that...

THIS

Posted at May 11, 2008 12:54 AM in response to Obama Gains More Super-Delegates, AP Says He Now Leads

Three things:

(1) Her "pattern" claim is wrong on the facts. From the piece in USA Today:

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that in Indiana, Obama split working-class voters with Clinton and won a higher percentage of white voters than in Ohio in March. He said Obama will be the strongest nominee because he appeals "to Americans from every background and all walks of life. These statements from Sen. Clinton are not true and frankly disappointing."

(2) The argument that the preference of some Democratic primary voters for a white Democrat projects the preference of those same voters for a white Republican in the general is self-serving, specious, and absurd. The voting dynamic in a primary election is completely different from the voting dynamic in the general.

(3) There was no Democratic candidate more closely associated with the concerns of "the white working class" than John Edwards. The overwhelming preference for Obama, among Edwards's former staff, supporters, and donors, speaks loudly for itself.

Just today, Obama picked up the endorsement of David Bonior, who was Edwards's campaign manager.

Posted at May 8, 2008 12:32 PM in response to Clinton Plays The Race Card

Barack must campaign in these states -- and he must campaign there vigorously, to minimize Hillary's margins and preserve his lead, even as he builds big firewalls in Oregon, Montana, and South Dakota.

He must not fall into the post-Iowa trap of believing he already has this sewn up -- he doesn't.

Also, notice that, as on previous occasions, where Hillary sang Kumbaya on debate night and pulled out the knife the next morning, her tone on Tuesday night was positively valedictory, in many ways -- but yesterday, she was defiant as ever.

In addition to pushing hard on Michigan and Florida, both Hillary and her campaign are continuing to peddle a shameless race argument that has become more explicit than ever.

Yesterday, her strategist Geoff Garin bragged about her advances with "the white electorate." And in an interview with USA Today yesterday, she said:

I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on...Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and...whites in [Indiana and North Carolina] who had not completed college were supporting me.

Later in the article:

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that in Indiana, Obama split working-class voters with Clinton and won a higher percentage of white voters than in Ohio in March...[saying:] "These statements from Sen. Clinton are not true and frankly disappointing."

Hillary and her campaign no longer are pretending to disguise their specious "electability" arguments with euphemisms like "blue collar."

She's saying outright: "Pick me. I'm the one the whites like."

Hillary remains hostile, and must be treated as such.

Posted at May 8, 2008 11:11 AM in response to W. Virginia and Kentucky - Obama should visit them (yes or no)

Yeah, and once she's ready to slough it off with a pot of coffee, she can head on up to that diner in New Hampshire.

Posted at May 7, 2008 4:16 PM in response to Hillary Super-Delegate Defects To Obama

THIS

Posted at May 7, 2008 3:49 PM in response to Hillary Super-Delegate Defects To Obama

NEWS

Posted at May 7, 2008 3:09 PM in response to Paper That Endorsed Hillary Calls On Her To Exit Race