Donuts And Politics

No polling for Wyoming (shocking). In MS latest poll has Obama 54%, Clinton 38%. Interesting to see what happens in Wyoming and its whopping 12 delegates.  And how Clinton explains that MS is one of those states that doesn’t really matter.

(CNN) – A Clinton campaign spokesman Thursday compared Barack Obama’s recent criticism of the New York senator to the actions of Whitewater prosecutor Ken Starr. On a Thursday conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said that the Illinois senator was attempting to sidestep questions about his readiness to lead the country. “He chose not to address those questions, but to attack Senator Clinton. I for one do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president,” said Wolfson.

Now Clinton herself actually said, and clearly implied, that she and John McCain were prepared to be President and Obama was not. She compares her experience to that of war veteran and POW John McCain. Interesting. I think Obama should take her up on that comparison: She voted for the war, so did McCain; she took a hard line stance against Iran, McCain wans to bomb them; she won’t meet with our enemies, McCain will bomb them…so Clinton is now throwing Obama, A FELLOW DEMOCRAT, under the bus. Nice move, Hillary.

“I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold…I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Senator McCain has done that…”

OUTRAGEOUS!

I read this interesting post today and thought I would share it. I think its actually fairly accurate and gives fresh hope to those of us who were slightly depressed by the results on Tuesday. Another reason to hate Ohio (%^$& buckeyes!).

Obama, barring some sort of major scandal or bizarre political collapse, is a lock.  Hillary Clinton can’t realistically catch him in the pledged delegate count, and that means Obama is going to win the nomination.

But what about Florida and Michigan?  And what if she wins Pennsylvania and a bunch of other states between now and June?  That matters, but not because it will help Clinton win the nomination.

A string of Clinton wins in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, et cetera will only prove that she can win where she’s supposed to win, just as she won in Texas and Ohio.  They prove that Clinton retains a strong base of supporters, and that Obama hasn’t persuaded them to vote for him in the primary.  Beyond that, it proves nothing, because she can’t catch him in pledged delegates, and that is the only thing that matters.

There is simply no way that the superdelegates are going to take away the nomination from the leading candidate, the first African-American candidate with a chance at the presidency, and hand it to the runnerup.

African-American voters will simply stay home, lost to the Democratic Party for this election and perhaps a long time to come.  Lots of white Obama supporters may do the same.  Clinton can’t win without those votes in November, so there’s no point in nominating her.

What does that mean for Obama?

It means that Obama is better off ignoring her, most of the time.  She’s a more famous and formidable Democratic Party version of Mike Huckabee.  She can embarrass him by winning primaries, and probably will, but she isn’t a threat.  Obama should stay positive and use the opportunity of an extended primary season to answer the lingering questions she and others raise, while introducing himself to votes in the remaining states who have yet to see him.  This doesn’t mean that he should be passive.  It would be good if she gave strong response to Clinton, linking the Iraq war disaster that she and McCain supported, to the economic carnage at home.

The long primary can allow Americans, uneasy about a newcomer with a funny name and dark skin, to get more comfortable with him.  Shoot, there are plenty of things that I don’t know about him - and I voted for the guy.

Obama should continue treating Clinton with all due respect, because there is no point in doing more than is necessary to alienate supporters he will need in the fall.  But he should never - under any circumstances - consider putting her on the ticket.  His position should be simple.  I won.  I choose my running mate.