Mike Huckabee gave John McCain a run for his money in Virginia, but McCain finally pulled ahead for the win. He also won the Maryland and District of Columbia contests. Huckabee remains determined to stay in the race until the magic number of 1,191 delegates is reached. While mathematically (and logistically), he’s been eliminated from the race – I understand when he says that if he stays in, there’s always a chance that something unexpected could happen to resuscitate his candidacy (perhaps a vague reference to Mitt Romney’s 286 delegates), but if drops out – then there’s no chance.
Barack Obama not only won convincingly in all three contests yesterday (DC, MD, VA), but is beginning to make inroads into appealing to the ‘tried and true’ Clinton supporters – women, seniors, Latinos and working-class voters. We’ll have to see if that continues or more importantly – grows.
The reason I note the ‘growth’ aspect is because John King demonstrated a somewhat disturbing scenario on the telestrater map last night ... if the Democratic race continues in a 55%/45% split in the remaining states – regardless of which candidate gets which percent – neither Obama nor Clinton would reach the ‘magic’ number of 2,025 delegates to secure the nomination.
And then the ‘superdelegates’ come into play. I think that if they do end up choosing the nominee – whoever it is – it will start a substantial movement towards the creation of a third party candidacy in 2012. The Democratic National Committee will have told millions of voters that their votes don’t matter – and we’ll end up in a similar situation as what happened in 1984. Walter Mondale won the nomination over Gary Hart due in large part to the superdelegate vote. If there’s a HUGE lesson to learn – this is it – as Mondale went on lose 49 out of 50 states to Ronald Reagan in November, winning only his home state of Minnesota (and the District of Columbia). Obviously, there are many who are begging the DNC to revamp this system – and hopefully it will happen before 2012.
Anyway – speaking of superdelegates – how super is it to be 21 years old and a Wisconsin superdelegate to this year’s historic convention? Just ask Jason Rae – as Anderson did last night during an interview with this self-proclaimed ‘political junkie’. Meeting candidates, spouses, children – and getting phone calls from Madeline Albright and Bill Clinton – what a life! But remember, Jason – the notoriety ends in Denver this August – and yes, then you’ll be able to concentrate on school once again! But in the meantime, CONGRATULATIONS and enjoy!!
Randi Kaye also had a very timely report on what a McCain-Obama match up would look like this fall – the strengths and weaknesses – advantages and disadvantages for each side – and I’m sure that there’ll be much more extensive analysis should this pairing materialize into reality!
And as I’ve been trying to do with each ‘primary result’ evening, here are caps of each candidate who made post-result appearances last night:
Other News and Notes:
AC 360° NOLA schedule: I guess the schedule for 360°‘s New Orleans visit has changed – it was originally set for Wednesday and Thursday – now it looks like Thursday only.
AC 360° Friday special: It’s called ‘Race, Gender and Politics’ – I assume it’s a continuation of what was started with the Randi Kaye report on the Black female vote in South Carolina’s primary. David Doss has a blog entry today with this title, although it’s not referencing the Friday special at 10:00 PM EST.
CNN’s next debate: The Clinton-Obama debate next Thursday, 2/21 at 8:00 PM EST will be held at the University of Texas in Austin. It will also be carried on Univision – after the original live broadcast is completed. The CNN moderator and CNN journalists on the panel have yet to be named.
Voice of 360° - Round 3: Check out the video on the AC360° blog - the guesses seem to be revolving around Gene Simmons. I’m not so sure ... but I’m probably wrong ...
Uno is Number One: Isn’t he just about the most adorable beagle you’ve ever seen? (Snoopy notwithstanding, of course!) Uno won Best in Show at Westminster last night – the first time in 100 years that the beagle has won this honor!
Thanks for visiting - updates posted as needed - have a terrific Wednesday!
1 comment:
Uno is adorable!!
Great primary coverage by CNN. Did notice that CNN beat FNC in key demo both during the day and in prime time!
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