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In Wisconsin’s Presidential Primary tonight, Barack Obama and John McCain win – and win BIG ...
Obama defeated Hillary Clinton by 17 points (58% vs. 41%), and McCain defeated Mike Huckabee – also by 17 points (54% vs. 37%). Huckabee’s press conference wasn’t covered by CNN, but all three other speeches were:
The majority of the evening’s analysis focused on how and why Barack Obama has proved to be a formidable competitor for Hillary Clinton, and what he is doing to erode the base of her traditional support. There was also discussion of the thinly veiled attacks that McCain leveled against Obama in his speech, and field reports from on-location correspondents:
Other News and Notes:
Anderson managed to squeeze in time today for an appearance on Late Night; he talked with Conan about: (1) Presidential Debates (and the lack of candidate sweat glands), (2) the most recent GOP Debate when Governor Schwarzenegger gave him a ‘thumbs up’ for so obviously working out, (3) the pros and cons of live blogging during the program, (4) a re-visit of the ‘stalker’ inicident during the 2006 book tour (still scary to hear), (5) subbing for Regis and (6) Anderson’s disdain for interviewing (certain) celebrities.
There's been some commenting throughout the primary coverage about the size of the crowds that attend the Obama rallies. I think CNN finally gave us a glimpse of what that really looks like (Senator Obama is in the lower left hand corner, BTW):
But without a doubt, this is my favorite shot of the entire night - the hard-working stage crew doing their thing - with Stage Manager Kevin (in the middle) leading the way:
Thanks for visiting – updates posted as needed – have a terrific Wednesday!
Words Matter: But does it matter where they originated? Does it really matter if one candidate pairs the phrase “Just words?” with a few often-used historical phrases, such as “I have a dream” or “We hold these truths to be self-evident”? Does it matter that more than one candidate for public office may have used that phrasing in campaign speeches? Or is a well-timed accusation of plagiarism, which clearly isn’t plagiarism, enough of a diversionary tactic to win the Wisconsin Primary? The goal of diverting the media’s attention on the eve of this primary certainly was achieved. It’s interesting that panelist Bay Buchanan noted the ongoing use of the phrase “Take Back America” by Hillary Clinton, which was first used by Pat Buchanan in his 1996 Presidential bid. I doubt that Senator Clinton received any kind of approval from Mr. Buchanan to use his phrasing, which is opposite from MA Governor Deval Patrick’s encouragement to Barack Obama to use this tiny cadence which Patrick invoked during his gubernatorial contest. All in all, we’ll have to wait and see – and trust in the judgment of Wisconsin voters.
The remainder of Candy Crowley’s report focused on the closeness of tomorrow’s primary – a statistical tie – and the fact that the Clinton camp is doing whatever possible to slow the Obama momentum, while emphasizing a “solutions” strategy versus a “speech” strategy.
Political Panel – Part 1: David Gergen, Bay Buchanan and Keith Boykin (Daily Voice Editor) all weighed in on the current Democratic kerfuffle, with Gergen stating that “Obama made a mistake but it’s not plagiarism”, Buchanan stating that “Obama did not plagiarize” and Boykin adding that it all “isn’t a big issue”.
“Read my lips” – again: Former President Bush endorsed John McCain today, on the heels of McCain’s pledge that there would be “no new taxes” in his administration. Some of us have at least vague memories of how that pledge worked (NOT) for Bush 41. And there are many forces at work to circumvent the success of a second try at this promise. Tom Foreman noted that: (1) the war, (2) the economic stimulus package, (3) retirement entitlements to an increasing number of baby boomers and (4) interest on the national debt – are all working against any President’s plan to not raise taxes.
Political Panel – Part 2: While Bay Buchanan held fast to the belief that John McCain could keep his tax promise, David Gergen and Keith Boykin didn’t necessarily agree. I do think that Boykin stepped a little out of his league, though, when he maintained that John McCain wasn’t paying attention to and didn’t necessarily care about the current problems of the middle class. Both Bay Buchanan and David Gergen opposed the notion. All I’ll say is that hopefully, we’ll never have to really find out.
Superdelegate pay-offs?: David Mattingly took a closer look at a report from the Center for Responsive Politics that shows about $900,000 being donated to the campaigns of various superdelegates from the Obama ($700,000) and Clinton ($200,000) camps. These donations were made prior to both announcing their own candidacy (note the $4,200 Obama donated to Clinton’s 2006 re-election), and the standard line is that candidates are “building relationships” through this support. And although no one wants to use the phrase “bought-off votes”, there is a definite pattern from those receiving money from both candidates – the delegates tend to side with the candidate who donated the most money. Interesting ...
Jason Rae – Part 2: We first met superdelegate Jason Rae last Tuesday during the primary coverage. He’s a 21-year-old junior at Marquette, and is in a superdelegate slot through being elected to a state-level DNC position. I didn’t realize that over half of this increasingly important group are DNC members, who are not publicly elected officials. That disturbs me, as I feel that there’s a greater potential for lack of accountability – to the public at large. And a couple of Jason’s comments also disturb me – about how superdelegates should vote for the party’s best candidate (i.e. – how is that determined?) and also his justification for the extra value given to these votes – that superdelegates are “charged with deciding what’s in the best interest of the party”. I’m not really convinced that his justification is going to override the “one person, one vote” equality theme that also seems to be gaining some momentum, in reaction to the “power play” that superdelegates may be able to levy at a brokered convention this summer.
Jessica Baty interview: Investigative reporter Abbie Boudreau had an extended version of her interview with Jessica Baty that began airing this past weekend. Jessica is the girlfriend of NIU shooter Steven Kazimerczak. It’s sad to watch her pain, although I’m also reminded of the pain being experienced by all the families involved in this tragedy. She and Steven had been a couple for two years, and lived together for the past year. Jessica is certain that there were no ‘signs’ that she saw that would foretell the violence that Steven would be capable of. She said that he was “haunted” by the Virginia Tech shootings, and either ironically or purposefully ended up purchasing ammunition and a gun holster from the same web dealer that had sold guns to VT shooter Seung-Hui Cho.
Thanks for visiting – updates posted as needed – have a terrific Tuesday!!
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!
Michelle Obama, Caroline Kennedy, Maria Shriver and Oprah Winfrey at Obama/UCLA rally - Sunday, 2/3/08
Photo courtesy of Wally Skalij/LA Times
The mood in California is almost unprecedented right now – you can’t watch most TV programs without seeing half a dozen campaign ads, you can’t listen to the radio without hearing several campaign ads, you can’t travel around for very long without seeing groups of people on street corners waving signs and banners ... one might ask – “when did this state turn into New Hampshire?” It’s been a LONG time since California voters figured so prominently in the choice of Democratic and Republican Presidential nominees – and it shows ... and I, for one, am ecstatic about it ...
from Friday night’s AC360°:
Political Update: Candy Crowley reported on an Obama mailer attacking Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan – reminiscent of a Republican-backed ad in 1994 attacking the then-Clinton health care proposal.
Anderson talked with David Gergen, Amy Holmes and Donna Brazile about the mailer and other current issues in the Democratic campaign.
John King reported on Mitt Romney’s “Plan C” – reassessing what he anticipates needs to happen tomorrow to salvage his campaign. John then joined the previous panel for further “McCain vs. Romney” discussion.
Michelle Obama interview: Soledad O’Brien conducted an extensive interview with Michelle Obama. Not your typical ‘political wife’ and not your typical answers ... for example, it’s almost refreshing to hear someone in her position say “there is nothing rational about politics” – not just in the interview, but regularly in her stump speech.
It was clear in Soledad’s post-interview discussion with Anderson that she enjoyed the opportunity to speak with Michelle Obama and found her to be a forthright and engaging interviewee!
Latino voting power: An interesting report from Thelma Gutierrez, noting that the reason Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead over Barack Obama among Latinos in California is because the Clintons are a “known commodity”. Another example of Hillary benefitting from Bill’s legacy – while still claiming that this is her campaign and that it will be her Presidency.
Oil company profits: Joe Johns had a report on ExxonMobil’s record $40.6 billion 2007 profit. The company declined to be interviewed, but included in a statement it released that it pays “$2.50 in taxes for every $1.00 it earns.” I’m not sure who is overseeing ExxonMobil’s financial strategy – but that doesn’t make much sense. Perhaps it’s a matter of linguistic semantics? The bottom line from Ali Velshi? All oil companies will continue to make the maximum profit available from an in-demand commodity.
Anderson Cooper in the kitchen: Erica gave AC a bit of a hard time over his cooking ability (or lack thereof) as demonstrated on “Regis & Kelly” earlier on Friday. Can’t say that I blame her – it’s too good an opportunity to pass up!
Other news and notes:
Reminder – Bill Maher on Larry King Live tonight! Bill is also giving talk at Loyola Marymount University this Wednesday (yes, a Jesuit school ...) to celebrate their “First Amendment Week” observance. Click on this link to read a pre-appearance interview entitled “11 Burning Questions with Bill Maher”!
LOS ANGELES (CNN) – CNN announced Thursday (1/31/08) that it will partner with the Ohio Democratic Party and the Ohio Republican Party for back-to-back presidential debates at the end of February.
With the race for each party nomination likely to extend beyond the February 5 Super Tuesday contests, it’s increasingly possible the critical battleground state of Ohio – which holds its presidential primary March 4, along with three other states — could very well determine the 2008 Democratic and Republican nominees.
"Ohio will once again decide who wins the White House,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern. “The Ohio Democratic debate is important because it will allow the next President of the United States to address the issues most important to Ohioans."
Republican Party Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine also highlighted the state’s potential kingmaker status. "No Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio,” said DeWine. “It's a critical battleground state in November that could play a deciding role on March 4. We're proud to partner with CNN on this debate in advance of what could be a decisive primary election in the Buckeye State."
The Democratic debate will take place Wednesday, February 27, while the Republican debate will follow on Thursday, February 28. The network said further details will be released soon.
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama opened narrow leads on Hillary Clinton in California and Missouri one day before crucial "Super Tuesday" nominating contests in 24 states, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Monday.
Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton is losing ground to Sen. Barack Obama in a national CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released on the eve of critical Super Tuesday presidential primaries and caucuses.
Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson isn't making an endorsement in the presidential race for now, and he won't indicate when he'll make a decision.
I can’t wait for tomorrow!!!!! Thanks for visiting – updates posted as needed – have a terrific ‘Super Tuesday Eve’!! Oh yeah – and congrats to the Giants – I tend to root for the underdogs – well done!!
tonight on Anderson Cooper 360°:
And a fantastic note to end on - from Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas – posted on YouTube – “Yes, We Can” – inspired by Barack Obama’s New Hampshire speech ...
