Election '08: Primaries

[Rural King]

The debates tonight were in terms of format and substance the best I have seen for either party . I wish all debates could be this informative and well moderated, instead of the usual soft ball and/or inciting moderation we have seen at some of the other debates by other networks.

On the Democratic I saw a clear divide in philosophy and message between that of Obama and Edwards and that Clinton, which should help make up a lot of minds in the electorate in New Hampshire on which way they want to see the party to head. It will be an interesting primary race to watch come Tuesday.

[Charlotteman]

And BTW, Obama has the same experience as Abraham Lincoln did in 1860.

[monsoon]

My great Aunt, who has been a life long Republican and has watch Fox news religiously, has said she is voting for Obama. It's amazing.

[vdogg]

According to CNN, after last night, Obama now has a 10 point lead over Hillary. Amazing. I've heard the complaint from people that they still don't know want Obama stands for. In case you're one of them, just watch this video. I was blown away by the depth of his thought on key issues. It's a bit on the long side (about an hour) so be forewarned, but it's worth a look.

[Charlotteman]

The Democratic debate in N.H. last night was quite interesting. I found Edwards a little shrill, and Richardson was a real embarrassment (he called Russia "the Soviet Union") Obama was good. And I thought Hillary did an excellent job--it was refreshing to FINALLY hear that she would start bringing troops home from Iraq 60 days into her presidency.

The polls in N.H. seem to be on fire. Every few hours a new poll group releases figures, and the trend is undoubtedly going in Obama's direction. One pollster said Obama's poll numbers are going up on average 3 points a day. That's not just a daily improvement. That is a freight train roaring through.

As vdogg mentioned above, the last poll showed Obama 10 percentage points over Hillary in the Granite State. How comforting to know Democrats are coming to their senses!

My partner and I agree that voting for Obama in a general election would be voting FOR a candidate, not just voting Democratic because the Republicans are so bad. His campaign theme of "hope" isn't empty rhetoric. People obviously feel inspired by Obama. Long lines to enter his appearances are testimony to his ability to make people see that positive change is indeed possible.

[Charlotte_native]

My personal opinion about Obama is that we finally might have a leader. We haven't really had someone, IMO, for a while that lead people, that could talk and convince people to follow. When I hear Obama speak he seems amazingly intelligent, able to speak on so many levels with so many people, honest, and really everything I'd want to see in a real leader. The fact that he is black, to me, is only a side issue but important only to show where we have come in our goals of making the color of your skin a non-issue.

I have nothing against Hillary on a personaly level but I do worry that her as the Democratic candidate could be the catalyst to get all those that hate her and her husband mobilized to actually vote. I believe for many reasons there are just as many that would vote to vote against her as those that would vote for her.

I also simply believe Obama is the person I would follow. I'm ready for a leader more than a great business-person.

As for Obama's lack of experience...GOOD. I don't want an old-timer in office and someone that is as intelligent as he is can pick up on everything easily enough. Someone that has been in DC for 20 years to me is automatically OUT.

Finally, I think the world would quickly respect our decision to finally break the race barrier in our highest office and would also see a change from the GOP as a step in the right direction to right our foreign policy wrongs and would open doors that are now closed by nations and leaders that don't like W.

[cityboi]

My great Aunt, who has been a life long Republican and has watch Fox news religiously, has said she is voting for Obama. It's amazing.

[Charlotteman]

Obama clearly shows that he is electable. He has attracted more independents than the other democratic candidates. He has attracted the youth and female vote. He has captured the support from white America and now that African-Americans are seeing that he can win in White America, they are getting behind him as well.

[Rural King]

^ The lack of diversity in Obama's current and recent crowds reflects the demographics of Iowa and New Hamsphire, which are pretty devoid of many sizable minority populations. I think the audiences he will draw in South Carolina next week and in the Southern States in the run-up to "Super Duper Tuesday" on February 5th will reflect his support within minority communities.

[Charlotteman]

Barack Obama swept the first poll results in New Hampshire's Dixville Notch. Now he is being considered "unstoppable". But wasn't Hillary "unstoppable" just a few weeks ago? Is this the drama of politics, or just the fickleness of the pundits and media?

re: Hillary's tears. As a retired psychiatric nurse who has seen literally millions of tears, I think they were faux tears. She has obviously been taking acting lessons in secret.....but in my opinion, I don't think the performance was convincing at all. When someone starts to choke in their voice, tears immediately well up in their eyes. There were no tears at all in her eyes.

Very similar to Tammy Faye tears---she choked and boo hoo'd all the time but when the cameras did close ups, there weren't any tears. No tears from Hillary either.

I give Hillary's attempt at method acting a C. The question was probably a plant.

[monsoon]

^Tom Brocaw (former NBC news anchor) suggested Hillary's emotions might have been fake. I think it adds to the perception that she isn't genuine. I think the Clintons are starting to do some wacky things such as Bill suggesting that people are voting for Obama because he is relatively young and male. What!!? Bill also is pissing and moaning about Richardson. Apparently Richardson told his supporters to align with Obama in Iowa. Clinton exclaimed "how could he do that, I gave that man an ambassador job." So there you are. It's all about payback instead of good government. The current president has demonstrated that we have had enough of that.

I fault the decline of the Democratic party in the 80s and 90s to politicians like the Clintons. It's interesting that all their support is coming from this cadre of the democratic party mostly politicians that have already been voted out of office, who are looking to get back onto the federal dole again. They are looking for ambassador positions, cabinet seats, and high paying federal jobs and jumping on the Clinton's coattails they thought is a way to get this. America can do much better than this as they are ex-politicans for a reason, and it's time to give a new generation a crack at running the government.

[vdogg]

The more I think about it, there is no way Obama can choose Hillary as his running mate if he wins the nomination. Conversely, there is no way Hillary can't choose Obama if she wins. In the first case, it would be a distinct negative that will only sink Obama's chances. In the latter case, it would be a distinct positive that can only help Hillary's chances. Politics is just strange that way.

[monsoon]

^I said some time ago that Obama and Clinton would never ever run together.

[tombarnes]

Your earlier point is now clear Marc. After watching Hillary for the past few days, I also can't see her choosing Obama. Then again, politics is a strange business. It would be nice to see an early withdrawal from Hillary, but we won't see this either. Must we wait until early February?

[vdogg]

Must we wait until early February?

[torgo]

I must say that I am amazed at Obama's popularity and sucesses thusfar. This summer, I assumed he was nothing more than a flash-in-the-pan fad who would fizzle quickly as Hillary and Edwards took the race over. Granted, that may still happen, but his success to date has been impressive. While I don't like any of the candidates and would probably not vote for him, he clearly seems to be head and shoulders above the democratic candidates, and I hope he gets the democratic nomination.

[cityboi]

an Obama/Edwards ticket is alot more realistic because there isnt to much difference between the two on issues so they agree on most everything. Also people are familiar with John Edwards so he would make a great running mate for Obama. Its better for Obama to pick John Edwards as his running mate as oppose to picking some unknown. Besides, a VP position for Edwards is just what he needs to convince people he can be president in 2016 (if Obama wins and serves two presidential terms). No one will ever say John Edwards doesnt have enough experience.

[ChiefJoJo]

The more I think about it, there is no way Obama can choose Hillary as his running mate if he wins the nomination. Conversely, there is no way Hillary can't choose Obama if she wins. In the first case, it would be a distinct negative that will only sink Obama's chances. In the latter case, it would be a distinct positive that can only help Hillary's chances. Politics is just strange that way.

[Charlotte_native]

but he clearly has the highest potential of any political leader we've seen in a generation or more.

[JerseyBoy]

No one will ever say John Edwards doesnt have enough experience.

[monsoon]

On the Hillary Obama ticket, as I said I think it stands a snowball's chance in hell of happen, but then again it's happened before.

In 1980 when Ronald Reagan was running for the GOP ticket, Bush Sr. ran against him and called Reagan every nasty name in the book. Said that Reagan's economic policies were VooDoo Economics (one of the only things he got right) and it was well known the Reagan and Bush families did not like each other. Yet, when the time came, Reagon got Bush to run as VP.

[vdogg]

Hillary won the primary by 3%. How the pollsters could be so catastrophically wrong and keep their jobs is beyond me. Needless to say, this race will go on for a looong time.

[tombarnes]

She'll live to lose another day....I pray.

[monsoon]

Hillary won the primary by 3%. How the pollsters could be so catastrophically wrong and keep their jobs is beyond me. Needless to say, this race will go on for a looong time.

[tombarnes]

This isn't done by any means. I hope that Obama can regain strength. Perhaps McCain will be the Republican nominee. Better than Huckabee by a long shot. I still wonder where these primaries will go...Hillary's entitllement surely can't go forward, McCain is an honorable man, but I don't see him being elected over a Democrat in this election. Electing Hillary would be a step backward for our country.