Hillary Clinton wins PA by 10 points

You couldn't tell it by the signage we saw down in Hershey, PA last week - Obama had over twice as many signs up, although Ron Paul beat them all - but apparently the former First Lady had a huge upswell of support. CNN is calling her the winner in the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary by 10 points.

I still say the Dems are crazy if they do not nominate Barack Obama. But no one ever accused the Democratic (or Republican) party of an overabundance of logic or intelligence. Politics is politics.

Obama wins VA, MD, DC big; McCain squeaks by

Obama appears to have won big in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C., dealing another blow to Senator Clinton's hopes to be the nominee. And it appears the wins are big, 2 or 3 to one over the former First Lady.

McCain also won, but in narrower margins, showing his continuing weakness with Conservatives in his own party

You Have No Right to Vote in a Primary

I think what everyone forgets about when talking about the Michigan and Florida delegates not getting seated at conventions is that this is a Party Primary. There is nothing in the Constitution about voting in a party's primary or caucus. It is a privilege we get for identifying ourselves as part of a political party. If political parties wanted to do away with this, they could. The national government and state governments should not interfere.

That being said, it is in each party's best interest to appear as fair as possible as to not alienate potential voters in the November elections.

Obama wins every state on Saturday

Pundits have been saying that the remaining primary and caucus states favor Obama, but I am not sure any of them truly expected him to sweep every state awarding delegates this weekend! This has got to be scary for Senator Clinton who has spent every waking moment since leaving the White House, trying to prepare her party for a return.

Obama's winning margins ranged from substantial to crushing.

He won roughly two-thirds of the vote in Washington state and Nebraska, and almost 90 percent in the Virgin Islands.

Nearly complete Louisiana returns showed Obama with 57 percent of the vote, to 36 percent for the former first lady. As in his earlier Southern triumphs in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, Obama, a black man, rode a wave of African-American support to victory in Louisiana. Clinton won the white vote overwhelmingly.

In all, the Democrats scrapped for 161 delegates in the night's contests.

In incomplete allocations, Obama won 72, Clinton 40.

On the GOP side, Huckabee took Kansas and Lousiana (though he won no delates from LA, since he did not cross the 50% threshhold). The battle for the nomination may be essentially over, but the battle for the heart of the Party of Lincoln is just heating up.

The Company We Keep

There is an old saying that goes something like "They will know us by the company we keep." What do Rudy Guliani, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Pataki, and Christopher Shays have in common?

1. They are all considered Liberal Republicans by most in the party.
2. They are all Pro-Choice.
3. They all endorsed John McCain for President.

John McCain is making his way around the country with these and other politicians. These are all good public servants, but they are not the base or epitome of the Republican Party. Do we really want to nominate someone who who will undoubtably nominate these type of Republicans to important cabinet positions? I hope this makes you think.

Dennis Kucinich drops out

After a lackluster - but philosophically pure - run for the President, Dennis Kucinich has left the race. The reason? He is being challenged for his seat in Congress, and wants to ensure his minority within a minority voice is still heard.

I can honestly say there was never ANY chance that I'd have voted for the Congressman, but his departure will make the race less interesting... and less litigious.

In Defense of John McCain

In the spirit of fairness, here is a spirited defense of John McCain by Michale Medved. He lays out his defense well by responding to the 6 main attacks leveed at McCain.

Why You Should Vote For Rudy...and Not John McCain

Dennis Prager has up a good article explaining why Conservatives should vote for Rudy Guliani. In the article he also lays out some good reasons why conservatives should not vote for John McCain. It is not too long and definitely worth a read.

Connecticut Primary Polls

For the first time this election cycle I was able to find an article with the current poll numbers for the presidential primaries in Connecticut. WTNH television is reporting that the current poll numbers are:

Republicans
1. McCain 35%
2. Guliani 16%
3. Romney 11%

Democrats
1. Clinton 41%
2. Obama 27%
3. Edwards 9%

Does Talk Radio Matter Anymore?

Will talk radio play a role in this year's election? Michael Medved has up an interesting piece on the lack of effectiveness of the major conservative talk show hosts in affecting the South Carolina primary. Wit Rush and Sean Hannity (plus a slew of other conservatives) questioning both McCain and Huckabee's conservativeness, they both were a distant 1st and 2nd in the South Carolina primary which is thought of as a conservative state.

Winners and Losers

The results are in!

• Romney won Nevada with 51%
• Clinton won Nevada with 51% (but Obama gets the same number of delegates)
• McCain wins South Carolina with 33%
• Fred Thompson is widely expected to announce his departure from the race today or tomorrow.

Next up, Florida.

Star Wars Guide to the 2008 Primaries

When I first saw the Star Wars Guide to the candidates, I thought it was a cheap attempt at bad humor. Turns out I was both right and wrong. I found myself quickly transitioning from skepticism to unwilling laughter. Click on thru for the whole thing.

Grand Moff Giuliani

We need a president who has experience running a large, unwieldy government. Like the Empire. "Hey, they said it was unmanageable, ungovernable... a large majority wanted to leave and live somewhere else," his campaign ads say. Well, Giuliani certainly turned things around... he built the Death Star! "By the time I left office," he continues, "the Death Star was the best example of conservative government in the galaxy!" Some folks might disagree with his foreign policy, though, consisting as it does of pretty much blasting whole planets into rubble.

I honestly believe if this list were to appear in local newspapers, it might actually sway some voters in South Carolina and Nevada.

Why I am Not Voting for John McCain

With John McCain’s recent rise in the polls and primary victory in New Hampshire, I have been forced to take a closer look at his candidacy for President. I have never been a supporter of him, but do not hate him either. Let me get the obligatory “He is an honorable man and served his country well both in the military and the government” out of the way. All of this is true, but is not nearly a good enough reason for me to support him for President. The following are the reasons that I have chosen not to support John McCain in the Republican Presidential primary.

The first reason that I am not supporting him for President is the most obvious, his age. Few political pundits are willing to admit it, but this is a major disadvantage in a general election for him. In American politics, we are always looking to elect the “next generation” of leadership. Senator McCain, would be a step towards electing the previous generation. President George W. Bush was born in 1946. Senator McCain was born in 1936. This means that Senator McCain will be 10 years older than the current president on the day that he would take office. Even more striking is that he is 25 years older than Barak Obama, 17 years older than John Edwards and 11 years older than Hillary Clinton.

The second reason that I am not supporting John McCain for president is his position on immigration. McCain has not been a strong supporter of securing our borders. Although the recent immigration bill he tried to pass did include a component of securing the borders, that was not what it came to be know for. It became known for being an “Amnesty Bill”. Whether or not you believe it was amnesty does not matter. McCain was not able to argue effectively to the American people that this bill was the right course of action. What makes us think that as President he will have any more success?

The third reason I am not supporting John McCain is that he has never been a strong proponent of tax cuts and fiscal discipline. McCain did not vote for President Bush’s tax cuts and still says that he would not vote for them. McCain does get some credit for his being against “pork barrel” spending, but this issue also shows McCain’s lack of being able to influence Washington as earmarking is still prevalent in government budgets.

A forth reason I am not supporting John McCain is that he has never been strong pro-life advocate. McCain will argue that he has a pro-life voting record and that may be true, but he has never conveyed that it is an important part of his political life.

The fifth reason that I am not supporting John McCain is his work on campaign finance reform. I believe that if it was up to John McCain we would have total public financing of elections. He has worked to limit the money that individuals and groups can spend in support of an issue or candidate. His famed McCain-Feingold bill is opposed by just about every important voice in the conservative movement as an attack on free speech.

The 6th and final reason that I will give in this article is perhaps the least purely logical reason, but still it is important. I believe that John McCain will “surprise” conservatives with something major that he does if he is elected president. McCain has been too willing to compromise conservative principles in the name of showing bipartisanship or progress for a specific issue. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill and the failed immigration bill and are both examples of this trait. Neither bill is based on American conservative philosophies.

I have not made my final decision yet on who I will vote for in the primary, although I am leaning toward a certain candidate. Connecticut votes on February 5th, so I will need to wait and see which candidates make it to that date before making my final decision.

Two predictions coming out of New Hampshire

The record-breaking turnouts in Iowa and New Hampshire show extreme excitement about this year's primaries and elections. I predict two things:

1. This will lead to the highest turnout in most states in 50 years. People feel engaged and finally feel like one vote can make a difference.

2. This will lead to more conspiracy theories than in any modern election since Kennedy. People will be scrutinizing every tally, and any irregularities will immediately raise shouts of fraud, voter intimidation, and ballot stuffing. Few to none will be true, but they will dominate much of the news cycle.

If you are a local election official, take note now. Your people must be above reproach in their procedures, and you should still have a P.R. person standing at the ready in case the accusations begin to fly. Because it is not a matter of "if" but "when".

Still, this is shows democracy is alive and well in America. The more people involved and engaged, the better. If the only legacy of Barack Obama, Ron Paul, and Mike Huckabee is increased turnout in future elections, then that will be a legacy they can be proud of.

Update 12:30 PM EST: an excellent analysis of some of the conspiracies so far is up and worth a read. It shows pretty well that the initial analysis is lacking in credibility.

Clinton wins in New Hampshire

Beating the expectations of the pundits, Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. Now, we have a true horse race on both sides of the political spectrum.

McCain wins New Hampshire

Most news organizations are now projecting that John McCain has won the New Hampshire primary. He did so eight years ago, and has shown the depth of his support again in the Granite State. It remains to be seen if this will transform the race from here on out. My own guess is that it only proves there is no real front-runner yet. No Republican has yet to really make the case FOR their presidency, only that there are some we DO NOT want as president.

As of now, the Democratic race is still too close to call.

Romney wins Wyoming Caucus

CRChair's favorite candidate racked up a win today in Wyoming. Mitt Romney has won at least 6 of the 12 delegates from the state leaving Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter each one delegate. The rest will be decided later tonight.

Republican Primary in Wyoming is Today!

No one is talking about it, but apparently the Wyoming Republican Primary is today (1/5/2008). It is being widely ignored in the Press who are focussing 100% on New Hampshire, but Wyoming could have an impact on the race by blunting Huckabee's victory or strengthening his momentum. As of now, locals admit that a state-wide "undecided" is as likely as a clear winer. But they are hoping moving up their primary will allow them to have more impact on the nominating process.

Obama and Huckabee Victory Speeches from Iowa

I did not stay up to watch the returns come in. If you also chose sleep over political curiosity, then you may be interested to see the victory speeches below.

Barack Obama

I will admit that even though I am *not* a supporter, Obama's speech did give me chills.

Mike Huckabee

I will admit the only thing that really went through my mind during Huckabee's speech is, "I hope if he wins it all he doesn't float the idea of Chuck Norris for VP."

Oh, and apparently Chris Dodd and Joe Biden dropped out of the race last night as well. No word of any Republicans dropping prior to New Hampshire.

Huckaee, Obama win Iowa

The night is over and the big winners are Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama. This is a huge win for both of them, as it catapults them - at least for the moment - from underdogs into front-runners. Next up is New Hampshire, where it is still anyone's game.

My own prediction is that Huckabee loses New Hampshire, now that the Religious Right has made their statement, but that Obama probably will take it for the Democratic side. The question of the night will be "Can Hillary remain in the race after two major losses?" The answer will be yes.

What do our Mod-Blog readers think? Did the right men win? Or did short-term thinking make Iowans choose wrongly?