-
One in Four Republicans Reject McCain
May 8, 2008
Much has been made of the fact that a substantial portion of North Carolina and Indiana Democratic primary voters who cast ballots on Tuesday for Hillary Clinton told exit pollsters that – if Barack Obama is their party's nominee this fall – they may vote for Republican John McCain.
Should Obama be concerned? Of course. There is no question that the senator from Illinois must do more to appeal to wavering Democrats, especially white, working-class voters who have heard a lot more about the candidate's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., than they have about his position on trade policy.
But Obama's not the only likely party nominee who should be worried about some shakiness at the party base. Despite the fact that all-but-coronated Republican nominee John McCain was running essentially without opposition Tuesday, 27 percent of Republican primary participants in North Carolina cast their votes for a candidate other than McCain. In Indiana, 23 percent of Republican primary voters rejected the senator from Arizona.
(198) Comments -
Clinton Backer McGovern: Time for Hillary to Quit
May 7, 2008
When I interviewed George McGovern last summer about the Democratic presidential field last year, the liberal icon expressed the most enthusiasm about the candidacy of Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
But he said he was still talking to the candidates.
New York Senator Hillary Clinton talked with McGovern a lot, recalling her work in Texas for his 1972 presidential campaign and reassuring the former South Dakota senator that she really was determined to end the war in Iraq.
(105) Comments -
Split Result Helps Obama, But Leaves Race Undone
May 6, 2008
The race for the Democratic presidential nomination did not end Tuesday night.
A split result -- North Carolina solidly for Barack Obama, Indiana narrowly for Hillary Clinton -- has cheated the party of the defining moment many had hoped for.
But the two states have sent important signals.
(72) Comments -
Dem Scenarios: An End, A Beginning, A Nightmare
May 6, 2008
The race for the Democratic presidential nomination is far more volatile now than it was on January 3, that distant day when hopeful Iowans trooped to their caucuses. And it is a whole lot more volatile than it was on February 19, when Barack Obama's landslide primary win in the classic "swing state" of Wisconsin seemed to confirm his inevitability.
Back at the start of January, the best bet was still that New York Senator Hillary Clinton would be the nominee of a united Democratic party against some deeply dysfunctional Republican like former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney – a northeastern moderate with a record of supporting gay rights and abortion rights that put him dramatically at odds with the sentiments of his party's base voters, a monumental list of personal quirks and fiscal misdeeds, and a snooty style that had Democrats salivating about the prospect of facing him in November.
The alternative bet was that Illinois Senator Obama would ride a wave of faith in the future – dare we recall the word optimism -- that would position the Democrats to transform not just the presidential race but the political culture of a country that was sick and tired of being sick and tired of war and economic inequality.
(115) Comments -
Democrats Win Another GOP House Seat
May 4, 2008
Democrats took another Republican-held U.S. House seat in a special election Saturday, suggesting that the party remains on track for significant expansion of its congressional majorities in 2008.
Louisiana Democrat Don Cazayoux, a young moderate with state legislative experience, snatched a seat that Republicans had held since the 1970s by a 49-46 margin over a well-funded campaign by veteran Republican legislator Woody Jenkins.
The win extends the Democratic majority in the House to 235-198 and it continues a pattern of special-election wins for the party in seats that have traditionally been thought of as Republican strongholds -- including the Illinois turf of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
(93) Comments -
Indianapolis Star Backs Clinton
May 2, 2008
"Regrettably," say the editors of the Indianapolis Star newspaper, Hillary Clinton "has pandered more to voters" than Barack Obama.
But Indiana's largest newspaper did not regret the pandering -- which included a lengthy visit with the editorial board of the Star, a conservative paper that is likely to endorse Republican John McCain in the fall -- so much that it was disinclined to urge voters in Tuesday's Indiana primary to vote for the senator from New York.
The Star, Indiana's largest newspaper, is seen by some as providing Clinton with an important boost in the final days before a primary that most polls suggest could go to either candidate. But the Star's Republican record means that many Indiana Democrats see an endorsement by the paper of one candidate as a cue to vote for the other candidate.
(120) Comments -
Former DNC Chair Switches From Clinton to Obama
May 1, 2008
Barack Obama is supposed be having a rough week – and, no doubt, Hillary Clinton and Bill O'Reilly are doing everything in their power to make it one.
But Obama keeps pulling super-delegate backing.
Today the senator from Illinois will get an endorsement that sends a powerful signal that even Clinton's closest allies are coming to conclusion that the senator from New York needs to quit running a race that is harming not just Obama but the Democratic party.
(94) Comments -
Wright, Jefferson and the Wrath of God
April 29, 2008
"Just maybe now as that dialogue begins the religious tradition that has kept hope alive for a people struggling to survive in countless hopeless situations will be understood."
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, April 28, 2008
The right response to the controversy that has been generated with regard to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. is not to run away from the United Church of Christ pastor, to condemn him, or to try to apologize for him.
(184) Comments -
Family Farmers Respond to the Food Crisis
April 28, 2008
Looking for a responsible, moral and effective response to the global food crisis?
Start by sending money to a group that is working to get food to starving people. I'm especially impressed with the savvy approaches of Friends of the World Food Program.
Then support the work of smart groups such as the National Family Farm Coalition to change failed U.S. policies that harm farmers and consumers in the U.S. and around the world.
(100) Comments -
Playing the Race Card in North Carolina
April 27, 2008
The North Carolina Republican Party -- forged by the hand of Dixiecrat segregationists like Jesse ("White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories?") Helms -- has never been cautious about playing the race card. When North Carolina Democrats nominated Harvey Gantt, an exceptionally-qualified moderate African-American candidate against Helms in a 1990 U.S. Senate race, the North Carolina Republican machine countered with a series of ads that emphasized Gantt's race and played on fears and prejudices.
Of course, in the politically-correct world of special privileges demanded by contemporary conservatives, no one was supposed to use the word "racist" to describe the pro-Helms ads. And, so, much of the commercial broadcast, cable and print media has to this day allowed the Helms and his partisan allies off the hook for running a campaign that was conceived and implemented with the aggressively racist intent of scaring white voters away from voting for an African-American candidate who they agreed with on the issues and who they knew to be more capable of representing them in the Senate.
Because the media tends to be afraid of calling racists out, Helms and the North Carolina Republicans had no trouble running a blatantly racist campaign. And, when Helms was reelected over Gantt, a powerful lesson was learned.
(82) Comments
The Beat
Breaking news and analysis on the political, social, economic and cultural activism that mainstream media commonly ignore.
