May 13
Tonight is the West Virginia primary. Tonight…could change everything.
You would think that turning another year older would make me wiser but, instead, it has made me more desperate, clinging to my youthful hopes and dreams and guns and religion. Every single person in the whole, wide world has written Clinton off. But I have to see this through. If she’s still in, I’m still in.
Why would I put myself through this, you ask, assuming you’re still reading? She doesn’t have a prayer. The pundits have finally moved on. Obama is the nominee. There aren’t any superdelegates left. She’s calling on herself to drop out. No one in their right mind would still be thinking she could pull this off.
As you all know, I am not in my right mind.
Just humor me — I don’t think she could really pull this off, even though she’s going to eat his lunch in West Virginia. The latest poll has Hillary at 60, and Obama at 24. It could even turn out to be 70-30. Does that even matter? Well, OK, not really. But a 40-point spread? That’s more than Obama won in North Carolina.
Obama knows he’s losing WV, which is why he’s only made one stop there (do you blame him?) and has announced he won’t be making any speeches tonight. Snore. I agree — why bother responding to a loss when he’s essentially already won?
Next week, it’s Kentucky and Oregon. Obama will take Oregon, but Hillary’s leading in Kentucky, 58 to 31. Of course, that will be overshadowed by Obama taking another state and its delegates, but it’s still a loss in another one of those “white” working-class states.
I’m not completely delusional. I realize that it would take a miracle for Clinton to get the nomination. And I’ll gladly vote for Obama (Obama/Clinton?) in November. But there’s a part of me that can’t stop watching. Turns out I’m not the only one. The majority (64%) of Democrats say Clinton should stay in the race. (The majority also want Obama to get the nomination but the point being, no matter how much we all groan about wanting this to end, we’re in the minority.)
Even John Edwards (remember him?) told CBS (remember them?) that Clinton is now a stronger candidate than she was.
“I have to tell you, I’m different than a lot of people. I actually admire some of the strength and fortitude that she’s shown. I know how hard it is to get up and go out there every day, speak to the media, speak to crowds, when people are urging you to get out of the race. I mean, it’s a very hard place to be in. But she’s shown a lot of strength about that.”
And she’s been good for Obama. He’s going to be tougher and (yes) more electable in the general. This will probably be over in June. Until then, I’ll be the only one, aside from Paul Stekler, watching.
The trackback URL is here.
I guess everyone realizes now that Edwards pulling out only helped Clinton…which is pretty much the opposite of what everyone thought back before Super Tuesday.
http://www.lettersfromtexas.com
I, for one, will be glued to my TV set this evening, watching those all-important election returns come in, from a state with slightly less than half the population of Harris County. This is big…BIG I tell ya!
There is no other type of contest I can think of where you quit before race is over. It’s not like she’s getting a butt whoopin…I am not saying she can win, but quitting is something else entirely - then you CAN’T win.
I’m glad Hillary is staying in for one thing: It’ll require Obama to take a good, hard look at her for a veep.
My prediction is that in the end, Obama will ask Hillary to be a veep but she will decline it with the caveat that she will help him get to the White House. I think that Saturday Night Live’s portrayal of Clinton is poor, and that she wants a Democrat in the White House over any Republican (look at what’s at stake, Pro-Choice rights, wars all over the place). Hillary ran a damn good race, and she deserves the first nod in the VP picking, but I doubt she’ll take it. It’s not in her character to be second best.
Sure, sure West Virginia…
What about Mike Levy? How did the Statesman scoop Texas Monthly with this news? So will Evan move up and then make you master of the empire?
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye
Country roads, take me home . . .
Re: 3. Travis
Oh, she didn’t run a “damn good” race. It was hers to lose last year and she lost it. Her campaign is in shambles, she’s in debt. She ran a terrible campaign.
But I don’t care if she stays in. I like all the attention it’s bringing to the party, and I like how it’s made Obama tougher and more electable. Brought the skeletons out of the closet early.
I don’t think it’s “requiring” him to do anything but make speeches until she finally decides to sit down. I, for one, would be angered and feel slightly betrayed if, after all this, I had to vote for her anyway. I’m personally bothered by how that campaign was run, some of the things she’s said, and would have voted for her if she were the nominee because I’m a good D and I do what I’m told. But I sincerely hope he chooses someone else.
It’s Tuesday, I am usually expecting a whole column devoted to Bachelor. There must still be a God.
I keep loooking for East Virginia on Google Earth.
That must be where they keep the black folks.
Nothing matters if the votes don’t get counted, and WTF makes anyone think they will.
Where are Woodward and ? when you look at NW Indiana…see black box voting…………
Don’t give me the CT BS…….the last 2 presidential elections were BS……unless changes are demanded NOW all this is a joke.
/ there is still time to demand real ballots and real counting.
i don’t read edwards’s comment as suggesting he thinks she has gotten stronger over the course of the campaign. only that it takes a “strong”* person to keep beating your head against the same wall long after it becomes obvious that the wall ain’t givin.’
* i also think he is using “strong” as a polite euphemism for stubborn and delusional, but that may just be me.
and i’ll say it: clinton’s lead in WVa is less an indication of obama’s (in)ability to capture white voters than it is a barometer on the state of WVa.
http://www.therabbitgetshisday.com
This is from the National Review. ‘Hillary’s Your Gal”
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MGMwMzViNzkyNTkzZDY0ZWJkOTM2NzQ3NGU3MzJmYmY=
She may drink his milkshake. She may even get into his kitchen. She will NOT eat his lunch.
Re: 10. Fled The Asylum
????men have milkshakes???
/manbra
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I necessarily want her on as VP (honestly, I voted for Edwards and wish he stayed in.) But I think she inspires people in some ways that Obama inspires in others, be it for good or worse for the party, and we need to put it together again. If it takes a union ticket (which I think would make a majority of Hillary supporters happy), that’s fine by me. I don’t really care anymore who wins, as long as it isn’t McCain.
http://www.inthepinktexas.com
Re: 5. Wallflower Jr.
You shut up.
Re: 15. Pink Lady
I only asked out of concern, because if you move up in the TM hierarchy, our daily dose of ITPT may be even harder to obtain, and then I’d have to turn to drinking.
Also, I’m imagining all kinds of melodramatic TM office politics. I do not take pleasure in what could be pain, but my imagination is filling in the blanks will all kinds of ridiculous scenarios.
Hey, she’s just doing what our little league baseball coaches tried to get us to do. Run through first base even if your lousy infield grounder went straight to the guy on first. You never know, he might screw it up and you could still get on safely.
I’m still not liking all the racial stuff. It embarrasses me for dumb asses everywhere.
I’m going to be watching “Dancing with the Stars” instead of the returns, but it does raise an interesting question:
If Hillary was on American Idol or Dancing with the Stars and was the lowest vote getter and told it was time to go home, do you think she would come back the next week with another song or dance? That would be a hoot! I could just see stage hubby Bill getting all red and yelling at people that she should get to just because she should.
This is what I’m talking about…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051203014.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter
Re: 17. The Other Guy
that said, once the ball is thrown to first, and the umpire has made the call, any kid who keeps running after that, beyond first base, along the foul line, into the outfield and beyond … gets a pat on the head from the coach and a seat at the “special” end of the bench.
Re: 7. Lurkette
I’m not sure I buy that all the skeletons are even close to being out of the closet. Once he goes up against McCain it’s going to be the usual ugly open season. For instance did you know that Senator Obama has sponsored more tariff suspension bills exempting foreign companies from import duties than any of the other Presidential candidates, and that’s out of the whole initial lineup. One of those, the Australian chemical corporation Nufarm reported that their “Net profit was also up strongly” after a lawyer working for them met with Senator Obama’s staff several times shortly before he sponsored a bill to reduce their import duties. Lawyers working for another, the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas, earned $20,000 after Senator Obama sponsored a bill exempting them from about $1M in tariff payments.
Yay for change!
Re: 20. jed
Is that why I felt so out of place in little league? And I thought the coach just liked me.
It is a little sad, isn’t it? I don’t guess she’ll be quoting Saturday Night Live any more.
Re: 21. Jimbo
Did you know that McCain dumped his first wife because she became disabled? Common knowledge in D.C. and already in the Enquirer. The Obama folks won’t bring it up, but welcome to the world wide web and about a trillion online mini-journalists all spreading the word to each other.
Obama will talk issues. He’s apparently the only candidate who fully understands the new world of online communications, fundraising, organization, etc.
wooden ships on the water………..
Re: 23. The Other Guy
I heard he dumped her because she was Muslim and didn’t wear a lapel pin.
40+ points! Yeehaw! WV (heart) HRC. God, I love this country.
Re: 23. The Other Guy
That must be where he raised that $16M from lawyers. Thank goodness those attorneys like a good podcast.