A win in Iowa in not a de facto 1:1 ratio. Translation: the winner of the Iowa caucus is not assured the party’s nomination, while placing in the top three means momentum. It can surely propel Obama to his first primary win in New Hampshire on January 8.
I have no problem with Iowa and New Hampshire being the places that eventually decide the nominees. However, I do have a problem with Super Tuesday on February 5. I went online and checked and double checked all the lists that popped up on my Google search. Texas is not a part of Super Tuesday; its primary is on March 4. Suspiciously, California and Illinois are part of Super Tuesday and the nearby state of Louisiana, but not Texas.
What’s a candidate or a politico junkie like me living in Texas to do? One could occupy multiple bodies briefly to make a pitch to the people who will pick the next president. Or the pundit left out in the cold could jump in the SUV, fill up the tank with dear gasoline, and drive like hell to a nearby state that was holding a primary and inhale deeply the political fumes with camera and tape recorder in tow. Wow, how exciting. Content to live vicariously through those whose fingers get to pull the lever on the candidate of choice, the next president, while it’s still winter!
Finally, I might have to reverse my prediction in an earlier article about the possibility of an Edwards win, but only a hint. Instead of an Edwards/Obama ticket. It could well be an Obama/Edwards ticket. We might even get a virtual JFK/RFK ticket in 2008.
Go all the way with Barack!
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Heloise
I just googled the newspapers of New Hampshire: here's the one from the capital Concord
The world will be watching and reading this one online.
Heloise
2 - Heloise
Union Leader is the top newspaper of New Hampshire just heard on MSNBC.
BTW they have endorsed McCain for all you McCain lovers.
Heloise
3 - Christopher Rose
Heloise, please follow the BC convention of posting correctly formatted links. In case you have been too busy studying Physics to acquire this fundamental 21st Century skill, here's a link to a clear explanation of how to format links.
4 - handyguy
Although Obama would almost certainly have to pick a Southern or Western white male as his running mate, Edwards wouldn't accept that position a second time after running for president himself twice.
Someone like Mark Warner of Virginia would be a great choice.
Maybe Edwards as Secretary of Labor or Health/Human Services.
5 - Baritone
Jeeze, you think Texas' primary is out of the loop? Try Indiana. Our primary is in May. May for crap sake! I think, though, that, even if it were held on New Years Day, few would pay it any mind. While we do occasionally elect a Dem senator or governor, our presidential preferences have consistently run somewhat to the right of Ghengas Khan. Much too predictable. Hoosiers would vote for Elmer Fudd if he ran on the GOP ticket. Afterall, Elmer would hardly be FOR gun control.
"Kill the rabbit!"
Baritone
6 - Baritone
Sorry, I mean "Kill the wabbit."
7 - Dr Dreadful
"Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting wibewals. Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh."
8 - Jet in Columbus
Careful there, in "What's Opera Doc?" Elmer actually did succeed in "Killing the Wabbit"
9 - Dr Dreadful
Not a surprise. As everybody knows, "What's Opera Doc?" was set in Indiana.
10 - Jet in Columbus
THAT'S where I've seen those helmets!!! Indiana state troopers where them... even the pigtails!
11 - Baritone
Weally?
12 - Baronius
What did you you expect in an opera, a happy ending?
I've got to say, race pimp Juan Williams is showing how out of touch he is by being astounded at Obama's victory. His paradigm is old and by his own admission inaccurate. I bet he doesn't change it though.
13 - Jet in Columbus
Let me say up front, I have no race prejudices, my bleoved grandfather on my father's side was black.
Having said that, I don't think we can get a black man elected president, just yet. Backward southern states just won't hear of it. We're getting closer and closer, but not yet.
The problem with Obama is that he's only served one term in the Senate before announcing he's running. Sorry but that's just not enough experience. As I've said before, we're actually electing his cabinet advisors, not him, and like Bush, we didn't know who he was bringing with him (Rumsfeld etc.) before we elected him. Same problem-he's likeable, but being likeable doesn't mean he'll make a good president re: Bush.
Not the same thing can be said for Hillary, but she was there beside her husband through all kinds of Presidential disasters, so she's learned a thing or two by watching for 8 years. (better the evil we know)
14 - Dr Dreadful
I don't think we can get a black man elected president, just yet. Backward southern states just won't hear of it.
The backward southern states are going to vote Republican anyway.
15 - Bennett
Plus, the two coasts have a hell of a lot of folks who have no problem at all with a candidate's ethnicity.
I do like the idea of an Obama/Edwards ticket.
If Edwards means what he says about it being high time to take on the corporate welfare state we know and slave for, he'll take the job and run with it.
If not, maybe Ron Paul?
16 - Baronius
Jet, I don't know where you get this impression. As I said on the "Calling Iowa" board, there's no evidence of strong Southern anti-black racism. Sure, there's bound to be some racism lingering, but I've never seen it. I've seen it in the North though.
I get the feeling that the KKK is just a story that Northerners tell each other to feel superior to the South. (Figuratively.) In a way, Northern smugness is healthy, because it stems from a historical good. But it's a stereotype. An unsubstantiated fear of the other. I can't be the only person to see the irony.
I love it when friends visit the South. They always come back talking about how different and racist it is. They never see the racism, but they can tell it's there. It's a vibe. They just know it. Northerners have such prejudice against the South, and no idea of it.
17 - Jet in Columbus
Baronius, it's astonishing how much people can be misread, simply because it's impossible to see the writer's face, nor his tone of voice.
No disrespect was meant...
18 - Baronius
'Backward Southern states just won't hear of a black President.' How does your tone of voice make that statement respectful?
19 - Jet in Columbus
Baronius, you just called someone a gay ignorant piece of ****.
That can be taken as a compliment
That can be taken as an insult
That can be taken as sarcasm
Same with what everyone says, everything has as meanings as a twisted mind can construe
20 - JustOneMan
JOM Predictiom...2010
"Obama who...oh yea wasn't he the guy who won on Iowa?"
JOM
"Obama and Huckabee - Left Wing Media Creations"
21 - Baritone
One should remember that the Klan is not simply a southern phenomenon. The Klan lives in Indiana, and I assume to some degree in other northern tier states. Indiana was the home of the Klan's national "grand dragon," D.C. Stephenson back in the 1920s. Ironically, for a time Stephenson lived in an east side Indianapolis home which had much earlier in its history, been a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Unfortunately, the Klan is a part of Indiana's proud history. There are still periodically Klan marches here in Indy and other cities and towns around the state. There are certainly people in Indiana, Klanners or not, who would never consider voting for an Afro-American, or any other non-caucasian, for any office.
Still, I don't believe that there are numbers of such virulent racists significant enough to seriously affect a presidential race with Obama as the Dem candidate. At the least, I hope not. This country simply must get past such idiocy.
B-tone
22 - Jet in Columbus
Whellll, I'm certainly glad I don't live in Indiana. You certainly know a lot about the Klan!
23 - Clavos
"Whellll, I'm certainly glad I don't live in Indiana."
Don't kid yourself, Jet.
They're active in Ohio, too.
Here's their Ohio website.
24 - Baritone
Well, I don't want to over sell this. The Klan has little real power or impact in the state. But it is significant and maddening that they exist at all, here or anywhere. I don't really know much about the Klan, excepting for some of its more notorious history here in Indiana.
D.C. Stephenson's Waterloo came when he beat and killed a woman, perhaps a prostitute, while on a long train trip through the state. I'd have to go back and do some reading, but that is essentially the story. But for a time during the 1920s Stephenson and the Klan wielded a great deal of power in Indiana government.
B-tone
25 - Bennett
Racism is not limited to a specific location or region. I grew up in Oakland during the Black Panther era and anti-white sentiment was strong among the radical "non-caucasian" ethnicities. No matter, I had friends (and enemies) of all ethnicities. Shade of skin color ended up not mattering.
Then I moved to Vermont and experienced blue collar racism and sexism in the workplace, so open and blatant that I protested, to no avail. I was blown away by the ignorance of my coworkers.
Not all Vermonters are racist. Nor are the majority of the caucasian voters from Texas, Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama, or ANY other particular State or region.
I really don't think the outcome of a national election will be effected by ethnic bias.
Anticipated rationality, competence, and a respect for the Constitution, especially after 8 years of Bush, is much more important than the ethnicity of a candidate.
Bennett