Despite Late Reports that Obama Has Overtaken Clinton for Dem Delegate Lead -- and All-Out Attacks on McCain By Hard-Line GOP Right-Wingers Continue -- 'Super Tuesday' Results Appear to Make This Final Pairing For the Fall Campaign More and More Likely
THURSDAY SPECIAL By Skeeter Sanders
If the contest for the White House was an athletic event, then Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois will likely continue to run neck and neck in what is proving to be a long, grueling marathon for the Democratic presidential nomination that may last all the way to the Democrats' Denver convention in August.
Meanwhile, for Senator John McCain of Arizona, former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Super Tuesday turned out to be the GOP's version of a triple-threat steel-cage wrestling match. While McCain and Huckabee effectively tag-teamed Romney to the canvas Tuesday, a defiant Romney refused to surrender and vowed to fight on.
For Democrats, it felt more like an extremely close general election in November than the closest thing to a truly national primary on a Tuesday night in February, as Clinton and Obama traded victories back and forth in 24 states from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As the night wore on, it became clear that Democrats were agonizing over having make a historic choice between a woman and an African-American as their party’s presidential nominee.
In a surprise twist, Obama surpassed Clinton in at least one television network's tally of the total number of delegates the candidates have racked up after a chaotic Super Tuesday. With the delegate count still under way, NBC News said Obama appears to have won around 840 delegates in Tuesday’s contests, while Clinton earned about 830 — “give or take a few,” Tim Russert, the network’s Washington bureau chief, said Wednesday on "NBC Nightly News."
The running totals for the two, which includes previous contests and the party officials known as “superdelegates,” are only about 70 delegates apart, Russert said.
Clinton was portrayed in many news accounts Tuesday as the night’s big winner in the popular vote, but Obama’s campaign says he wound up with a higher total where it really counts — the delegates who will choose the party’s nominee at the convention. Nonetheless, both Democratic contenders are far from the magic number of 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination.
Clarity of any sort eluded the Democrats as campaigns turned to the next rounds. On Saturday, Louisiana and Washington state hold two-party contests while Nebraska Democrats and Kansas Republicans make their picks. Then comes a larger series of two-party primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Tuesday.
For Republicans, the night was anything but unclear, as McCain piled up victory after victory -- mostly in states with winner-take-all delegate rules -- to emerge with a commanding lead for the GOP nomination.
McCain, whose campaign was left for dead last summer, came back to capture more delegates (620) than Romney (270) and Huckabee (176) combined, putting him past the halfway mark to the 1,191 delegates needed to win the top prize. His victories stretched from New York to California, the biggest prize.
Romney Derailed, But Vows To Keep Fighing
Despite his failure to attract support from evangelical voters, Romney pledged to fight all the way to the Republican nominating convention in Minneapolis this summer if necessary, despite being overpowered by both McCain and Huckabee.
He celebrated victories Tuesday in his home state of Massachusetts, Utah, Montana, Alaska, Colorado and North Dakota. But he was pummeled elsewhere on a day he had hoped to prove his presidential campaign wasn't doomed.
"This isn't just about the heart and soul of our party, it isn't just about which party's going to win in November. This is about the future course of our country," he said to about 500 supporters, many of whom wore stunned looks on their faces as the returns came in.
With almost missionary zeal, Romney vowed to stay in the race, casting his campaign as a battle to save the future of the nation. "This isn't just about the heart and soul of our party, it isn't just about which party's going to win in November. This is about the future course of our country," he said to about 500 supporters, many of whom wore stunned looks on their faces as the returns came in.
I'm a native of New York City who's called the Green Mountain state of Vermont home since the summer of 1994. A former freelance journalist, I'm a fiercely independent freethinker who's highly skeptical of authority figures -- especially when they're on the wrong side of the issues I care about. But I'm not afraid to also call into question those with whom I would usually be "on the same page" if and when they, too, are on the wrong side of the issues I care about.
Hillary and Bill would be co-presidents for a third and probably fourth term -- 12 to 16 years. I hope the voters will not make that choice, but if they do, I do not believe that Barack Obama would choose to play 3rd fiddle to those two as co-presidents.
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Christie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 147 comments)
on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 2:23:41 PM
Why would she take Obama, she probably already made a deal with Edwards for VP. Obama brings very little the Blacks will all vote Democrat as usual.The hispanics will decide the race.Mccain will be bowled over quickly!
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dave stanley (5 articles, 1 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 286 comments)
on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 6:18:29 PM
Why Would Hillary Take Obama? She Can't Win Without Him
There's no way that Hillary Clinton can win in November without Barack Obama as her running mate. That much is clear. She's lost the support of African Americans, young people and -- most importantly -- male voters.
If one thing ermerged most glaringly from the Super Tuesday exit polls, it's that there is a major gender gap separating Clinton and Obama -- and an even larger gender chasm between Clinton and McCain.
Of course, what's unspoken in these results is that men are far less comfortable with the thought of a woman as commander-in-chief of the armed forces than they are about an African American commander-in-chief.
You can thank that in part to Hollywood. The movie "Deep Impact" and the TV series "24" both featured a black president -- and both were hits. The TV series "Commander-in-Chief" featured a woman as president -- and it flopped.
You can also thank Colin Powell. After the success of the Gulf War in 1991, There was a lot of speculation and media attention about Powell seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2000 -- but he flatly declared that he would not run.
Now, of course, there are a lot of people who wish that Powell HAD run; he would have been a far better president than Bush turned out to be.
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Skeeter Sanders (32 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments)
on Friday, February 8, 2008 at 5:28:18 PM
I can certainly see Clinton, if she wins the nomination, asking Obama to be her running mate. That would really strengthen the ticket, and Clinton is a smart, pragmatic politician. I can't see Obama accepting, not because of animosity towards Clinton, but because the Vice Presidency is a very poor platform as one has to follow someone else's line and has little opportunity to take meaningful initiative. Remaining Senator would better position him for the future than being Vice President.
McCain-Huckabee is much more plausible. Huckabee has a long enough political career to have established a record. He is viewed with considerable suspicion by mainstream Republicans, and being a Republican Vice President could thus set him up to be in a better position to gain the Republican Presidential nomination in the future. I'm not sure what other course could so set him up, given who he is. And the two seem to like and admire each other., and they have enough of a different appeal to well complement each other. The ticket is not going to exactly enthuse mainstream Republicans, but they have nowhere to go and will support it for the most part. The ticket would be a great one for the Republicans, because each one has a reputation of breaking out of the standard politician mold and the standard Republican mold, in somewhat different ways. Such a ticket would hold appeal to independent voters, who hold the balance of power.
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Bill Samuel (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 225 comments)
on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 8:30:07 PM
I can't see Obama accepting, not because of animosity towards Clinton, but because the Vice Presidency is a very poor platform as one has to follow someone else's line and has little opportunity to take meaningful initiative.
After eight years of Dick Cheney, the vice presidency is no longer what it used to be. Truth be told, the Bush policies on Iraq and the war on terror were Cheney's ideas, not Bush's. Not to mention the "unitary presidency" doctrine. As vice president, Obama would have HUGE shoes to fill.
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Skeeter Sanders (32 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments)
on Friday, February 8, 2008 at 5:36:37 PM
