Obama and Huckabee (and the rest too)

[Lisabob]

Yep, Michigan's legislature effectively screwed us Democrats out of a real voice at the national party convention by defying the Democratic party and setting our primary so early. I'd be even more steamed about it, except MI has this funny rule that any registered voter can vote in any primary without regard to party identification. Most states don't operate this way. So this year I am voting in the Republican primary. I figure, it doesn't much matter what the outcome of the Dem party primary is and here's my best chance to sabotage the Reps! (yeah, just kidding, more or less, about the sabotage bit - let's call it strategic voting instead, sounds less sinister).

 

 

 

[Beavah]

So there's nobody on the Democratic party ballot in Michigan??? Ain't that, well, a bit weird . What's a Democrat to do, go to the polls and look at a blank screen (or sheet of paper, or whatever)?

 

Sometimes states are pretty eccentric, eh?

 

So I guess all of the Dems in Michigan will vote the Republican Primary?? That's kinda interestin'. Could make for a more moderate candidate, if there were one in the Republican field. Or maybe "strategic voters" like Lisabob will all vote Ron Paul. Wouldn't that be a stitch, eh?

 

Beavah

[Lisabob]

No, there are still 4 names on the Democratic ballot (Clinton, Dodd, Gravel, Kucinich) but Edwards, Obama, Richardson and Biden have chosen to sit out of this race. Clinton, Dodd and Kucinich have pledged not to campaign here until after the primary. Mike Gravel actually did a tour through the most populous area of the state before Christmas, but my estimation of him is that he's a nut job and not likely to do well even without competition. Dodd dropped out after yesterday's poor showing in Iowa. Expect to see a lot of Michigan votes for Kucinich I guess.

 

Whatever the results may be, the Democratic national party has pledged not to accept delegates from MI at the national conference in the summer, making us worth zero "points" in the race for the Democratic nomination. So it is moot point really. We could mount a write-in campaign but probably most Democrats will just stay home. As you can probably tell, I'm pretty annoyed about this whole matter. Way to go, Michigan, for effectively disenfranchising us, and the worst of it is I can't even blame the "other" side because our Democratic governor approved this idiotic plan. (Normally I like her - on this one, she was badly wrong)

 

On the Republican side, they aren't playing this stupid drama game. The national party organization grumbled when the primary was moved and then got on with things. Romney has a sort of home-turf advantage but he and Huckabee were running neck-and-neck in December, even before the Iowa "bump" and Giuliani and McCain weren't that far behind.

 

 

 

[acco40]

As Lisa stated, Michigan felt that Iowa and New Hampshire shouldn't determine our future president so they moved up their primary date. Well, the Democratic (national) party wasn't amused and had sort of a gentlemen's (and Hillary) agreement to ignore it. So, Michigan shot itself in the foot once more.

[GernBlansten]

I'm sure everyone has been on the edge of their seat waiting for the Blansten Report.

 

Well, here it is.

Republicans....

Huck - ? Did anyone pay attention to this speech last night? What a stream of non-sense! Perhaps he was just tired. But man, if that's what he is, talk about a repeat of the last 8 years. No depth. I did dig having Chuck Norris behind him. That's cool.

Romney - He's toast. Too many flipflops. Too plastic.

Paul - I like libertarians, but not sure he's the right libertarian.

McCain - Had his chance 8 years ago, failed with the black baby. Now he's too old. If he gets the nomination, its a repeat of 1996 with Dole.

Guiliani - God's gift to the Democrats. This guy has so many skeletons in and out of the closet.

 

Democrats....

Hillary - I'm tired of the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton empire. We need a change. She may be competent and qualified, but out of 300 million, can't we have someone whose last name doesn't have anything to do with the previous administrations?

Edwards - He is pretty. That's important to the majority of shallow Americans. Seems pretty smart. But he is a lawyer and we know what those people do.

Obama - This guy might make it. His speech last night was pretty good. If you want change, he might be the man. Although he does have black babies and according to Rush is a halfrican American, I still might support him. Those things don't mean much to me. But his middle name sounds the same as the guy that has cost us trillions in Iraq to remove. So that bothers me.

 

Ok, the Blansten Report officially endorses "Re-Elect Gore 2008!"

 

[funscout]

Instead of spreading out the caucuses and primaries, I wish all 50 states held theirs on the same day. That would give every person a chance to have their say, rather than the later states only getting to vote for whoever was still left in the running. Maybe after that BIG day, another one-day (every-state) caucus/primary could take place, with the top 3 candidates.

 

My son's 6th grade class did a mock caucus yesterday. It was funny to hear how some of the kids made their choices. The kids were told where to stand, in the room, in order to show support for each candidate (both parties at the same time). Apparently, some of the supposed Republicans switched to a Democratic candidate, just to be with their friends, and of course the reverse happened, too. Some kids took up for Fred Thompson just because he was an actor. The winners of this 6th grade "caucus" were Obama and Romney.

[BrentAllen]

I'm not putting any money on it, but my prediction is we will see Huckabee vs. Obama in the main event, with Huckabee taking the prize. Democrats never seem to remember that governors beat senators in presidential elections.

 

I must admit I enjoyed seeing Hillary lose - much more than I thought I would. Maybe this is because I'm so ambivalent about the rest of the field, on both sides. It must be killing her to lose to a novice like Obama, and a lightweight like Edwards.

 

Lisa - here in Georgia, we get to vote in whichever primary we choose. I voted in a couple of Democrat primaries, in order to vote against Cynthia McKinney. We finally got rid of her, and I hear she moved to California and is trying to run for Prez. as the Green Party nominee. Talk about delusional...

[GernBlansten]

Kinda interested in the label of novice to Obama and none to Huck.

 

Obama has degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Law. He has served in the Illinois senate and US senate.

 

Huck has a degree from Ouachita Baptist University. He has been a Baptist minister, a lieutenant Governor and Governor of Arkansas.

 

If I had those two applicants for job in my company, I'd give much more weight to Obama than Huck just on the resume.

[BrentAllen]

Yes, Huckabee is a novice as well. He has one term as Lt. Gov. (3 years) and 2 terms (plus a partial) as Gov. (9 years). His experience is comparable to Clinton's when he first ran. Compare that to 7 years in a state Senate and 2 years as a US Senator for Obama. I doubt any of that really matters to most voters. What might matter is one has been a CEO, the other a member of group. Hence, governors beat senators in presidential elections.

[packsaddle]

Wow, I just watched Paul handle himself beautifully in a very thoughtful interview and on every topic he seemed very reasonable. I may take a closer look. (head-smacking noise) "I could'a had a V-8"

 

Gern, as sympathetic as I am with your 're-elect Gore' quip, the people's acquiescence to the 2000 election was nearly as forceful a statement as a military coup. We got what we demanded and deserved.

[scottteng]

If Ron Paul had any chance of winning I would be behind him 100% but I think even Mr. Paul realizes that all he can hope for is to nudge the Republican party back in the smaller less intrusive government direction. I was thrilled to see the junior senator from NY lose. She scares me has all the nutty ideas and the FBI file dirt on all the pols to get them passed. I was ready to go change parties to vote for Barak Hussain Obama in the primary here. The country would survive Obama just fine we made it through Jimmy Carter. Nothing would get done in Washington which is excellent just what we need nothing from Washington unless we can arrange for them to undo lots of what they have already done. The only thing anyone else has going for them is Mike Huckabee supports the fair tax which would suck a lot of power out of Washington other than that he is awful wanting to pass a lot of legislated morality stuff like bans on smoking etc.

[GernBlansten]

If being a Governor was a good qualification, why didn't GWB do better?

 

I think the reason govs beat senators routinely is senators have to go on the record on many legislative votes. Those votes can be twisted into soundbites that are not representative of what the real issue was but none the less make the senator look bad. A no win for them. Obama's two year tenure will work for him as he has fewer votes for his enemies to sift through.

 

 

[BrentAllen]

GWB do better? He ran against Kerry and Gore, so he just had to be better than them, right? All we can do is guess about that.

 

I think Hillary is about to give the GOP all the dirt they could want on Obama. We are about to see the Clinton Personal Destruction Team go into full combat mode. Lock up the kids!

[GernBlansten]

I'm referring to GWB's performance as POTUS as a measurement that his stint as a Governor made him a better prepared person than a senator. Considering his dismal performance, I think we need to reevaluate the canard that governors are better than senators for presidents.

[John-in-KC]

Where is Colin Powell when we really need him?

 

I'm sorry, but I am singularly unimpressed by anybody in the field for the 08 election. Plastic Flip-flops, naive, and Beavah's Ron Paul running loose in a gamers discussion forum...

 

I agree that Edwards is pretty! I also agree that Guiliani has more skeletons in his closet than a med school.

 

Of course, the last two times around, we elected the owner of the Texas Rangers... so who am I to say this field isn't fantastic?

 

I really do like the British idea of 6 weeks from dissolution of Parliament to election day. I've listed to Hil-Bar-Mi-dy-tt for over a year. EagleSon and I are making jokes that we could solve the enerby crisis if we just had the fuel for the campaign jets and busses.