This week in politics

My plan this week had been to do book reviews on the candidates’ books. But I still have a little more to go to finish Obama’s Dreams of My Father and besides, Robin asked for my impressions of this week’s PA primary 🙂

As I sit here typing this though, I am feeling really dragged down at the end of a long week and not just a little distracted since FoodGirl who I hiked with last week is going to be on Air America radio in just 30 mins so I am streaming it online. All of a sudden I am all excited and nervous for her!!

So, the PA primary. From an Obama supporter’s perspective. Keeping also in mind though that I am NOT anti-Hillary and am not one of those voters claiming to intend to abstain from voting if my first choice does not get the nomination. Those kinds of voters really piss me off!!! Thom Hartman requested calls all week challenging supporters of both candidates to call in and first of all tell why you supported your candidate, but then also to give an example of what they would say in support of the other candidate should he/she win instead. It was a fascinating exercise! Also not a little frustrating as I listened to several callers every day from both camps just be so INTENSELY sure they would NEVER vote for the other one – yet never giving a logical reason for that stance. Since I listen to the radio at work with headphones on, I am sure it was a little funny to occasionally hear me say “moron!” under my breath as I worked 😉 One time I was so disgusted I ripped my ear phones off and stormed off to get some water muttering obscenities – yes, I take this seriously and I really have no patience for those who do not!! Oops…got off on a tangent there didn’t I? Sorry.

Ok, another side track – shout out to our August mom in NC who ‘canvassed’ successfully for Obama on Tuesday! She has a friend in PA who woke up on primary day still not sure who she would vote for but leaning towards Hillary ever so slightly. NCmom gave her the reasons SHE will be voting for Obama on May6th and convinced her friend. You go girl! Perhaps you should be phone banking in your state leading up to your primary??

I should also mention that I do not think Hillary should bow out before the rest of the primaries are held. Yes, the campaign has been bloody. Yes, the party seems divided (based on those moronic phone calls I heard!). That is the down side to this extended primary season. However, I think the positives still out weigh those issues. All signs indicate that this will be over by the end of June. That gives dedicated Democratic voters plenty enough time to get over their anger and unite against McCain. And I believe that most of them will. Meanwhile whoever our nominee is will surely know this country better than anyone since they will have spent time in all 50 states. I personally have always been a full believer in Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy and in many ways this totally fits into it! Unintentionally of course 🙂 Voter registrations are up significantly on the Dem side in every state and turnout has maintained it’s all time high – often more than doubling those from previous years. This is all very encouraging, not only for the Presidency, but also for what they call the ‘down ticket’ races for senate and congressional seats. Obama has already proven his commitment to just that role by campaigning for one congressional candidate before a primary (who then won) and by having his campaign launch a 50 state voter registration drive in support of the DNC initiatives. Yes, I am sure that last is a strategic move in an effort to show undecided Super Delegates that he will be the superior representative for the party. Works for me! Every blog I read this week after Tuesday had at least one posting about insiders who indicate that the undecided Supers will go with Obama eventually, but that they don’t want to tip their hands officially before the primaries are all completed. I agree – might as well let them finish out at this point.

So, the big question – why couldn’t he knock out Hillary in PA? Well, that was about as likely as Hillary knocking off Obama in Illinois or Kansas or Hawaii – states where he has roots. She has roots in the state dating back to her childhood summer home being there. She has a long established political machine in the state which gave her a huge head start. She had a very popular governor campaigning for her from the start. Polling in the state just one month ago had her at a 20-25 point lead. She ended up winning by less than 10 points which means that Obama closed quite a large gap. If you are not a political junkie who watched the 2004 convention, or if you did not live in Illinois, Barack Obama was not a name you knew until very recently. In nearly every state he has really been introducing himself to that state’s voters for the very first time. It’s a very large uphill climb for him especially running against someone with such high name recognition (for better or worse) as Hillary Clinton. Basically, I don’t think it was ever realistic for anyone to expect him to beat Hillary in PA. To me, it doesn’t take away his momentum at all. Super delegates seem to agree as he has again gained more commitments than her this week even after PA. There was also a defection of a major fund raiser from the Clinton camp to Obama’s just today. He has a decent chance of beating Hillary in Indiana and he will most likely win in NC. I remain optimistic IOW.

OK, I am pooped! I will put together those side by side book reviews for next week. I think they will detail (for me) why I chose Obama.