Hillary aides plan her exit strategy

The state of the race, and the mood of the press corps, is summed up by this Washington Post story which reveals that Clinton aides are thinking about how she can withdraw gracefully if results don’t go her way on March 4th. The paper report that,

“Inside Clinton’s inner circle on Friday, the feeling was that the Thursday night debate in Austin was unlikely to slow Obama’s momentum from 11 straight primary and caucus victories. Some supporters said they had discussed how to raise with Clinton the subject of withdrawing from the

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (4)

And now the end is near, and so she'll face the final curtain

Hillary Clinton’s critics have always charged that she would do anything to win, a charge that her campaign has bolstered by some of its actions. But last night, Hillary showed that she wasn’t prepared to do anything that would permanently damage the Democratic Party—of course, if she did do this she would also be hurting her own legacy.

In the penultimate debate before the must-win votes in Texas and Ohio, Hillary hardly went after Obama at all. Indeed, her ‘fiercest’ attack was a rather lame joke about the plagiarism allegations surrounding him. Nothing she said last night will help...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (1)

McCain story rebounding on The New York Times

A day after The New York Times published its story about John McCain and his ties to a female lobbyist it looks like the story will do more damage to the Times’ reputation than McCain’s. The story does not—nor does it claim to—nail down anything about either the nature of their relationship or any importer favour that McCain is supposed to have done her. This raises questions about why the Times decided to run the piece: normally, the paper prides itself on its high-minded ethics. The revelations later in the day...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (2)

Was this news that is fit to print?

The New York Times finally publishes its story about John McCain’s relationship with a female lobbyist today under the guise of a larger stroy about the dangers inherent in McCain’s campaign against the influence of lobbyists. There’s a bunch of stuff about the Keating Five, a scandal that McCain became ensnared in early in his political career, in the piece but the explosive part is about what kind of relationship McCain had with this lobbyist; The Times reports that some aides had become convinced it was ‘romantic’ and warned her off while...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (1)

Hillary down for the count

Hillary Clinton is not out yet but she is on the canvass with the count past five. Obama has the momentum—ten straight wins will give you that—and the money, he has just doubled Hillary’s ad buy in Ohio. At the moment, Obama is well on the way to the March 4th victories in Hillary’s supposed firewalls of Texas and Ohio that would effectively end the race.

In these circumstances, Hillary has to take risks if she is to turn things round. In the debates on Thursday and Tuesday she has to try...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (2)

The video the Clintons wants you to watch

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (3)

A reassuring night for McCain

John McCain will be encouraged by the results of the Wisconsin primary. What could have been a potential banana skin has been avoided with an 18 point margin showing that the Republican coalition is coalescing behind him. The only groups that he lost were evangelicals, people who go to church more than once a week and those who think abortion should always be illegal. Considering that Huckabee, a Baptist minister, has such a natural advantage with these groups, McCain can be fairly relaxed about not winning their support in the primaries. McCain’s challenge is to rally them behind him come November for which he’ll need Huckabee’s help. This explains why McCain is not trying to aggressively bundle Huckabee out of the race.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (1)

Obama wins Wisconsin

Following Barack Obama’s 58-41 win in the Wisconsin primary, Hillary Clinton has a fortnight to save her presidential bid. If she does not hold the line on March 4th in Texas and Ohio, key figures in the party will begin calling on her to step aside.

With nine straight victories since Super Tuesday, Obama has the momentum. He has expanded his voting coalition and is winning among those earning less than $50,000 and even tying Hillary among whites without a college degree. He has two weeks to campaign across...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (3)

A new Obama smear

To the Obama is a Muslim sleeper agent slur we can add the absurd charge that his father might have married his mother as part of a Communist plot to stir up revolutionary anger among African-Americans. It really is amazing that this kind of gutter speculation is given house room by people and places that should know better.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (2)

What does the Clinton campaign think it is doing?

Hillary’s press people regularly send out emails reminding journalists to read various stories that are favourable to their candidate. In recent days, these emails have often featured articles defending the role of super—or unelected—delegates in the process. This is bizarre as it hardly serves the Clinton cause to regularly remind folk that she might win the nomination in a way that lots of people consider undemocratic. Pushing this line feeds into a general sense that the Clintons will do anything to win

Equally, one wonders what on earth purpose Clinton sources think...

Continue reading...

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comment