McCain, Clinton Win Florida Primaries

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pulled out a five point victory over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Tuesday’s Florida GOP primary. While there is still no clear victor for the GOP nomination, this win was particularly important victory for McCain. After McCains victory in the South Carolina primary, pundits repeatedly made the point that McCain had yet to win a closed GOP primary. The New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries are open primaries allowing any registered voter to cast a ballot. Closed primaries, like Florida’s, only allow registered Republicans to vote.

Florida GOP Primary Results
John McCain	36%
Mitt Romney	31%
Rudy Giuliani	15%
Mike Huckabee	13%
Ron Paul	3%

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) managed to beat Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) with 50% of the Democrat vote compared to Obama’s 33%, with 14% going to former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. This should not be viewed as a particular victory for Clinton. Given that the DNC forced candidates to pledge not to campaign in Florida after Clinton had already built an organization in the state gave her a huge advantage. Despite this huge advantage, Obama still pulled within 17 points, far less than his victory over Clinton in South Carolina.

cross posted at the Campaign Edge

Technorati Tags: 2008, GOP, Democrat, primary, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, politics, Florida, Florida politics

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Yes We Can!

Democrat Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has been criticized by his Democrat opponents for acknowledging that Ronald Reagan was the last great paradigm shift in way that America is governed. Obama is also taking another cue from the Ronald Reagan campaign of 1980 – optimism and change.

We must remember that the GOP gave away their Congressional majorities in 2006. The Democrats did not win, and certainly not with new ideas. Even in 2008, Obama’s remaining opponents (Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC)) are embracing a negative rhetorical approach to this campaign. Obama, on the other hand, has adopted a positive and uplifting rhetorical style that is far more reminiscent of Reagan’s “Morning in America” than Bill Clinton’s “I feel your pain”.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iVAPH_EcmQ]

Even when Obama is conveying the exact same concept as Clinton or Edwards he manages to deliver it in a more uplifting package.

cross posted at the Campaign Edge and Red Maryland

Technorati Tags: 2008, Democrat, politics, primary, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, optimism, change, campaign rhetoric, campaign, rhetoric

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Obama Blow Out In South Carolina

Democrat Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) defeated his chief rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), in today’s South Carolina Democrat primary by a 2 – 1 margin. With 100% of the precincts reporting, Obama had garnered 55% of the vote with Clinton winning 27%. Former Sen. John Edwards had 18%.

While this win certainly does not guarantee Obama the nomination, he has certainly gained momentum going into Florida’s primary on January 29th. While Clinton was prepared for a loss, pundits were predicting a 10% – 15% margin. Instead Obama has managed to beat the candidate who was thought to be the inevitable nominee by 28%.

After finishing a distant third in his home state, and a state that he won in 2004, it is questionable as to how long Edwards can remain in the race. While Edwards does possess some personal wealth, he cannot self-finance in a national race like Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Without a victory behind him, Edwards fundraising will probably slow to a trickle.

cross posted at the Campaign Edge

Technorati Tags: 2008, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Democrat, primary

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Barack Obama Praises Ronald Reagan …or as Close as a Liberal Can

Presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) recognizes that Ronald Reagan brought a paradigm shift in governance back in 1980. He is obviously hoping that talk of a similar paradigm shift will win him the Democrat nod.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaoYD7iZG9w]

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Obama, McCain Lead in Maryland Polls

Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain lead in a poll of Maryland voters conducted by OpinionWorks for the Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore Sun Poll of Maryland Voters
Democrat Voters			Republican Voters
Barack Obama	39%		John McCain	26%
Hillary Clinton	26%		Mike Huckabee	18%
John Edwards	12%		Rudy Giuliani	16%
			Mitt Romney	12%

Cross posted in Campaign Edge

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McCain, Obama Win in Dixville Notch

Dixville Notch, NH is famous for opening their poll at midnight and having the whole town vote. This year there were 17 registered voters. The results are:

GOP -
McCain 4
Romney 2
Giuliani 1

Dems -
Obama 7
Edwards 2
Richardson 1

Things don’t look too hot for Hillary.

Results courtesy of Virginia Virtucon

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