2008 Woodie Awards
Trying to make sense of presidential primary nonsense
Democrat party battling for a position in White House or against each other for presidency?
By: Spencer Marshak
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Opinion
Something very interesting happened on April 22 that, mathematically, makes no sense, yet it makes complete sense at the same time.
In what was the first presidential primary in well over a month, Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton faced off in an extremely crucial contest in Pennsylvania. In that contest, there was one winner and two losers. Now, how is that possible?
Well, with 55 percent of the vote, Clinton clearly won, beating Obama by a relatively healthy 200,000 votes.
While the loss definitely stings for Obama, he will still maintain his lead of about 150 delegates over Clinton. Unless something drastic happens, he will retain his lead over her all the way to the Democratic National Convention, which is set to be held in August.
So, with Clinton beating Obama in the state of Pennsylvania, and Obama still maintaining his lead, who is the other loser?
The Democratic Party.
This primary race is now officially longer than I can stand.
In all realities, this should be the easiest election for a party to win since the 1984 annihilation of Walter Mondale by Ronald Reagan. Everything has fallen into the laps of the Democrats, yet they seem to refuse to take advantage of it.
The country is in a war in which a majority of the people disagree with, the economy is going through a recession that seems to be getting worse by the day, and George W. Bush's approval rating is officially the worst ever recorded since the Gallup Poll began 70 years ago.
To top it off, the best candidate the Republican Party can come up with is the guy who lost to Bush in the primaries back in 2000. That's eight years - eight whole years - that the Republicans have had to try and find someone to succeed Bush, and they come up with a guy who couldn't even win the nomination of his own party, let alone the rest of the country.
This should be an election year that the Republicans fear, not anticipate. Just by looking at the 2006 midterm elections, there is a clear trend of dissatisfaction with the Republicans, and the Democrats captured both the House and the Senate during those elections. All that is left, the White House, is so closely within the grasps of both Clinton and Obama that they refuse to back down.
In what was the first presidential primary in well over a month, Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton faced off in an extremely crucial contest in Pennsylvania. In that contest, there was one winner and two losers. Now, how is that possible?
Well, with 55 percent of the vote, Clinton clearly won, beating Obama by a relatively healthy 200,000 votes.
While the loss definitely stings for Obama, he will still maintain his lead of about 150 delegates over Clinton. Unless something drastic happens, he will retain his lead over her all the way to the Democratic National Convention, which is set to be held in August.
So, with Clinton beating Obama in the state of Pennsylvania, and Obama still maintaining his lead, who is the other loser?
The Democratic Party.
This primary race is now officially longer than I can stand.
In all realities, this should be the easiest election for a party to win since the 1984 annihilation of Walter Mondale by Ronald Reagan. Everything has fallen into the laps of the Democrats, yet they seem to refuse to take advantage of it.
The country is in a war in which a majority of the people disagree with, the economy is going through a recession that seems to be getting worse by the day, and George W. Bush's approval rating is officially the worst ever recorded since the Gallup Poll began 70 years ago.
To top it off, the best candidate the Republican Party can come up with is the guy who lost to Bush in the primaries back in 2000. That's eight years - eight whole years - that the Republicans have had to try and find someone to succeed Bush, and they come up with a guy who couldn't even win the nomination of his own party, let alone the rest of the country.
This should be an election year that the Republicans fear, not anticipate. Just by looking at the 2006 midterm elections, there is a clear trend of dissatisfaction with the Republicans, and the Democrats captured both the House and the Senate during those elections. All that is left, the White House, is so closely within the grasps of both Clinton and Obama that they refuse to back down.
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