Two new polls from American Research Group (ARG) show that Hillary is not only closing the gap (MT), she has a comfortable lead in South Dakota:
In Montana, Hillary has significantly cut into Obama's lead. She now trails him by just 4 points, 48-44; and in South Dakota, Clinton leads by a whopping 26 points, with 6 percent undecided.
I was one of several volunteers who joined President Bill Clinton today on a conference call. The former president is in South Dakota. He said this about the continued excitement and interest in Hillary's campaign:
"It feels good; we're getting big crowds. People are still undecided; they're still moving. These calls are indispensible, so let's bring it home and finish high tomorrow night."
Continue reading "New Polls Show Clinton Closing Gap In MT & SD" »
Hillary Clinton won more than a numerical victory today in Puerto Rico: she routed Obama, beating him in every income category, every age group, every education group, and among both men and women:
(CNN) — It was a clean sweep for Hillary Clinton in Puerto Rico in every demographic group, even those groups that are usually firmly in Barack Obama's camp.
[snip]
But in the Puerto Rico primary, Clinton won 70 percent of the male vote, 65 percent of voters under 30, 70 percent of voters who attended college, and 66 percent of voters with an income of over $50,000.
[snip]
She won 70 percent of female voters, 77 percent of those over 65, 69 percent who did not attend college, and 71 percent of voters with an income of $15,000 or less.
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Hillary holds a lead over John McCain in a GE matchup:
PRINCETON, NJ -- John McCain and Barack Obama are now virtually tied at 46% to 45% when registered voters nationally are asked for whom they would vote next November if these were the two presidential nominees, while Hillary Clinton maintains a 48% to 44% margin over McCain in a hypothetical Clinton-McCain matchup.
This information is not new. Polls showing nearly the same results have been widely available for at least three weeks. Thus, President Clinton's recent comments to voters in South Dakota and Montana aren't off-the-wall. I've known about these polls; other bloggers have known about them (and published the findings as often as I have). Where the hell are the media?
...that Hillary Clinton keeps doing so well against John McCain, but Barack Obama doesn't? (See also here).
Seems to me this is a question the Democratic Party - and superdelegates - should be asking. But they aren't. There is now a fast-moving media train (NBC/MSNBC) driving Barack Obama straight to the nomination. And they are in a symbiotic relationship with the "liberal" blogosphere ("liberal" being a term I use very loosely these days, because it is primarily the liberal blogosphere that keeps creating an "us vs. them" mentality: African Americans vs. whites; young vs. old; urban vs. everybody else; "racists" vs. "progressives").
But here's some news for Barack Obama and his coterie of followers: Clinton's base of blue-collar working class voters understands that Hillary "gets it": the kitchen table issues - economy, jobs and job security, education, health care, national security, Iraq. They (like me) don't put much stock in soaring rhetoric with platitudes of "change" and "unity." We elect our presidents based on what their plans are for our concerns. What exactly does Barack Obama offer us? "Change." It's a great feel-good theme. We all want to feel better about ourselves and our country after the total mess George W. Bush has left for us. But I'm less concerned about whether Barack Obama will "change" politics as we know it and more concerned about his plans to deal with the crises we face. Here's a rundown:
Tonight I was thinking about the Tao and I-ching, after reading a lot of email and feeling angry, sad, and very disappointed about the misogyny that has so permeated this campaign - a lot of which continues to come from "progressive" bloggers, who seem to take their cues from MSNBC/NBC and the Chris Matthews of the world. The first word that came to me in my thoughts was "solace", but my 365 Tao Daily Meditations (*) did not include it and none of the closest matches fit what I have been thinking and feeling. As an idea, I turned to today's meditation to see if it might be appropriate. Turns out, it fits like a glove:
"Hawk doesn't think during the hunt.
It does not care for theory or ethics.
All that it does is natural."
"... Reacting to a situation by asking what is right and wrong is already too slow. One must intuitively do what is correct. There should be no foreshadowing of an act, nor doubt about oneself."
(*) Ming-Dao, Deng. "Intuition." 365 Tao Daily Meditations. San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1992. 143.
