I used to vote but nobody imo stands out this year, kind of like the potus election. All candidates for potus are not for me and there's nothing I can do about it. Ignorance must surely be bliss...
Posted on 03/04/2008 7:56:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
CBS News projects Republican Sen. John McCain has clinched the Republican nomination for president. Click here for the state-by-state tally.
McCain will win Republican primaries Tuesday in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island, CBS News projects. McCain's last Republican rival, Mike Huckabee, dropped out of the race after the results came in.
"The most important race begins," McCain said. "It's a very humbling thing, and I say that with all sincerity."
McCain will travel to the White House tomorrow where he will receive the endorsement of President Bush. The president and McCain will have lunch and then appear together in the Rose Garden.
CBS News reports that Barack Obama called McCain from his San Antonio hotel room. The chat was cordial and brief.
"This clears the path for McCain to begin his general election process in earnest," said CBSNews.com Senior Political Editor Vaughn Ververs. "With a possible protracted battle on the Democratic side that could continue for weeks, it's a luxury Republicans need as they enter into a difficult road towards November."
In the Democratic contest, Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are battling it out in the crucial states of Ohio and Texas.
CBS News projects that the two Democratic contenders will split the New England states voting today -- Obama will win in Vermont and Clinton will win in Rhode Island.
In all there were 370 Democratic delegates at stake in Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio and Texas, which uses an unusual primary-caucus system.
According to CBS News early exit polls, the economy was the top issue for Democratic voters in all four states voting today. Large majorities of Democrats in all four states think the economy is in bad shape.
The economy was of most concern to Ohio Democratic voters. In Vermont, however, the economy nearly tied with Iraq as the most important issue.
Ohio Democratic voters hold mostly negative views on U.S. trade with other countries, according to the early exit polls. Eight in ten say trade takes jobs away from their state. In Texas, however, a lower number -- 58 percent -- say trade takes jobs away. In fact, in Texas, a quarter say U.S. trade with other countries creates jobs.
According to the exit polls, 32 percent of Texas Democratic primary voters are Hispanic -- up from the 24 percent in 2004. In Ohio, 20 percent are African American, compared to 14 percent in 2004. Eighteen percent of Texas primary voters today are black, compared to 21 percent in 2004.
After 11 straight victories, Obama had the momentum and the lead in the delegate chase. Going into tonight, Obama had a 1,390-1,276 lead in the CBS News count. See the latest CBS News state-by-state delegate tally.
Clinton in desperate need of a comeback with time running out - if it hadn't already.
"Hillary Clinton, if you believe the polls, and that's always a danger, seems to have made her move in the last couple of days," CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield said. "I think part of that may have to do with her pounding away on the fact that Barack Obama doesn't have the experience - that so-called 3:00 a.m. ad." Read more about the ad.
CBS News anchor Katie Couric spoke Tuesday with Clinton in Columbus, asking her about the near-impossibility she faces in catching up to Obama in elected delegates.
"We're just working hard today to get all the votes that we possibly can get," Clinton said. "And, remember, this is a long journey. My husband didn't get the nomination until June of 1992 and I have every confidence that we're going to continue to pick up delegates as we go."
"So you're counting on super delegates?" Couric asked. "Are you concerned they'll be under considerable pressure to reflect the views of voters nationwide?"
"Well, you know, I think that superdelegates have a purpose in the process, which is to exercise independent judgment: who they think would be the best president and who they believe would have the best chance of winning. If you look at the states that I've won, these are the states a Democrat has to win," Clinton said. "You know, with all due respect, a number of the states that Sen. Obama has won, which are part of the process and therefore certainly their delegates will count, but these are not likely to be states that a Democrat will win unless there is a tidal wave in our favor."
Some of her supporters, her husband, the former president among them, said she needed to outpoll Obama in both Texas and Ohio to sustain her candidacy.
Without conceding anything, Obama's allies said even that wouldn't be enough, given his lead in the delegate count and party rules that virtually assure primary losers a significant share of the spoils.
Couric asked Obama Tuesday if he would personally ask Clinton to get out of the race if it is, in fact, mathematically impossible for her to catch up in elected delegates.
"No. I mean, obviously this is going to be Sen. Clinton's decision to make," Obama told CBS News. "She is a tough competitor, she has been tenacious and is continuing to raise boat loads of money and I'm happy to continue to compete state by state until we get to the convention."
In appearances Tuesday, Clinton sounded like she might continue her campaign if she only won Ohio, and Obama sounded almost resigned to an extension of the nomination battle.
"You don't get to the White House as a Democrat without winning Ohio," Clinton said in Houston.
In San Antonio, Obama called Clinton "a tenacious and determined candidate" and predicted little shift in his delegate lead no matter who won Texas and Ohio, "which means that either way, we'll go on through Mississippi and Wyoming next week." Pennsylvania, the biggest single prize left, follows on April 22.
"All those states coming up are going to make a difference," he said. "What we want to do is make sure we're competing in every single state."
It takes 2,025 delegates to win the Democratic nomination, and slightly more than 600 remained to be picked in the 10 states that vote after Tuesday.
The Democratic marathon was in contrast to a Republican race that was fierce while it lasted, but long since settled.
McCain, the Arizona senator, began the night with 991 delegates, out of 1,191 needed for the nomination at the party convention next summer in St. Paul, Minn. There were 256 Republican delegates at stake in the four states on the night's ballot.
McCain's sole major remaining rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had 215 delegates, and posed no threat.
It was McCain's second run at the nomination, after his loss to George W. Bush in 2000. Once the front-runner, his campaign nearly imploded last summer. But he regrouped, reassuming the underdog role that he relishes, and methodically dispatched one rival after another in a string of primaries in January and early February.
In the other half of the most wide-open presidential campaign in a half-century, Obama looked for the knockout blow, while Clinton sought a revival.
As before, he outspent her in television commercials, an advantage padded by unions working in his behalf.
Rhode Island and Vermont received little attention from either of the candidates, who devoted most of their time to Ohio and Texas. They debated once in each big state, and stressed issues that varied from one to the other.
In Ohio, a new powerful voting bloc may be asserting its dominance: blue-collar white males. Couric reports that men who work industrial jobs - on assembly lines and steel mills - make up 20 percent of the voting population.
One Cleveland blue-collar worker, John Myers, told CBS News: "I am not ready to back a lady president; I just can't go there."
NAFTA was a focus of the Ohio race.
Obama sent out mass mailings that said Clinton had supported the free trade agreement when it was passed during her husband's administration, and that he had opposed it. She angrily accused him of distorting her record.
But roles were reversed in the campaign's final hours after a memo surfaced in which a Canadian official described a meeting in which Obama's senior economic adviser said the Illinois senator's criticisms of the trade agreement were political positioning. Clinton said Obama had given a "wink-wink" to Canada on the issue.
Obama said, "Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to assure them of anything."
The Texas campaign revolved more around readiness to serve as commander in chief.
Clinton aired a television commercial that showed children asleep in their beds. "It's 3 a.m. and your children are safely asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?" the announcer said.
Obama wasn't mentioned, but responded quickly.
He told reporters that Clinton had already had her "red phone moment" -- and voted for the Iraq war.
He launched his own ad, with sleeping children and a telephone ringing ominously.
"In a dangerous world, it's judgment that matters," the announcer said.
Couric asked Obama if he's now having trouble countering attacks by Clinton on his national security experience - and how he would handle similar attacks by McCain come fall.
"I don't think we've had difficulty countering them. That's why we won 11 contests straight. Sen. Clinton's has been making this argument since the beginning of this campaign and the American people, I think, have recognized that what we need in national security is judgment, a judgment that Senator Clinton and John McCain both failed to show."
Hucklebee stayed in these past six weeks for one reason.
Because he desperately wanted to have more delegates than Mitt Romney so he could convince himself and his supporters that HIS faith is more popular and powerful than Romney's faith.
I made this statement on FR weeks ago, predicting that Hucklebee would drop out the minute he got more delegates than Romney. And I took a lot of heat from FReepers who claimed I was crazy, and that Hucklebee would push all the way to the convention.
Last night (Tuesday), the AP ran a story showing Hucklebee with 254 delegates compared to Romney with 252 delegates.
Although different media organizations have different delegate counts, THAT was good enough for Hucklebee.... who promptly withdrew from the race.
Of course, in his "drop out" speech, Hucklebee couldn't resist making one last slam on Romney... claiming that he (Hucklebee) and McCain were able to last so long in the primary because the "other candidate(s)" were "too negative" and ran distorting ads.
Laura Ingraham, on her radio show today, made mention of Hucklebee's low-class last minute dig at Romney... even though Romney dropped out over a month ago.
Like I said, the main reason Hucklebee even got into the presidential race was because he so hated the "wealthy" Romney... and couldn't stand the fact that a Mormon was getting close to becoming President.
Staying home on election day, voting for a candidate no longer running, voting for a turd party candidate, or voting for whichever of these two liberal traitors is tantamount to abandoning our soldiers fighting for our freedoms. You may not like McCain (with good reason, as I'm not happy with this choice either), but compared to who our alternatives are he is the best choice at this time. If either Hitlery or Obama are elected they will gut our military, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq, and abandon this war, giving our enemies every reason to again believe that we are weak and not willing to go the distance. This is unacceptable IMHO, and crying about losing and taking home your marbles is not an answer. As strong as McCain's negatives are, they are nothing in comparison to the negatives that we'll face with Hitlery or Obama. I stand by my original comment.
Bill Clinton ran on a conservative platform in 1996. What did Bob Dole run on?
“Bill Clinton was not nearly so liberal as many people made and continue to make him out to be. He actually signed a lot of the conservative legislation that Congress passed in 1995-1996.”
I agree he was more of an opportunist than an ideologue, but he was “beholden” to liberal activist groups (as well as the mainstream liberal special interests) and did their bidding more times than not. He would throw the “mushy middle” a bone (to make them think he wasn’t “as liberal as they would have you believe”) and sit down with his true friends and partake in a feast, laughing at how easy it was to fool the American people day in and day out. Some, but not enough, of us could see right through him though. Still can.
Bill Clinton certainly went along with what liberals wanted, but he did so for opportunistic rather than ideological reasons. Since people seemed to approve of the legislation he signed in 1995-1996, he campaigned on it. Republicans who attacked Clinton often did so in such a way as to repudiate the conservative programs they themselves had initiated.
McCain, like Clinton, is more opportunistic than ideological. I see no reason he won't take be more than happy to stab conservatives in the back any time doing so would benefit him. I'm sure the Democrats will reward him nicely.
Amen, and God bless you and your son.
What an intellectually dishonest answer. You're not going to persuade anyone to your opinion that way. I echo the answer above - tell that to our troops who support him.
Good God. Have you been listening to Obama recently? What kind of test do you think Hillary would be greeted with? You think AQ wants to screw with McCain?
You may well be right. A lot depends on who wins this November. If one of the Dims wins, there may well be a backlash.
If it's McCain, the chances for a GOP comeback in 2010 will be slim to none - none if they still perceive him as a "Republican" - slim if they recognize they were sold a bill of goods - and better if a credible conservative resistance coalition has arisen inside or outside of the party.
We have survived 8 years under a clinton and a simple fact of election math is that what you and I do is not going to change the defeat that McCain is going to suffer in November.
The democrats have the Republicans outnumbered and outspent, the base is fractured over many issues, certain areas have trended blue, massive numbers of Latinos are voting, and if you, sir, are waiting on the so called “moderate” or “independent” voters to rush in and save McCain, then you may as well prepare very thoughtfully about supporting the downtickets and start preparing to say Madam President Clinton for the next 8 years.
look at the electoral math
McCain was the dream ticket for the Democrats.
Nobody could have aided their cause and their agenda better than the Manchurian candidate, the GOP has gone sharply left,and I will not support this. - but I understand your points.
Again, thank you for your postings and the opportunity to reply. - Bill
What allegations? The paper today just announced Crist has a girlfriend - how convenient, another divorcee who has kids.
Your analogy is so far from the truth on the differences between McCain and the two fascists running on the demonrats ticket. Ollie North is 100% right in supporting McCain and the reasons why.
excerpt from Ollie Norths site
“Neither John McCain, nor anyone in his campaign asked me to write this column. But I cannot sit silently while my fellow conservatives do to John McCain what GOP “moderates” did to me. Today, the stakes for our country are far higher, the implications for the future far greater than who sits in one of a hundred U.S. Senate seats. Now, our nation is at war against a vicious foe. We need a president who has proven how to win it.
Over the course of the last six years I have made a dozen protracted trips to cover U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen and Marines defending us against a Jihad hostile to all that we hold dear. In the dark days when Al Anbar province Iraq was the bloodiest place on the planet — John McCain was one of the few in Congress brave enough to venture into that cauldron. I know, because I saw him there.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330368,00.html
Perhaps we survied those 8 years. However, those 8 years were years where we were not engaged in the war that was being waged against us at the time. Now we are engaged in that war, and I do not wish to see defeat snatched from the jaws of victory by turning over the CinC to some dim moron who believes ending the fight before victory has been assured is the right course of action. Under the current world conditions we cannot survive even four years of such a Presidency.
As for the impending defeat of John McCain, I see that as counting chickens before they hatch. I'm prediction that the dim nominee will self-destruct and the people will not endorse them by the time of the general election.
Given the above, I do not understand your position, or that of people with like mind. There is just way too much at stake in this election to give it over to the dims. But, you'll do what ever you choose.
What allegations? The paper today just announced Crist has a girlfriend - how convenient, another divorcee who has kids
Oh NO~~ Let's hope he doesn't pick Crist as a VP!!!:-((
McCain is starting to stick his foot in his mouth. It’s not good for people to think out loud. McCain is not thinking before he speaks. That’s what I think happened today. Crist was on tv today more than President Bush! He’s such a camera hogger. Crist is such an ego maniac (the peoples’ governor).
I used to vote but nobody imo stands out this year, kind of like the potus election. All candidates for potus are not for me and there's nothing I can do about it. Ignorance must surely be bliss...
Agree with your post. We are at war and the cost may be too dear to chance 4 yrs of Hillary or Obama. Also, we are paying today for the Clinton years...do we want more of the same?
My answer is no, we don’t want four years of more of what Billy Jeff gave us.
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