Good morning fellow Geeks, grab some coffee and check out what is happening in election land.
Last night’s democratic debate was tense, had a few fireworks and for the first time brought up some tuff personal issues for Senator Obama. It was debate #20, the final scheduled debate and possibly the last Democratic debate of Election 2008. The candidates discussed Health Care, NAFTA, Iraq and more.
I personally thought Obama scored well on Iraq, though it was funny I cringed for Clinton who brought up an SNL skit to say Obama was being treated better, I cringed for Obama when Russert tossed out a question on Iraq leaving it to the candidates to decide who would answer and the Illinois Senator deferred to Clinton (it could have been a moment for him to show some foreign policy chops), I thought the opening to the debate showing Clinton saying Obama was right and Obama saying Hillary was right for declaring this a “change election” was a little over the top against the NY Senator.
Weatherman and pundits are both almost always wrong.
This is probably the tenth time this winter the weather people spent a week saying a massive storm would come in and wipe out our area. It is also the tenth time it hasn’t happened.
So from now on I am taking dual roles here at Election Geek becoming both a pundit and a weatherman, two jobs where you can make things up, like lake effect snow.
Prediction #1, tomorrow 895 degrees, light rain, and Mike Huckabee will win the Republican nomination!
The third and final Election 2008 skit on SNL I am sharing from last night. Gov. Mike Huckabee appeared to talk about his statistical chances and getting out of the race with good timing.
MSNBC reports that Mike Huckabee has responded to the NYT story alleging an affair and improper practice from John McCain eight years ago. Huckabee said he has “Always known John McCain to be a man of the highest integrity”.
ABC News reports that Mike Huckabee will make a cameo appear on this weeks episode of Saturday Night Live. The episode will be the first since the show went off the air due to the writers strike. Tina Fey is hosting with musical guest Carrie Underwood. No other information is known about how Huckabee will be used.
Obama and McCain swept their respective party primaries last night, leading to a further decline in the national media’s attention span concerning Mike Huckabee and the continued speculation that Hillary Clinton’s campaign is over. The AP now says Clinton is “fading” and that this is Obama’s race to lose and it seems like many are embracing that sentiment.
I have two thoughts. One is that Huckabee should do whatever he wants and face the consequences. It isn’t the media’s job to decide when a candidate is done. It is the job of the candidate, the party and the voters to make that decision.
With only 87% of Washington State reporting and 242 votes separating Mike Huckabee and John McCain the Washington State Republican Party chairman called the vote for Senator McCain. The Huckabee camp is questioning the call and honestly I am wondering where the rest of the vote count is and why it is taking so long!
Speaking at a press conference after addressing Thomas Road Baptist Church, Huckabee continued to compare himself to Ronald Reagan, who ran in 1976 against the party establishment, which led to a floor fight at the national convention. When reminded that the Republicans lost the 1976, Huckabee said it wasn’t because the party was divided, but because Gerald Ford did not energize the party.
“He never championed himself as a conservative, not a pro-life person for whom that was important,†Huckabee said. “He was a really nice moderate Republican, a true gentleman. But a member of Congress and more a part of the Washington Republican establishment than representing the grassroots of conservatism.â€
“I would argue that if we do not have a candidate who can excite the base of this country, and particularly the base of our party and make them energetic and going out and getting the folks to put the yard signs in and making phone calls and traveling all over the country asking people to vote, we can lose again,†he said.
