by WonkoKevin

Here at Wonkosphere we expect and are not particularly concerned when politicians stretch the truth a bit in the name of framing.  Heck, even a blatant lie here and there are good for business in the world of buzz.  But when a candidate misspeaks about communication theory, we here at Wonkosphere have stand up and say “No!  You shall not besmirch informatics!” (more…)

by WonkoKevin

Democratic candidate and former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel has jumped from the Democrats to the Libertarians.  Look for him to be VP on the ticket with Ron Barr?  From Gravel: ““I’m joining the Libertarian Party because it is a party that combines a commitment to freedom and peace that can’t be found in the two major parties that control the government and politics of America,” says Gravel. “My libertarian views, as well as my strong stance against war, the military industrial complex and American imperialism, seem not to be tolerated by Democratic Party elites who are out of touch with the average American; elites that reject the empowerment of American citizens I offered to the Democratic Party at the beginning of this presidential campaign with the National Initiative for Democracy.”

by WonkoKevin

Headline gotcha’, didn’t it?  One thing I’ve noticed from my time in the blogosphere is that (a) titles make a difference in traffic to the post, and (b) titles are often more “out there” than the rest of the post.  Given the opportunity of 10 or 100 or 1000 words in a post to say something outrageous, often the most outrageous statement is in the title rather than the post.  Here’s today’s excellent advice from Jeff Fecke at Shakesville: (more…)

by WonkoKevin

Hillary Clinton’s long-awaited daily schedules have been publicly released at the William J. Clinton Library web site.  Forget McCain’s Iraq trip, or The Speech, or even Spitzer.  Drop it all and start reading Hillary’s schedules.  I got caught with a tear in my eye with the following typical passage, from 1/31/1993: (more…)

by WonkoKevin

Barack Obama’s race speech is the buzz item of Wonkosphere. Obama hit 70% buzz share in both liberal and conservative blogs, and the mixed reaction (very positive, still negative) led to sentiment about Obama about remaining the same. On a day when a McCain slip-up and a big endorsement for Clinton would have otherwise grabbed headline space, today’s buzz columns in both spheres are completely dominated by stories about Obama.

by WonkoKevin

There’s a ton of buzz in the blogosphere and talk radio about Obama’s Wright/race speech this morning.  My read of the reaction so far is that for the anti-Obama audience, the speech was acknowledged as good but the response didn’t put the issue to bed.  For the pro-Obama audience, the speech was at least his best of the campaign, if not otherwise historical. (more…)

by WonkoKevin

From MakeThemAccountable.com, a memo from Peter Daou, Hillary Clinton’s internet director: (more…)

by WonkoKevin

Iowa and New Hampshire were key. Always have been. Until they were over, and then South Carolina was the turning point. And then Tsunami Tuesday was the non-turning point. I think somewhere along the way Maine and Wyoming were important. What can we make of this campaign season that continues to refuse to conform? In Politics 1.0, averages and totals were the key stats–how many votes, how many delegates, etc. In Politics 2.0, it’s not the averages that define where things are going but rather the extremes. In old politics, the center wagged the extremes; in new politics, the extremes wag the average. When it comes to extremes this campaign season, one place in the U.S. dominates–the Inner West. Maybe we should look to the Inner West for where the body politic is heading.

The Inner West of the U.S. handed many of the candidates their best results of the season. In Utah, Mitt Romney won an astonishing 90%. Ron Paul had his best showing in Montana, at 25%. Barack Obama loves Iowa, which handed him a 79% victory. Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee were big shots in the South, but it was the central plains where they brought it home–Thompson with 25% in Wyoming and Huckaee with 60% in Kansas (equalling what he got in Arkansas, his home state). Even Duncan Hunter had his best outing in the Inner West with 2% in Nevada.

There were several other patterns I observed. First, the South gave two of the three remaining candidates their biggest wins. Hillary Clinton pulled down 70% in Arkansas, and John McCain’s biggest victory to date came in Mississippi (79%). Delaware awarded hometome boy Joe Biden his best showing (3%); Michigan’s shortened list resulted in best outings for Chris Dodd (1%), Mike Gravel (0.5%), and and Dennis Kucinich (4%); John Edwards (30% in Iowa) and Bill Richardson (5% in New Hampshire) faded early; and Rudy Giuliani really did do his best in Florida, just like he had planned (15%). Alan Keyes, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, and Tommy Thompson didn’t register above 0.5%.

by WonkoKevin

Both conservative and liberal bloggers have a laser-focus on Barack Obama, which is probably good news for him at this point.  Amongst all bloggers, Obama has regained his 60-40 buzz share lead over Clinton, and his sentiment is also up to “good” levels, equal with McCain’s.  Clinton has both lost both buzz share and sentiment over the last week.   Amongst our buzz list of 30 posts from conservative, liberal, and independent spheres, there are only 2 posts about John McCain; and on McCain’s buzz page, only 9 of the 30 top posts are from conservatives, thus indicating that conservative bloggers are not focusing much on making McCain’s case right now. 

by WonkoKevin

With his win in Mississippi, Barack Obama is now ahead of Hillary Clinton in delegates by 1610 to 1496 (according to Chuck Todd; this includes superdelegates), and in popular vote 13,402,903 to 12,705,360 (does not include FL or MI).  The ratio between them is nearly identical in both cases–Obama has 51.8% of delegates and 51.3% of votes.  Just how big a lead is that?  In order to put these numbers in some perspective, consider the following analogies:

1. If Hillary shot a 72 even par on the golf course, Barack would have come in with a 68, 4 under par.

2. If Hillary finished the baseball season hitting a solid .300, Barack would have been in the top 10 with a .316 mark.

3. Barack’s basketball team beat Hillary’s 100 to 95.

4. Barack got hired into the position for $100,000, while Hillary is about $94,800, not including benefits.

5. If Hillary got 20 presents under the Christmas tree, Barack got 21.

6. Hillary’s clique in the local church has 200 members, while Barack’s has 211.

7.  Hillary wrote a blog 346 days out of the year, but Barack did one every day.