by WonkoKevin
It must be spring of an election year, because like clockwork I got my first Ralph Nader mailing, or rather, Nader/Gonzalez mailing. Read below the fold for some observations… (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
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
Despite mainstream sentiment that he’s quit, Mike Gravel continues onward… Gravel, a former Alaskan Senator who is perhaps most famous for his role in making the Pentagon Papers public, is remaining active with a mostly anti-war, anti-corporate message. Yesterday, Gravel filed a lawsuit to stop a pro-Clinton 527 ad from airing. From Gravel: ““This ad is clearly an appeal for people to vote for Hillary and therefore directly contradicts both the spirit and the letter of the law. This ad affects me not only as one of the three remaining candidates for the Democratic nomination but also as a citizen who has watched 527s run circles around the FEC. I urge the courts to ban this ad and any other similar ads from airing on TV, or alternatively, would welcome this 527 organization to properly register with the Federal Election Commission and play by the election campaign rules.” Also this week, Gravel staged an “alternative debate” to counter the Obama-Clinton debate, and declared his support for impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Finally, Gravel takes on McCain.
by WonkoKevin
Mike Gravel has always been entertaining at the Democratic debates, and usually after each debate or TV appearance Gravel has gotten a one-day bump in Wonkosphere buzz share. Something different happened yesterday, two days after the last debate–Gravel’s buzz share kept increasing, to 5% amongst liberal bloggers. Now, three days does not make a trend, but it’s possible that Gravel’s comments on both Iraq and Iran struck a nerve within the liberal blogosphere, coming at the tails of the Senate’s resolution denouncing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the lead runners’ refusals during the debate to commit to 100% troop removal by 2013.
by WonkoKevin
Last night’s debate at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire (full transcript here) is being reported by MSM as a fight between Hillary Clinton and the other contenders. While that dynamic was obvious, I thought the debate was notable for the multiple lines of fracture that emerged, as candidates vied to differentiate themselves from both Clinton and each other. Since it’s obvious that Clinton will be opposed seriously by someone, it is these secondary fractures which may be more telling and important.
