Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : THE WHITE HOUSE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (17786)	2/29/2008 12:30:11 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25737

Political Perceptions: Release the Secret Weapon: Obamacans Here’s a summary of the smartest new political analysis on the web: By Sara Murray and Gerald F. Seib February 29, 2008, 7:39 am Washington Wire - Wall Street Journal blogs.wsj.com MSNBC’s Alex Johnson looks at a secret weapon for Sen. Barack Obama in Texas: Republicans who say they’re going to cross over to vote for him in the Democratic primary. Obama, Johnson notes, often says in his speeches that Republicans come up to him and whisper that they are supporting him. “If the latest polling data are to be believed, those Republicans aren’t whispering in Texas, where 195 of the 228 delegates the state will send to the Democratic National Convention will be chosen in a primary and caucuses Tuesday,” Johnson writes. “As many as a tenth of the Texans voting in the Democratic contests could be Republicans, and overwhelmingly they favor Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, the polls show.” Some, he says, genuinely like Obama; some dislike Sen. Hillary Clinton so much they’ll vote for another Democrat next Tuesday just to stop her. Also commenting on Obama’s ties to Republicans, The Washington Post’s E. J. Dionne takes a look at the similarities between Obama and Ronald Reagan. Both were criticized by opposing campaigns that charged that the candidates had nothing more than oratory skills. Both faced concerns about their ability to handle foreign policy. Both endured complaints that they wouldn’t achieve bipartisanship - Obama will reveal himself as a “big, bad liberal” and Reagan as a right-wing extremist. But the electorate wanted a change in 1980 and they took a risk to achieve it. And they’re doing it again this year. “Now is the time to go for broke, to challenge not only the ruling party but also the governing ideas of the previous political era and the political coalition that allowed them to dominate public life,” Dionne writes. In Ohio, meanwhile, the primary debate has been largely about the economy and bashing trade agreements, but the joint Obama and Clinton assault on NAFTA has gotten so intense that it “has raised eyebrows among some economists and trade experts,” writes Toni Johnson of the Council on Foreign Relations. “Many economic analysts believe the focus on NAFTA is misplaced…Ned Hill of Cleveland State University tells NPR that Ohio’s economic woes are not the fault of NAFTA but ‘because of the failed strategy of three companies—Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.” Overall, Johnson writes, “NAFTA has amassed a mixed record of pluses as well as minuses after a decade in force, a Congressional Budget Office report found. So what to make of all those eye-popping numbers showing big Democratic turnout in primaries and caucuses so far? Maybe they don’t tell us all that much about what will happen in November, says Kent Garber of U.S. News and World Report. “For starters,” he writes, “primary turnout rates (in terms of ballots cast) historically tend to be higher for Democrats than Republicans.” Second, “record turnouts during primaries often fail to yield general election victories in November.” That, Garber notes, was exactly what happened to Democrats in 1988, while in 2000 Republicans had big primary turnouts before George W. Bush lost the popular vote to Al Gore. Besides, Garber writes, Republicans have had some pretty big turnouts this year too. The first hurdle may be over for Republicans in the presidential race, but on the Congressional side it’s looking dismal, National Journal’s Amy Walter writes on Msnbc.com. Morale is fading as the Republican National Committee seeks funds to help defend the 29 open Republican seats, leaving its shrinking budget with even less money to challenge Democratic incumbents. The exodus and overall lack on enthusiasm show that Republicans realize their chances of regaining a majority in 2008 are slim. “In many ways, it shouldn’t be surprising that GOP House members are feeling as pessimistic as their base,” Walter notes. “The ‘enthusiasm’ gap has already shown up in turnout for the presidential primaries. And for all the talk about a Democratic base frustrated by the party’s inaction on Iraq, Republicans are actually more critical of their party in Congress.” Permalink \| Trackback URL: blogs.wsj.com