Sunday, January 20, 2008
Obama Takes Second in Nevada
In the Nevada Caucus, Senator Obama received support from 45% of the caucus-goers, while his main rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, had support from 51% of Nevadans. Leading up to the second place finish for Obama, was a controversy involving a union’s endorsement of the Illinois Senator and Past-President Bill Clinton’s claim of inequity in giving a certain group of voters easier access to a caucus. Ironically, after the caucus, it turned out those very people caucusing in Casinos that spurred the disagreement actually backed Hillary. Early last week, a poll that came out showing Obama's continuing efforts to minimize the gap of Senator Clinton’s lead. The Washington Post-ABC News poll had Hillary with 42% of voters and Obama with 37%-interestingly, the website also included the change in approval ratings for the candidates since December. It demonstrated that while Hillary has lost 11%, Obama has gained 14% showing how close the race for the Democratic Nomination has become. Earlier in the week, Obama attacked his opponents for not “hav[ing] anything positive to say about their own record. All they're trying to do is run me down," referencing Clinton’s recent scrutiny of his stances on the Iraq War, race and abortion. During a Las Vegas Debate, Hillary and Obama jointly decided to table the discussion of race. Hillary commented that, “we are all family here in the Democratic Party” and Obama included sometimes “our supporters, our staff, get overzealous. They start saying things that I would not say.” Moreover, informal interviews conducted in Charleston, South Carolina, demonstrate a divided African American constituency —especially women, who are expected to make up nearly 1/3 of the voters in next week’s anticipated primary. Surprisingly, some of the women interviewed expressed opinions opposite of New Hampshire’s positive response to Hillary’s pre-primary tears. Another good sign for Obama is Dr. Huffmon, a researcher at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, asserted that if Obama can persuade the “undecided black women” to vote for him, he will certainly “win the race.”
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5 comments:
South Carolina will definitely be important for Obama - especially since Clinton seems to have the momentum off of Nevada. However, CNN analysts were saying that Nevada was divided into 3 districts (for whatever reason), and Obama actually won 2 out of the three, so in a sense both he and Senator Clinton won this one. Will this "tie" lessen or negate Clinton's momentum going into South Carolina?
It seems that the question of whether or not Bill Clinton helps more than hurts Hillary's campaign continues to raise eyebrows. For, clearly the Clinton campaign now comprises of an attacking Clinton (Bill) and the Clinton who stays above it (Hillary). However, since it is pretty obvious that this is what's going on and because Obama fought back saying, "he feels as if he’s running against both Clintons," can Obama use this against them successfully?
Obama actually received more delegates from Nevada than Clinton even though she may have one the overall vote by the people, Obama one the bigger districts. South Carolina should make things interesting with it being Edwards home state we will see how much more votes for him effect the other two. If Obama can receive more support from blacks in South Carolina and take votes away from Clinton it might start to sway the rest of the black community to support Obama.
Even though the Republican race is the most "open," I think that the race between Obama and Clinton is more ambigous. It seems that the polls change every day and the race comments that both candidates apparently made were blown way out of proportion.Especially now that African American luminaries such as Oprah and the president of BBT are trying to sway the African American vote. Also, even though Hilary was pronounced the victor in the Nevada caucas, I think its interesting that Obama gained the representation of more delegates. The South Carolina primary will definitely be a pivotal point in the election, because it will indicate who black women support. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...
After viewing the presidential debate at South Carolina I couldn't help but notice the extent to which personal frustration Obama has delt with is affecting him. He was continously participating in a verbal spar with Clinton, both of whom often had to be reminded by John Edwards why they were actually at the debate. If Obama wants to continue to push for the Democratic Nomination he must avoid the personal war he has been waging on Clinton, and focus on connecting with the American people.
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