Sunday, April 13, 2008
Obama Hopes His Slip Up Won't Damage His Campaign
Obama asserted that with the three upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, he feels he holds an advantage in North Carolina—a state with a very high African American population—and since Hillary had a lead in Pennsylvania; he believes “Indiana may end up being the tiebreaker.” According to a political science professor at Indiana University, if Obama wins two of the three primaries he should have the nomination all but in the bag. However, this past week Obama made the controversial comment "that economic bitterness had driven some working class people to cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations” in a private fundraiser that has around the country and has aides worried about the negative press such a short time before these important primaries. All three presidential candidates were invited to speak tonight at Messiah College in Scranton, PA but only the two democrats vying desperately for one spot have accepted the offers. In addition, according to an Associate Press poll released earlier this week, the past month and a half has really helped McCain increase his supporters and is showing how tight the general election will be. While Hillary used to have a 48%-43% lead over John McCain, the newest results show he has gained 2% putting them into range of statistical error. On the other hand, Obama had a 10point lead on McCain in February and now splits the constituents evenly with 45% for each candidate. This news has undoubtedly amplified the pressure on the democratic candidates to use these three states as a final battleground to avoid potentially damaging the chances of the party winning next November.
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3 comments:
With only 3 more primaries left, I think it will be very close between Hillary and Obama. Although Obama is ahead of Hillary in the race, it will be difficult to predict what will happen in Indiana because that is the one state which hasn’t already essentially “decided” on whom they are voting for. I also do not see why there is controversy over his comment about the working class. He was making a reference to disparity and I do not think it is saying anything derogatory.
It will be interesting to see what happens if these 3 primaries do not yeild decisive wins for either side - will Clinton and Obama continue slugging it out all the way to the convention, or will party leadership step in and decide who will be on the ballot? Either way, these next few weeks will be tense...
I was shocked by Obama's comments at that event he spoke at! Although they may have been taken somewhat out of context, I still think that it could impact him in the election, especially since many of his potential constituents fit the "religious" stereotype he describe. Oh well, I guess its only second misstep in 15 months!
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