Category Archives: Obama

Super Tuesday Summary

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I’ve got to get up early in the morning, so I’m going closing down early. A summary of tonight.

For the Republicans, I can simply say that McCain was the winner tonight. This isn’t to say that he’s won the official nomination, just that he won most states tonight.

For the Democrats, results were all over the place, and varied.

Hillary Clinton took:

  • California (my projection)
  • Arizona
  • New Jersey
  • Massachusetts
  • New York (57% to 40%)
  • Tennessee
  • Arkansas (73% to 24%)
  • Oklahoma (55% to 31%)

Barack Obama took:

  • Utah
  • Alaska (my projection)
  • Colorado (2:1)
  • Idaho (by a huge 80% to 18% per CNN)
  • Minnesota (2;1)
  • Connecticut (close! 50% to 47%)
  • Kansas (73% to 27%)
  • North Dakota (61-37%)
  • Alabama (fairly close)
  • Delaware (fairly close)
  • Illinois (65% to 33%)
  • Georgia (66-32)

And some are too close to call right now:

  • New Mexico (a weak Hillary lead, but only 1% is in)
  • Missouri: with 98% reporting, they’re neck-and-neck in both parties

I’m biased (I’m posting this wearing an Obama T-shirt, on a laptop with an Obama sticker on it, with an Obama sticker in my window), but I’d say the winner of the night was Obama. The polls I’d seen left me expecting Hillary to take most states, but I was confident that the way we award delegates would keep Obama in the running. Obama has taken the majority of the states, some by a surprising majority.

Super Tuesday Results

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Not a lot of results are in, but based on exit polls, people are predicting:

  • Obama takes Illinois (his home state) and Georgia
  • Clinton takes her home state of New York, as well as Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Arkansas (another Clinton home)

86% of Delaware (home to… lots of corporations) is reporting, with Obama ahead 51% to 44%

9:22: Kansas and Tennessee are both right around 15% reporting, but Clinton has an overwhelming lead in both (74:26% and 59:30%, respectively.)

9:26: Alabama has only 18% in, but Obama has 67% right now. MSNBC just called it.

9:28: 58% for Hillary, to 38% for Obama, in Massachusetts per MSNBC. I’m not sure if they called it, but I would.

On the Red side, Arkansas has been called by CNN for Huckabee (59% to McCain’s 23%), even though only 4% of precincts are reporting.

9:30: West Virginia’s quick… 100% in. Huckabee won with 52%, to Romney’s 47%. Massachusetts has also been called by CNN for Romney, 52% to McCain’s 40%.

9:33: MSNBC has called New York, New Jersey, and Illinois for McCain. Alabama is 40$ McCain, 38% Huckabee, but MSNBC is calling it for Huckabee. He’s got 59% in Arkansas.

In Georgia, MSNBC is calling it a three-way tie right now for the Republicans.

9:36: Idaho has only 9% in, but is showing Obama leading overwhelmingly (73% to 23%). He has a more narrow lead in North Dakota, 54% to 43%, with 26% reporting.

9:40: Connecticut is close, but Obama leads 50% to 48% right now, with 43% of the results in. No one’s daring to call it one way or the other right now.

9:41: A compatriot reports that Boylston, MA went for Ron Paul.

9:43: Howard Dean, interviewed live on MSNBC, has just called Romney “The candidate of change. He’s changed his mind on almost every single issue.”

9:47: Tennessee, reported on MSNBC and CNN, has closed down some polling locations as a tornado blew through Kentucky and Tennessee.

10:05: MSNBC suggests that Obama’s leading in Utah. I haven’t seen results yet, though.

10:10: Huckabee is speaking live now, and is talking about how he’ll be in office in under a year, and how much he looks forward to putting his “Out of Business” sign on the IRS.

10:19: Well Kansas has sure changed. 64% are in; Obama’s winning 72% to 28% now, and MSNBC has projected it for him.

10:24: MSNBC is saying Barack and Hillary have 6 states each right now.

10:25: CNN’s exit poll data for Massachusetts suggests an overwhelming female turnout, 58 to 42%, in the Democrat primary. It was almost the exact opposite in the Republican primary, 57% male to 43% female.

10:27: 72% in, but MSNBC has called for Obama in Connecticut, 50% to 47%.

10:32: Minnesota is Obama’s, 64% to to 34% right now.

10:43: Huckabee’s taken Georgia, per MSNBC.

10:44: Very few results are in from Colorado yet, but Obama has a sizable lead there right now, 65% to Hillary’s 34%.

11:02: North Dakota, per MSNBC, is Romney’s. Minnesota is going to Romney so far, but Ron Paul surprised me by getting 16%. More interestingly, 21% in North Dakota went for Ron Paul, too.

11:11: California’s been closed for 11 minutes. Results haven’t really come in yet in numbers. MSNBC shows Obama as having taken 11 states thus far, whereas Clinton has only taken 6.

11:17: Arizona went to Clinton. California’s being led by Clinton right now, but there are so few results that it’s still showing 0%.

11:20: California’s at 2%, but early results are that Clinton has a strong lead (57% Obama, 32% Obama, Edwards has a surprising 9% of the vote… Good for someone not even in the race.) On the other side, McCain has a very strong lead over Romney.

11:25: Now Obama has 10 states, Hillary 7. Not sure where the error lies. Of course it’s too early.

12:05: Alaska’s coming in, and Obama’s winning by a landslide! Missouri’s incredibly close.

Primary Results

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We’re hosting an Super Tuesday Party on campus. I’ve got three TVs on, and I’m going to experiment with the “liveblogging” fad here, at least until I lose interest in posting here and get caught up in cheering (or booing) here. Rumor has it that exit polls are showing a lot of races even closer than predicted. Tonight might be very interesting, and “tonight” might become tomorrow.

A Strong Showing

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Tonight I went to an Obama rally in Boston. Or, more accurately, I tried to go to an Obama rally in Boston.

We took the T in, and noticed a couple people carrying big Obama signs. A group of people got on at the next stop, and chatted with the sign-holders. Pretty soon I realized that almost everyone on the T was going to see Obama. As we got closer, this become clearer and clearer, until truly everyone on the Silver Line with us was going to the Obama event.

Per the advice of the people carrying the signs (who we all assumed to be leaders of some sort, but, in actuality, were not–an interesting psychological exploration for another day), we got off two stations early. And were greeted by the longest line I’ve ever seen. We must have walked by literally thousands of people before we got to our line. It was essentially folded on itself three times, and each one must have stretched for close to half a mile.

What’s more, I’m only counting the people I could see. Where the people “ended” was around the bend from the T stop. It turns out that we weren’t even halfway there; where Obama was speaking was several blocks down the road.

We got there before 7:30, initially confident that getting there that early would guarantee us a spot when the doors opened at 8. 8 o’clock came and went, and we had hardly moved. 8:45 and we’d moved up to the second line. Around 9:30, we were even with the T station, freezing cold, and only newly aware of the fact that we still had a long way to go. Rumors were circulating that the building was near its capacity, so we decided that it was pretty unlikely that we’d make it in, so we decided to cut our losses and leave.

Inside the T station, we found a steady stream of people making the same decision. The train we got on (actually a long bus that drives around in a tunnel… I don’t get it either) was jam-packed, and I ended up standing right next to the driver. “Why did you leave so early?” she asked. Early? It was 90 minutes after the doors opened. “The Transit Police said that he wasn’t going to take the stage until 11.”

Eleven? Sure enough, on our way back we stopped in a restaurant to eat. The news cut to a live feed shortly after 10:30, when John Kerry was on stage talking about Obama. I’m sad I didn’t get to see him, and yet thrilled at the turnout. I’ll try to get some pictures up tomorrow, but pictures really don’t do the crowd justice. It was enormous.

Down to the Wire

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Super-duper Tuesday tomorrow. Obama’s been moving up in the polls, but it remains to be seen if he’s gotten far enough. What makes things more interesting is that the Dems don’t use a winner-takes-all approach, so it’s possible for a candidate to “lose” most states and still come out in a tie. (In New Hampshire, Obama lost and yet got one more delegate than Hillary.)

There’s a rally in Boston tonight that I think I’ll attend.

A Big Day

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John Edwards has dropped out, leaving the Democratic race between Obama and Hillary.

The news from today that really shocks me, though, is that Giuliani:

  • Dropped out of the race, and
  • Endorsed McCain (!)

Giuliani scared me the most, but I think McCain is the one Republican that stands a chance of winning in 2008, which is equally as scary.

If the race had come down to Obama versus, say, Giuliani, I think it would be a landslide victory for Democrats. But if it comes down to Clinton versus McCain as early signs are showing? Clinton’s disliked enough, and McCain’s moderate enough, that he might just win it.

McCain is a rather interesting candidate. On one hand he’s taken many issues I like, such as speaking out against torture, among others. On the other hand, he’s part conservative, part lunatic…

State of the Union

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Tonight is the State of the Union address.

As an aside, if I’m ever President, I think I’m going to direct those familiar with the speech to keep mum. I know that the State of the Union isn’t exactly the place for suspense and drama, but it’s kind of upsetting, in some way, to know exactly what he’s going to say before he says it. USA Today comments that Obama and Hillary will both be present, and ads, “Those two alone will draw most of the reaction shots shown on television.” So not only do we know what will be said, but we seem to know, as fact, what the cameras will be focusing on.

I hope Congress will vehemently oppose his push for permanent codification of warrant-less wiretaps into law, and am pretty leery of him being the one behind tax cuts (they seem to be given to the wrong people), but I do support (strongly!) his plan to curb earmarks.

The frequent Reagan comparisons (on the part of USA Today) are borderline creepy, by the way.

Retail Politics

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One of the things that rocks about New Hampshire is the so-called “retail politics,” where politicians have to get out and work to convince us that we should vote for them. Running TV ads and blowing Iowa and New Hampshire off doesn’t work, as Giuliani proved.

Last weekend, we went to a house party in Merrimack (hosted by a fellow ham, actually), where a few dozen people came to hear Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick speak about Obama. If you look at the US as a whole, this is a terrible proposition: the governor of Massachusetts takes an hour out of his day (well, probably more like three, if you account of travel time and all) to talk to thirty or so people? And yet this is what it takes.

Governor Patrick, by the way, is an awesome guy. He came around and talked to each person in the room. I told him I was going to school in Massachusetts, and he thanked my mom for “loaning” him to them. He seemed to genuinely care.

Governor Patrick in NH

He has this incredible way of, when talking to you, making it seem like you’re the only person in the room. Here’s the governor of Massachusetts, coming up to someone’s house in New Hampshire, and talking to my mom and I as if he’s an old friend.

He spent a good deal of time just mingling, before he finally addressed us as a crowd and talked about Obama. He kept that brief, and then asked us a lot of questions. At one point, he was talking, and happened to say something along the lines of, “And I’ll tell you why I–” right as the home phone rang. Being the awesome person he is, he added, “And I’ll tell whoever’s calling,” and then picked up their phone.

Answering the Phone

“Hello, this is Governor Patrick.” I don’t really know what the person on the other end said, but I can only imagine they were somewhat confused. “We’ve got quite an enthusiastic crowd here for Obama,” he said, before asking the caller if they supported Obama. “No? Well then I’m afraid whoever you’re calling for isn’t home,” he joked before handing the phone over to the home’s residents.