Liveblogging The Debate
With mere minutes left to go I finally got myself freed up and ready to liveblog this shindig, so let’s get it on.
You can watch the livestream with me at CNN.com, and please don’t forget my pre game analysis that can be read here.
Normally I do the Liveblogging in comments, but unless I get a big response, I’m going to keep updating here in the main body of the text below the jump.
It’s How You Go About It
There is some confusion out there, succinctly illustrated by, but not limited to, Michael van der Galien, as to the nature of the National Journal’s ranking Obama as the most liberal senator of 2007, and how that meshes with strong support among centrists, moderates, Indpendents, and even some Republicans and libertarians.
It’s true, on the surface, the two concepts don’t seem to add up all that well, but there are some factors to take into consideration that I think might clear this all up.
Clear And Murkey
Gallup, which is running daily tracking polls now of the remaining presidential contenders, has released the latest poll which provides an interesting picture four and a half days before Super Tuesday. For the Republicans, the picture gets clearer, but for Democrats, things only get more murky.
What Was That About Being Progressive?
I sometimes hear or read people question Obama’s progressive street creds, and of course, you get the ever present argument that Hillary and Barack are basically the same.
But the National Journal may have something to say about that. Based on a ranking that it does every year, the National Journal shows that Obama was the most liberal US Senator in 2007 while Hillary was 16th. Even more interesting, on being progressive, Hillary has trailed every single year during their joint tenures in the Senate.
But, no, seriously, Clinton is the one who will stand up for progressive issues (She’s rated a several times in the thirties and twenties, and come on, around fifty of those senators were REPUBLICAN!).
Sarcasm aside, Obama’s the more progressive candidate AND he has a broad appeal to Independents and moderate Republicans. How is that not what Democrats are looking for their next nominee?
Democrat Debate Tonight
After almost a year of a broad Democratic field fighting for time in the debates, tonight we’re going to have the first head to head debate between the last two candidates standing; Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
I’ve got something of a busy day stacked up for me this afternoon, but I’m going to try and get everything set up so I can go ahead and live blog it for ya, but first, a quick preview.
Could Richardson Be Endorsing Barack Friday?
This could be huge, and a major H/T to Terry from PositivelyBarack for mentioning this. As Terry makes mention in the comments to the post linked to, Barack Obama has just recently announced a couple of scheduled campaign stops on Friday in New Mexico. Right now, New Mexico is looking like one of those Super Tuesday states where he’s got the advantage, which means that perhaps his energy might be best focused on states where Hillary has a slim lead and he can dig into it.
Now it’s possible that he’s shoring up his support in New Mexico, which I think would be a waste (and if that’s the case… rare obama criticism moment… dumb dumb dumb). On the other hand, let’s not forget that Bill Richardson has said he might endorse by the end of this week, in other words, tomorrow. Where will Hillary be tomorrow? No clue, she has nothing scheduled.
At this point, I would say there’s a 75% chance Bill’s going to endorse Obama tomorrow.
The Worst Statistic
His name was Chuck Irvin. Chuck was a skinny kid, tall with a cherubic face, rosy cheeks, cream blue eyes and perpetually curly hair; a mix that doomed him to look forever as though he were in high school. Even on duty days when he didn’t get the chance to shave, his facial hair would grow in faint and patchy, just as though he were still in high school.
He was an Electronics Technician onboard the Ike, and he had made first class. He was a friend of mine.
I Tried To Watch The Republican Debate So You Didn’t Have To…
…but I kind of failed. Nothing important came up, and I even had the feed with the reaction bar superimposed over the candidates set up. But when a friend came by my office to chat, I gratefully took it as an excuse to ignore what was going on. I’m sorry, Republicans still having convservative pissing matches doesn’t impress me, and often times things they talk about as good things will depress me.
There were some things I did notice, for one, Romney and McCain seemed to get a bulk of the time, while Huckabee was still playing his, “Hey guys, I’m still here, you can ask me questions about stuff other than Religion” shtick, and Ron Paul was the guy who used his time to repeat the basic planks of his platform. For more on this, I would check the Fix, one of my go to sources especially for the debates that I missed.
Fact Checking The Fact Checker
Senator Obama’s got himself a new stump speech, one that is not exactly hands off of his remaining opponent, Hillary Clinton. The Clinton’s, in their ever enduring quest to participate in a campaign race where their opponent isn’t even allowed to swing at them while they are granted full reign to launch whatever attacks they desire, have opted to “fact check” some of the specifics of Obama’s speech.
But the header on the website, “The straight scoop on election ‘08 from the Hillary Clinton campaign” should serve in and of itself as a kind of warning label regarding any kind of fact checking. Indeed, it’s a little paradoxical just putting the term “straight scoop” and “Hillary Clinton campaign” in the same sentence, but if that’s how they want to play it, let’s play.
Hillary, Florida, Michigan, And What’s Wrong With The Lot Of Them
It’s pretty rare when I have a hard time saying exactly what I need to say the way I want to say it. I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’m a master when it comes to articulating my thoughts, but I’m no slouch.
Still, on occasion, I’ll find myself so flustered with a situation that expression becomes difficult, and I find myself dancing around the central point as opposed to hitting it dead on. This is the situation I found myself in when it came to Florida, Michigan, and Hillary Clinton’s reprehensible attempt to seat the delegates for the two states.
Thankfully, Ezra Klein hits it perfectly.
Mike Mukasey=Winner
Man, I am so glad that Democrats decided to capitulate on Mike Mukasey. I’m sorry, I was totally wrong about him, and all of my fears about how he would be too much like any other Bushite (ie. overly secretive, too prone to expand the powers of the Executive branch, and eager to thumb his nose at congress) were totally unfounded.
(/sarcasm)
Go On, Get It Over With
Joe Lieberman’s endorsement of John McCain is nothing new, nor is his active campaigning on McCain’s behalf, or even the fact that he denied hopping on board the Straight Talk Express as a running mate.
But LIEberman did say that if McCain does pick up his party’s nomination, he will attend the Republican National Convention (…Oooh…. I feel a Zell Miller moment coming on…). But don’t worry kids, he also says that none of this should be seen as a precursor to him joining the Republican party.
Gee…
I wonder why we would ever think that.
Coming To Grips With McCain
I still stand by my assertion that Romney’s not completely out of the game, but it’s looking that way. The loss in Florida hurt, but what seems to be hurt is the silence coming from the Romney camp; either he’s not putting the spin on the thing that he needs to, or he’s trying, but it’s getting drowned out by a plethora of other news stories that are soaking up the news cycle.
In any case, McCain, who had miraculously become the man to beat in recent weeks, has only solidified this position, much to the chagrin of staunch conservatives who maintain a harsh bitterness to the Maverick.
More On Edwards
Despite the Florida vote last night, the big news for the Democratic party today is undoubtedly John Edwards’ departure from the campaign trail. One thing that strikes me is the send off he is receiving from the netroots.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not shocked; Edwards has always enjoyed a strong amount of support amongst the blogosphere, but there are still some pretty moving pieces out there some from bloggers I both like and respect (which I understand can seem strange given my compative support for one of his now former opponents). Christy Hardin Smith, Kevin Hayden, and Melissa McEwan all have up touching post mortems for the fiery populist that do bear reading.
Yoink!
Now, I’m not the kinda guy to say I told you so…
…Okay, yes I am, and damn it, I told you so.
Tell This Nut “No”
Word out of Washington is that Ralph Nader is taking steps for another run at the White House.
This Waterboarding Sponsored By Mike Mukasey and Chuck Schumer
I got your number Chuck. Don’t think I forgot. At the appointed time when Democrats stood strong, you were the one who caved and made all this possible. It was your “vote for justice” that pushed us backward in the fight against waterboarding, proving analogous to virtually every other fight of principle we try to win in congress. We talk a good game, then, as we lurch off field with our tails tucked between our legs, we mumble some half hearted sentiment to make it look like we just got our asses kicked as bad as what happened.
Yeah Chuck, I’m blaming this on you.