DISQUS

No, at most it will be a long May.

I'm sure that you'll soon be all over this, but wow. Just wow:


http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-05-07-clintoninterview_N.htm



WTF?

What a bunch of crap. The New Deal had lots of goodies for Southerners. A whole lot. Given Southern control of key committees of Congress, southerners have gotten at least their share (sometimes a good deal more) for a long time. This Yankee is sick of the federal government shifting money from the north towards white southerners who, despite benefiting from the federal dole, vote for reactionary politicians. Northern liberals might sometimes have a tendency to unfairness stigmatize white southerners, so I don't want to go overboard here, but Bill's history here is just BS.

Good reporting! All very interesting.

I'll bet about 3 people voted in the Maine caucus that year! He won VT too, I think. As I said, Maine is politically unpredictable . . .

Other than a few African immigrants in Lewiston (most of whom probably aren't citizens yet) and a very few African-American families (most of whom probably have been living there a long time) basically everyone in Maine is white. It is also a pretty working class state. On the other hand, Maine isn't like anywhere else in the country (a bit similar to parts of Vermont and NH but that is about it). It is has its own culture and isn't especially predictable politically. So I honestly didn't know what to expect from Maine. I'm not too surprised that Obama won, but the margin of victory and the dominance across the state was a pleasant surprise. He did well in blue collar areas as well as wealthier town and in all parts of the state. I haven't seen any exit polls, but town by town results are available.


- non-jewish white guy from New England

I'll be interested to see how things turn out in Western Maryland. Seems like it could shed some light on what central PA would look like. On a personal level, I have some distant roots in that part of the state.

This is arguably bigger than Gore - Kennedy helps in demographics where Obama doesn't do well. People who love Gore are likely to be at least favorably inclined toward Obama anyway. And Kennedy to Obama is a great narrative for the campaign.

Come on, Teddy! You know you want to endorse Obama!

Hey, don't knock Edwards. If he wants to be the identity politics candidate for white Southerners (based on regional voting patterns in SC, I'm guessing that a substantial number of Clinton's white voters were retirees from out of state), that is fine with me. Though if he starts campaigning in the north or west where he might take votes from Obama, that will make me more nervous.

Thanks, Bill, for helping to clarify whether the Clinton team is pushing racial polarization by trying to label Obama as "the black candidate" (i.e. doesn't represent white people or Hispanics). Makes it easier to criticize you now without any nagging doubts in the back of my mind!

I worked in Nashua, NH for Obama on election day. It seemed like we were turning out a lot of HRC votes who were down on our lists as undecided (we got killed in Nashua). It was pretty frustrating. I'm new to this game, but I wonder if it is possible to target GOTV efforts better.


As for the previous comment, I like John Edwards, but he did not have an especially good voting record in the Senate. Russ Feingold had some choice words about this recently (basically said that he is running on a platform that he voted against when in office). Obama's voting record is much better. Edwards is a bit of a Jonny-come-lately. I trust Obama's judgment more as well, but that is not really a matter of comparing platforms.