Sunday Roundup

The Clinton campaign has never looked as hard into the future -- or the past -- as it did last night. Hillary had already left South Carolina for Tennessee, and Bill was giving a semi-concession speech from Missouri, looking forward to the millions of people who will be voting on Super Tuesday -- since the hundreds of thousands in South Carolina didn't exactly go the way the Clintons had hoped. And he desperately tried to spin Obama's triumph away by telling reporters that Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice, in 1984 and 1988. But however hard the Clintons are trying to look forward to our Super Tuesday future or drag us into the Jesse Jackson past, there are some stunning numbers in the present they have to deal with: Obama got 295,091 votes to Clinton's 141,128 (more than twice as many). He got more votes than John McCain and Mike Huckabee combined (279,723). He won 78% of the black vote, 25% of the white vote, and 52% of the non-black vote under 30. And he was more than a little responsible for the fact that Democratic turnout was twice that of 2004 (532,000 to 280,000). These numbers are pretty hard to run away from.

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Comments

[LLyonnoc]

South Carolina - always ready to secede from the Union has finally come back with the help of the black Americans who tell us this is the road to the future.

We saw in that campaign that it is not just Hillary who covets the White House; Bill is just if not more anxious to get there. I thought we passed an amendment kicking people out after two terms. There was a reason for that, did we forget. The denigrating of the House of the People by lies, sexual trysts and renting of rooms; the pardon of rich criminals in quid pro quos; the bitterness and evilness of the Clintons will crush us while Obama's election will do more for America in the war against terror than 500,000 more troops.

My great fear is that once the Clinton's get back they will never give it up, or, as some commentator wrote, they'll hold it long enough to let a Bush win who will hand it back to Chelsea. By that time no one will care anymore and Chelsea will marry Jeb Jr., and we can become The United Pricipalities of America under King Jeb and Queen Chelsea with Queen mother Hillary. Is that what it has come down to?

[avraamjack]

-----CLINTON SLEEZE FATIGUE WILL INVIGORATE GOP, DISPIRIT DEMOCRATS AND SINK DEMOCRATIC TICKET-----

-----EDWARDS/OBAMA TO WIN-----

It is possible that Senator Clinton is the best candidate. However, even though many may like the policies that Senator Clinton proposes, they should also consider her record, just as Senator Clinton insists.
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The last Clinton Administration, when faced with the fact that protection rackets where assaulting, torturing and murdering people with poison and radiation, chose to avoid its responsibilities to incarcerate the criminals and to protect the citizenry.
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Instead, they made a deal with the criminal gang stalker protection rackets to leave them alone and to consequently abandon the citizenry.
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Do we want a President who sells out the citizenry for votes?
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Do we want a President who sends a "crime does pay" message to society?
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Would you vote for a President who signed nonaggression deals with the KKKlan or the Nazi party? Gangs that torture with poison and radiation are much like the KKKlan and Nazi Party.
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We do not need a sellout President. We need a principled leader President.
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If you are one of the few who do not know what the above refers to, do a web search for “gang stalking” to see the tip of the dirtberg. Please do it before you decide to reply to my post. Here let me make it easy for you: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22gang+stalking%22.
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[my2girls]

Congratulations Senator Obama! My prayers are with you and your family. Stay strong, stay positive and I can't wait to vote for you on February 5th!!!

[coolkraft]

well the candidate trashing Billaries have been trounced but good....about damn time...they are retreads and thieves...pure and simple....GO OBAMA....as a white person I am deeply offended at what they did and are doing....

[jessejuju]

How can people look at the polling in south carolina and come to the conclusion that Bill Clinton did and be considered absurd or corrupt?He won 76% of the black population and segment after segment on every news station had shown that blacks are most definitly voting their race.
What people fail to realize is that by Obama catering to the Black population he has disenfranchised possible latino voters.As a Latino it becomes more and more evident that he is the black candidate and I'm sorry, a one term senator who issue after issue has had issues after issues with either voting for or staying with does not get my vote.

I'm voting for the most logical person,the one who I feel has the most ability to lead from day one and if you didnt get it by what I just said than I'll repeat...HILLARY CLINTON.

[blondesprite]

Sleeping in a bedroom at the White House, for eight years, does not qualify Hillary for the Presidency any more than Barney (Bush's dog).
In addition, Hillary's senate voting record is abysmal.
Unless you consider video games to be the greatest threat to yours and our national security, take a realistic look at Hillary's senate record.
Bill and Hillary are not Democrats and never were,remember NAFTA? If Bill and Hillary were a team back then, they "felt our pain" then added to it.
Hillary has no intention of getting the US out of Iraq. Hillary has no intention of letting Wall Street suffer the consequences of their own criminality.
Hillary's Healthcare plan is as clear as mud, one would think by now she would have figured it out.
I am not sold on Obama's authenticity and his wife is absolutely not Jackie. But, if Hillary is the only alternative, Obama clearly wins.

[TheScarletPimpernel]

The Paranoia about race is absurd. Did Jackson Win SC twice ? So when Mr Obama injects race and his supporter whom are African americans scream racism when his RECORD is called a fairy tail, and they push quotes they claim are racist but are in fact just contrasting his record to others who is the racsit and race baiter ?
Obma tries to run from everything he has ever said or written using a cover of "its race " "you are painting me the black candidate" when all he does is appeal to black folk.
Its a joke and the GOP wont care in November they already cede the black vote the young vote and a large portion of the Hispanic.

The way Obama is going calling the Clintons racist they will get some more white votes too.

[raptor]

Maybe you should tell Edsall you're not into polls at the next staff meeting,

[filmunas]

Hillary & Bill Clinton lost big yesterday because people are thoroughly fed up with their ugly lies, divisiveness, and their arrogant sense of entitlement. I would strongly urge Bill to exit the campaign immediately since he should not run for President again and soil any more blue dresses.

[traveler501]

re: "since the hundreds of thousands in South Carolina didn't exactly go the way the Clintons had hoped. "

You write as though these results were unexpected. Were you the only one who was surprised, or are you just piling on a little...with the rest of the media?

[LoloZ]

The Clintons haven't an ounce of humility. Their concession "speeches," not even a sentence in Hillary's case, show what cold, calculating people they are. One of the reasons it is so easy to embrace Obama is his genuine humanity, humility and candor. He is such a rare thing in politics, let's hope the rest of America sees what an opportunity we have here.
GO OBAMA!!!

[VictorLudorum]

dear Ariana ,i too personally feel Barak is giving americans a new impression .although there cannot be perceieved any concrete result from a Barak Oval towards Washingtons running issues like restructure-ing good relations with smaller countries involved militarily or the drug human trade environmental extremities because Washington needs a very strong leader and power roller in the region .......but at home the 'akhuat e awam' solidarity of the peoples it will help a lot.......­........Im still supporting Rudy because he fights crime and adjusts city economies fairly ,thats what i feel because the worlds no1 headache is 'city crime'....­..........­......

[returnofthejedi]

I can't understand how some people can look at what Barack Obama has done and not understand where he is coming from. This reluctance...I say cowardice to fight against injustice that is displyed by a lot of Americans is the biggest enabler of the grease balls like Bush-Chene­y-Rove-Gon­zo........­How did you like that snapshot of yourselves America. If your one that's willing to admit that these are the products of allowing White Christian Supremecy without ever looking in the mirror to see how it looks, welcome to the Housing Project we now call Earth

[jazzman]

Hillary's position would even be worse right now if the media narrative had been written just a little bit differently in NH. In NH, a mostly all white state, Hillary was supposed to trounce Obama by 16 points. The Clinton campaign and the media even deemed NH as Clinton country.

Obama came into the State a decisive underdog but he steadily, through inspiration, a top-notch organization, and doggedness started to chip away at that 16 point lead. In the last week, he went from 8 points down to a point or two behind on the Friday before the election. At that point, the hope of the Obama campaign was to get close. Then on Friday those wierd polls popped up saying that Obama was actually leading in the State by 8 points. This allowed the narrative to change from Clinton's eroding support and narrow escape to Clinton as the new come back kid.

In similar manner, Hillary's strategy was to chip into Obama's strong support in South Carolina. What actually happened was the opposite. In the end, Obama did much better than expected just like he did in NH. Change the narrative and you have a pattern of a slipping Hillary campaign throughout the country. I think she could be in real trouble.

[paulbk]

Nothing of soul-wrenching significance is done without inspiration first: quit smoking, lose weight, go to the moon. Inspiration is the difference between a great leader and a competent manager. Managers can be hired. Great leaders are a rare confluence of events and gift. My mind and gut say Barack Obama can be great “if we have the audacity to hope.”

The Clintons and their tactics are slimy. And it’s glairing to any person of good conscience. Neither Bill nor Hillary is capable of an authentic word. Whining victims of their own character flaws, continuous self-serving parsing of words, quote out of context attacks, and the end justifies *anything* are but a few reasons to say “no thanks” to Bill and Hillary.

fyi..
1) I am an Obama supporter.
2) I look for character and intelligence, then policy positions.
3) Under no circumstance will I vote for Hillary.
4) I have not voted Republican since Nixon 1968. (big mistake, I was naive)
5) I have never voted for a Clinton, Bill or Hillary.
6) I voted for Nader then Kerry last few times around.

paul kramarchyk (59)
Barkhamsted, Connecticut
vet: U.S. Navy 1968-74, nuclear submarines