It's a tad telling that McCain supporter and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) is absolutely beside himself when it comes to helping seat his state's Democratic delegates. Of course Gov. Crist, who has been mentioned in the press as a possible vice presidential choice for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), would rather see Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) as the Democratic nominee. He's no dummy.
Appearing on This Week Sunday morning, Crist said, "The Democratic National Committee should come to the common-sense conclusion that the right thing to do is to honor that vote, recognize that vote, and seat those delegates." I wasn't aware that we'd given Republican governors (who support Republican candidates in the general election) a voice in the Democratic Party's nomination process. My, aren't we inclusive?
Even Rush Limbaugh got into the action last week, asking his listeners to vote for Hillary Clinton to hurt Barack Obama. It worked in Texas, where over 600,000 self-identified conservatives voted in the Democratic primary. They were Clinton's strongest ideological group, and she carried them by 10 points. David Weigel makes a strong case over at Reason magazine that Rush may have delivered Texas to Hillary.
So: Hillary has expanded her base from older white women to older white women and Republicans planning to vote for McCain in November. Now that's a winning coalition!
From The Hill's Pundit Blog.
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The link to the Weigel/Reason article is valuable.
There has been much fear expressed of the Superdelegates, but perhaps the Republican sabotage vote is something the Sup'degs were designed for. I am thinking they will take into consideration that the Party doesn't want a nominee chosen by the Rush Limbaugh!
In a head-to-head matchup, Obama beats McCain by 22 Electoral College votes, while Clinton beats McCain by 14 votes.
However, what is more striking about the results, should they pan out through the General Election, is that there is little evidence to support HRC's contention that to win the Presidency, the nominee also needs to win in the 'big states'.
Specifically, of the 13 States where HRC has thus far beaten Obama in the race for the Democratic Nomination, there would be an overlap of only 2 States, in her contest against McCain. HRC would win only Arkansas and New Jersey.
Of the remaining 11 States, 5 would be won by either Obama or Clinton: California, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York and Ohio ("as goes Ohio, so goes the Nation�").
Of the remaining 6 States, 4 would be lost irrespective of Obama or Clinton being the nominee: Arizona, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
Of the remaining 2 States, Obama would actually fair better by beating McCain, whereas Clinton would have lost: Nevada and New Hampshire.
So much for the 'big state' argument, not to mention the 'dream ticket' idea - HRC would be a handicap.
You can see the results for yourself at SurveyUSA.com
Clinton winning the republican vote in Mississippi 7-2 in poll.
which was 7 percent of the voters in the poll.