Comparisons of Hillary Clinton to Margaret Thatcher

I was speaking to one of my Democrat friends a few weeks ago, and he was planning to support Hillary 100%. His belief is that America should join the civilize world by electing a woman as President, and voting for Hillary would accomplish that purpose. He even referenced Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of England, as a comparison point. Sadly, there are probably a lot of Democrats who feel this way. I felt like asking him, would you vote for Hillary if she was a man?

There is an important point with Thatcher that is sometimes forgotten. Thatcher was not elected Prime Minister because she was a woman. Instead, she was elected by parlament because she was the person most suited for the job, a strong leader. The fact that Thatcher was a woman was a secondary issue.

I am fully prepared to elect a woman as president if she is the best person for the job. I will always go to the polling booth looking to vote for a leader (regardless of gender), rather than a woman (regardless of leadership ability).

Incedently, I feel the same way about race, and it is interesting to note that a lot of Obama's supporters are not interested in his race, but instead in his message and leadership. That tels me something significant about Obama and his characters. Whereas Hillary would be elected as a "token woman", I do not in any way think Obama would in any way be a "token african-american," but instead a genuine leader who happens to be african-american.

In Tonight Election Flashover???

Firefighters have a term called flashover---it's the point where a fire explodes out of control.

In 2004, very early in the primary elections, John Kerry's campaign hit election flashover, picking up tremedous momentum, and Edwards, Clark, and Dean, never could bring get the Kerry campaign fire under control. Kerry won easily.

Tonight, John McCain and Barrack Obama may both have hit election flashover, as they each swept all 3 elections in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. Super Tuesday was a split decision for the democrats, and a solid but not overwelming win for McCain. Saturday went to Obama and a split decision for Republicans. Tonight may have been election flashover for both parties, and if so, I am glad.

Obama is the best of the Democratic candidates, and McCain the best of the remaining Republicans.

How will I vote next Tuesday?

Next Tuesday is Wisconsin's turn to vote, and I am faced with a serious question. How will I vote?

On the Republican side, John McCain is looking very strong. He is still the maverick who goes against the grain, as evidenced in his taking the very unpopular (but now proven right) stance of sending more troops to Iraq. He almost has the race wrapped up, and he is definately a candidate I would support, because while right now he says he is a conservative, he always has been and always will truely be a moderate.

On the Democratic side, I have a chance to vote AGAINST Hillary. Obama is a very charismatic politician, who might make a descent President. I think he is an ethical politician, and one who will keep his word. I don't agree with his position on Iraq, especially given that the surge McCain reccomending is yielding successful results, and some of his other policies are too liberal. I do like Obama's plan for immigration.

The Hillary issue is an interesting one. I will vote against Hillary every step of the way. Several of my republican friends are thinking about voting for her, believing that the ceiling on her support levels is so low that in the general election she would loose to the Republican candidate. I plan to write more on the Hillary issue and it's dynamics in a later article.

And then there were 5

Each party is now down to 5 potential nominees, and Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter have both dropped out of the race. It is a shame Fred never got his campaign going strong, but just like Wes Clark found out in 2004, if you wait too long before getting into the race, you are stuck playing catch-up and never really have much of a chance as a result.

In South Carolina, John Edward's home state, the current polls have him only at 15-17%, which means he is for all intensive purposes done. If he can't do well in his home state, he definately won't do well come super Tuesday. In my opinion, even if Edwards doesn't drop out after Tuesday's primary in SC, he'll become increasingly more irrelevant, which would seem to help Obama.

Obama looks posed to win SC, polling at 40-45%, so Super Tuesday will be a shootout between him and Billary. Hillary has so many negatives that Obama will easily get more of the Edwards voters than Hillary will.

For the Republicans, Florida is slipping out of Rudy Guliani's hands, with Romney and McCain surging. Huckabee is also polling well, however there is so much divergence between the different polls that there is no clear way to say who is leading in Florida, and we could be in for a complete surprise on Jan 29. Several polls have McCain winning, while several others have Romney winning. Some have Guliani coming in second, while others have him coming in as low as forth. I think all of the remaining Republicans will stay in the race until at least Super Tuesday.

Current delegate count--post Nevada

Here is the current delegate counts, according to Wikipedia/CNN, including Nevada and South Carolina (Republicans Only). It also includes delegates for Michigan, which may not be honored by the Republican Party.

Republicans:
Mit Romney--66
John McCain--38
Mike Huckabee--26
Fred Thompson--8
Ron Paul--6
Duncan Hunter--1
Rudy Guliani--1
Needed to win the nomination--1191

Democrats:
Barack Obama--38
Hillary Clinton--36
John Edwards--18
Needed to win the nomination--2025

Note these totals do not include any "Super-Delegates."

Current Delegate Count---Post Michigan

Here is the current delegate counts, according to Wikipedia/CNN, including Michigan.

Republicans:
Mike Huckabee--18
Mit Romney--36
Fred Thompson--6
John McCain--19
Ron Paul--2
Duncan Hunter--1
Needed to win the nomination--1191

Democrats:
Barack Obama--25
Hillary Clinton--24
John Edwards--18
Needed to win the nomination--2025

Note these totals do not include any "Super-Delegates."

Hillarys Tears Helped???!!

Yes, I mourned this for a whole week before writing about it. Hillary's tearing up in New Hampshire seems to actually have helped her.

Of course, I cannot stand Hillary and am disappointed to see her campaign rebounding. The good news is that we now have a tough primary fight between Obama and Clinton, and it will be exciting to watch it unfold. Hopefully, Obama will win.

On the Republican side, I am still waiting to see if Guiliani can get a victory in Florida, and if Fred Thompson can get a victory somewhere (anywhere will do right now). McCain, Romney, and Huckabee seem to all share frontrunner status, and the polls in Nevada, the next stop, show an extremely close race.

• John McCain 22%
• Rudy Giuliani 18%
• Mike Huckabee 16%
• Mitt Romney 15%
• Fred Thompson 11%
• Ron Paul 6%
• Duncan Hunter 1%

(Reno Gazette, Jan 11-13, +/- 4.5%)

The same poll has all 3 Democrats in a statistical dead heat.

Hillary Clinton Tears Up During Campaign Stop

Will Hillary's Tears Cost Her the Election

"I just don't want to see us fall backwards!!"

Hillary isn't running for part-time school superintendent, or student council President. Hillary is trying to get elected for the single most stressful elected office in our country, President of the United States. We need a President who is tough, not a president who tears up from the stress of campaigning (and lossing).

I think Hillary's tears show she is not ready to be our President, and I'm not alone. I have heard several newscasters make comments such as "the Hillary campaign deathwatch," so I;m not alone in this thought. I don't hide my feelings about Hillary at all, and would be very happy if Hillary's campaign fell apart.

Hillary Seems to Love to Cackle

I think she does this to try to seem spontaneous, but Hillary Clinton's cackles are quite honestly annoying.

Current Delegate Counts

Here is the current delegate counts, according to Wikipedia/CNN, including Wyoming.

Republicans:
Mike Huckabee--17
Mit Romney--20
Fred Thompson--6
John McCain--3
Ron Paul--2
Duncan Hunter--1
Needed to win the nomination--1191

Democrats:
Barack Obama--16
Hillary Clinton--15
John Edwards--14
Needed to win the nomination--2025

Note these totals do not include any "Super-Delegates."

Romney wins Wyoming

In case you missed it, (and judging by that fact that there are NFL playoff games on TV with more meaningful implications) you probably have missed it, Mitt Romney won decisively in Wyoming, beating Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, and Ron Paul and winning at least 8 (the results are not all in, so it could turn out to be 9) of Wyoming's 12 delegates. Duncan Hunter got 1 delegate, while Fred Thompson got the remaining 2.

Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Rudy Guliani didn't even bother campaigning in Wyoming, and Thompson put mearly a token effort into campaigning there, making Romney's win fairly meaningless.

Blogger Who Overheard Ed Rollins

I belive http://www.townhall.com/blog/g/13a3122e-dfd6-4d8a-81a3-bc8c6e11f550 is the original article filed by Amanda Carpenter, the blogger who overheard Ed Rollins in Iowa.

At a hole-in-the wall Des Moines eatery, Mike Huckabee’s campaign chairman loudly bashed their top rival presidential candidate Mitt Romney and made several predictions to two national television reporters.

I overheard Rollins’ conversation while dining in a restaurant called Winston’s located close to Huckabee’s Iowa headquarters and took notes on my computer. Below is a compilation of what I heard:

-He distinctly talked about going negative in South Carolina and told someone on the phone to “put some good in there if you have to, with the bad. Do what you gotta do.”

-Rollins let the f-bomb fly twice and told his blonde female dining companion a joke about flying the Confederate flag in the South Carolina state capitol.

-Rollins indicated several times their campaign was the victim of “dirty tricks” and that they were being unfairly outspent.

-Rollins also criticized another candidate as believing the Presidency was “their birthright.”

-Rollins made a phone call to Lou Dobbs and said he would ready to have drinks with him after Iowa to talk about Hillary. There also was a reference to Rollins’ recent comments about wanting to knock Romney’s teeth out, as Rollins told Dobbs “they are all porcelain.”

-Rollins also called Andrea Mitchell and predicted Obama would take Iowa tonight. He called Mitchell “sweetie” several times.

-Rollins believes Rudy Giuliani is “done,” “has no money,” and was “hurt terribly by those police cruises with his girlfriends.”

-Rollins called said Fred Thompson was “as disgrace as a candidate. Fred has been a friend a long time, but has never converted a single vote. No one is taking him
seriously.”

-Rollins indicated he feels good about Iowa and that “all the sales are made, the customers just have to show up.”-Rollins ate a tuna melt and carrot cake. His female companion picked “marbled rye” bread.

Interesting. So according to Ed Rollins, voters are just customers who need to be "sold" on Mike Huckabee. Hmmm.....

Ed Rollins (Mike Huckabee) Sore Winner speech---see the video for yourself

It's great to live in the 21st century. Check out the video of the Fox News interview with sore winner Ed Rollins, Chairman of the Mike Huckabee campaign. I encourage everyone to watch this for themselves.

Chris Dodd, Joe Biden drop out

The Democratic field has narrowed down to 5 candidates, 3 of which are legitimate contenders.

Chris Dodd and Joe Biden never really got enough momentum going in their campaign to be successful. I think in the overcrowded field of 16 plus candidates, neither really got a chance to get noticed.

There's not really much else to say on that.