Wednesday, January 09, 2008
A Political Junkie's Dream
Is this great or what?
Unless you're a Duncan Hunter supporter, this has been an incredible week in the Presidential campaign. Before the caucuses and primaries even started, we knew this would be a wide-open race, with no sitting president or vice-president in the running. But did anyone really expect this?
In the two big votes so far, we've have four different winners in the four Democratic and Republican races. And if you count the little-publicized Wyoming caucuses, you have five winners in five races. Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney have all had victories. (Romney's was in Wyoming, which no one seems to care about, even people in Wyoming.)
Of course, on the Democratic side, it's really a two person race. John Edwards has strong union support, but he'll be the first to drop out among the "big three." This race is all about Hillary and Barack. Earlier this week, it looked like Obama might wrap this up quickly, but then came the stunner in New Hampshire. It was absolutely fascinating to watch the political pundits try to figure out what was going on Tuesday night. The polls gave us no indication Hillary could win. And yet she did. It's why we love to watch sports and politics: you never know what may happen. Unless you're Mike Gravel. Then you know you're going to lose.
To the Republican side now, and this race is a big 'ol mess. I think four candidates still have a legitimate shot at the nomination. Obviously, Huckabee and McCain can win, but don't count out Romney and Rudy Guiliani just yet. Guiliani's campaign strategy is just another fascinating angle to all this: he almost completely ignored Iowa and ran TV ads but not much else in New Hampshire, choosing instead to focus on Florida and Super Tuesday, when giant states like New York and California go to the polls. If it works, it will be discussed in political science classes for decades.
If you love politics, like me, it doesn't get any better than this. Enjoy the ride. We may not see another Presidential race like this in our lifetimes.
Unless you're a Duncan Hunter supporter, this has been an incredible week in the Presidential campaign. Before the caucuses and primaries even started, we knew this would be a wide-open race, with no sitting president or vice-president in the running. But did anyone really expect this?
In the two big votes so far, we've have four different winners in the four Democratic and Republican races. And if you count the little-publicized Wyoming caucuses, you have five winners in five races. Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney have all had victories. (Romney's was in Wyoming, which no one seems to care about, even people in Wyoming.)
Of course, on the Democratic side, it's really a two person race. John Edwards has strong union support, but he'll be the first to drop out among the "big three." This race is all about Hillary and Barack. Earlier this week, it looked like Obama might wrap this up quickly, but then came the stunner in New Hampshire. It was absolutely fascinating to watch the political pundits try to figure out what was going on Tuesday night. The polls gave us no indication Hillary could win. And yet she did. It's why we love to watch sports and politics: you never know what may happen. Unless you're Mike Gravel. Then you know you're going to lose.
To the Republican side now, and this race is a big 'ol mess. I think four candidates still have a legitimate shot at the nomination. Obviously, Huckabee and McCain can win, but don't count out Romney and Rudy Guiliani just yet. Guiliani's campaign strategy is just another fascinating angle to all this: he almost completely ignored Iowa and ran TV ads but not much else in New Hampshire, choosing instead to focus on Florida and Super Tuesday, when giant states like New York and California go to the polls. If it works, it will be discussed in political science classes for decades.
If you love politics, like me, it doesn't get any better than this. Enjoy the ride. We may not see another Presidential race like this in our lifetimes.
Posted at 3:21 PM
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