Primary

I have said it once and I am going to say it again : The people a candidate attracts matters. It matters if a candidate is willing to look the other way at their supporters' willingness to pick up the slack and run the dirty politics for them. And such is the vibe that I have gotten from the Clintons' supporters way before Hillary announced her candidacy. They want the dynasty. They want the twofer. By all means necessary.

So it's no wonder there's this coming from the Clinton side of the political aisle :

"That's when I caught on," said Coghlan. He realized then that he was being push-polled. That malicious political virus that is designed not to elicit answers but to spread positive information about one candidate and negative information about all others under the guise of an honest poll had arrived in Southern California within days of the important election.

It could become an issue in the closing hours of the campaign.

Someone who obviously favors Hillary Clinton is paying an unidentified company to spread this material phone call by phone call among independent voters, who can, according to California party rules, opt to vote in the Democratic but not the Republican primary on Feb. 5, when nearly two dozen states will choose a large chunk of the delegates to t

This is the concession speech that never was. You can find the full text of the speech after the jump.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no
matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can withstand the
power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will
only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We've been
asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against
offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been
anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible
odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't
try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a
simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

I find it incredibly ironic that since the loss of 2004, certain parts of the liberal blogosphere have complained forcefully about how the 'women studies' groups and "those whinny colored people" are destroying the Democratic Party and yet, here we are, almost a general election later and guess what? The emotional baby-eating feminazis and those colored folks who don't STFU are indeed destroying the Democratic Party we've grown to love and loathe.

I don't know if to to laugh or cry a little.

Oh, who am I kidding : Of course I am going to laugh!

Sure, when I started writing this article, I started out of the anger I felt after reading Gloria Steinem's now infamous "Hos Before Bros" editorial. After all, the mother of the modern feminist movement basically says white women are entitled to have their day in the White House before a black man.

Yet the anger turned into more of an outraged amusement. A lot of people around me are absolutely astounded at the transparent viciousness of the Clintons and company. Yet there's those who are kind of sitting back saying, "We were right all along".

Everything in this country, no matter how you cut it, ends up being about race. There is no denying it. There is no escaping it.

To walk away from a discussion about Race is to walk away from the possibility of understanding better the madness that produces Influence, Power and Wealth in this country. To walk away from Race is to walk away from understanding the craziness that produces this set of rules, preferences and practices we call American 'culture'.

The craziness that, for example, makes it possible for white women to compare sexism to racism.

Ahhh ... hmmmmm ... no.

Violet Socks over at Reclusive Leftist has written one hell of a take on the New Hampshire Primary title, The Secret Ballot :

“Obama,” she said to the leaflet people as she and her husband arrived to cast their votes in the primary. “We’re voting for Obama.”

Inside the booth she closed the curtain behind her. The ballot was the AccuVote kind, with a blank oval next to each candidate’s name. She looked at the list.

I HEREBY DECLARE MY PREFERENCE FOR CANDIDATE FOR THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO BE AS FOLLOWS:

Read the whole thing NOW!

I believe that Hillary Clinton won for 4 very important reasons :

1. The campaign was able to get as many registered Democrats to vote for her as possible.

2. Since most registered Democrats who came to vote were women, the "tear heard around the world" was successful in getting her the last minute sympathy vote from people who ...

3. would have otherwise voted for John Edwards.

I think it is clear that for Hillary Clinton to stay in the race she needs to beat John Edwards, not Barack Obama. Edwards ran a remarkable game in Iowa. Had he had as much money as Clinton, he probably would have beaten her by more than just 1%. I am not sure though that under the voting trends of Iowa, he would have been able to beat Barack Obama.

4. The Obama campaign has insisted in equating their "I am not a black candidate" campaign with a complete disregard for the colored blogosphere. Yesterday was the day that it showed how much that has cost them.

So let's look at the numbers, courtesy of MSNBC.com :

NBC calls the primary for Hillary Clinton.

John McCain takes it from the Republicans.

My feeling? I think it is interesting how her campaign has told the media how they are running out of money. Well .... I think they positioned that as an opportunity to milk it no matter. If they lost, the 527 would have to throw money by way of ads. If she won, she then would get a deluge of contributions. I so want to see their fundraising numbers in the next 3 days.

But, deep down inside? I think it is just going to get really ugly.

Image taken from Racialicious

Big and little media went nutso yesterday after Hillary pulled a Bill Clinton and chocked a little during an early event.

Then some allegedly random guys appear this morning on an event and scream at the Senator to 'iron their shirts'. You know, because that's what all women should do.

Then Gloria Steinem, to kind of feed into 'this is a sexist world and she's fucked' kind of narrative, goes on and write an incredibly offensive endorsement of the Senator. In "Women Are Never Front-Runners", she makes the "hos before bros" counter-argument.

And now comes word that Emily's List and ASFCME had to deny they were getting together with other 527s to create an "Anybody but Obama" ad blitz.

As of 8:36pm, the time I writing this post, less than 15% of the ballots have been tallied. Clinton is ahead of Obama by 4 points. McCain, on the other hand, is ahead of Romney by 11 points.

ABC News is reporting a huge turnout. The elections commissioner expects 90,000 undeclared voters in the Democratic Party's primary, compared to 60,000 for the Republican.

My thoughts?

At first blush it looks like Hillary's crying paid off after all. It's funny, but I thought of it not as a Hillary moment but as a Bill Clinton moment.

Anyhow, no matter what happens today, I still will endorse ...

Brave New Films is hosting a live primary coverage over at their Elections 2008 livestream site. I will be on at 10PM sharing my punditry with the world and Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks show on Air America.

The show starts at 7PM and will start lining up bloggers by 7:10PM. Here's the schedule :

7:10: Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films
7:40: Matthew Yglesias, The Atlantic
7:50: Robin Abcarian, L.A. Times
8:00: Billy Wimsatt, League of Young Voters
8:10: Rachel Sklar, The Huffington Post
8:20: Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake
8:30: Jim Dean, Democracy For America
8:40: Steve Clemons, The Note
9:00: Lane Hudson, News for the Left
9:10: Isaiah Poole, Campaign for America's Future
9:40: James Rucker, Color of Change
10:00: Liza Sabater, Culture Kitchen
10:10: Eric Boehlert, Media Matters