CNN & NY Times report Palin VP choice

[Tocqueville3]

And this is coming from a campaign that calls Obama "risky". OK...

McCain has forgotten one thing: Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton.

Again, thank the dear, sweet Lord in heaven above for that!

Sometimes, I think tocque is my female counterpart.

I can think of worse people to be the female counterpart to! We do share a lot of the same opinions.

[Weyoun]

In fact, I think it might be the best pick Senator McCain could have made.

The fact that you can say this with a straight face is a sad commentary on the political talent available to the Republican Party.

The two-year governor of Alaska, who never before had held any office higher than mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, is the best person the Republicans can find to be one heartbeat (or melanoma) away from being commander-in-chief? What does that say about the other possibilities? --Bob

My God, and what does this say about the Dems? They nominated a guy because he wrote two autobiographies.

[Bob78164]

In fact, I think it might be the best pick Senator McCain could have made.

The fact that you can say this with a straight face is a sad commentary on the political talent available to the Republican Party.

The two-year governor of Alaska, who never before had held any office higher than mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, is the best person the Republicans can find to be one heartbeat (or melanoma) away from being commander-in-chief? What does that say about the other possibilities? --Bob

My God, and what does this say about the Dems? They nominated a guy because he wrote two autobiographies.

No, we nominated a guy because he keeps making good decisions. From the big stuff to the little nuts-and-bolts things that no one except political junkies know or care about.

My God, what does it tell you that in his first national political campaign, he outorganized and outsmarted a candidate with tons of experience who was touting competence as her calling card? What does it tell you that he weathered the Reverend Wright storm, a controversy that would have killed a lesser candidate? And that he did so by meeting the issue head-on. What does it tell you that he set out to put together a drama-free campaign organization, and succeeded at that goal?

This man knows what he's doing. It's one thing to vote for McCain because you prefer where McCain would take the country. But if you share Obama's goals, I think the readiness issue is off the table. --Bob

[SportsFan68]

I think Christmas just came early for the Obama campaign.

Anybody still wanna challenge me on my "Obama/Biden by a landslide" call earlier?

But seriously, please tell me this is a joke. Somebody tell me that we're not having a discussion about Sarah Palin being the running mate.

You might wanna ask some Hillary supporters that question. If she is the nominee, it was a very savvy move on the part of McCain.

If I were you, I would quit fretting over Sarah Palin and start fretting over Joe Biden.

Here's from a Colorado blogger: Now, it is rather obvious that John McCain is making a rather naked attempt to go after Hillary Clinton supporters who are not quite all the way there toward supporting Barack Obama. But in doing so, he tragically misses the point. Folks weren’t supporting Hillary Clinton because she was a woman; instead, they were supporting her because she had a history of service to America that included fighting for causes important today, such as health care and education. To think Clinton supporters are some sort of knee-jerk supporters of anybody with double-x chromosomes is an insult to those individuals — and from the initial response to the selection, many are showing their disgust with such a poor decision by John McCain.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Here's from a Colorado blogger: Folks weren’t supporting Hillary Clinton because she was a woman; instead, they were supporting her because she had a history of service to America that included fighting for causes important today, such as health care and education. To think Clinton supporters are some sort of knee-jerk supporters of anybody with double-x chromosomes is an insult to those individuals — and from the initial response to the selection, many are showing their disgust with such a poor decision by John McCain.

I totally agree.

[Spock]

I think Christmas just came early for the Obama campaign.

Anybody still wanna challenge me on my "Obama/Biden by a landslide" call earlier?

But seriously, please tell me this is a joke. Somebody tell me that we're not having a discussion about Sarah Palin being the running mate.

You might wanna ask some Hillary supporters that question. If she is the nominee, it was a very savvy move on the part of McCain.

If I were you, I would quit fretting over Sarah Palin and start fretting over Joe Biden.

Here's from a Colorado blogger: Now, it is rather obvious that John McCain is making a rather naked attempt to go after Hillary Clinton supporters who are not quite all the way there toward supporting Barack Obama. But in doing so, he tragically misses the point. Folks weren’t supporting Hillary Clinton because she was a woman; instead, they were supporting her because she had a history of service to America that included fighting for causes important today, such as health care and education. To think Clinton supporters are some sort of knee-jerk supporters of anybody with double-x chromosomes is an insult to those individuals — and from the initial response to the selection, many are showing their disgust with such a poor decision by John McCain.

With all due respect-IMHO this is not a desperate attempt to grab Hilary supporters. Any realistic assessment of that situation points to them going to Obama in the end anyway.

This is a move that will energize and electrify the conservative base. It will motivate the grass roots.

Like my wife said-who had never heard of her-After her speech-she said-I wish she was running instead of McCain.

[Tocqueville3]

I think Christmas just came early for the Obama campaign.

Anybody still wanna challenge me on my "Obama/Biden by a landslide" call earlier?

But seriously, please tell me this is a joke. Somebody tell me that we're not having a discussion about Sarah Palin being the running mate.

You might wanna ask some Hillary supporters that question. If she is the nominee, it was a very savvy move on the part of McCain.

If I were you, I would quit fretting over Sarah Palin and start fretting over Joe Biden.

Here's from a Colorado blogger: Now, it is rather obvious that John McCain is making a rather naked attempt to go after Hillary Clinton supporters who are not quite all the way there toward supporting Barack Obama. But in doing so, he tragically misses the point. Folks weren’t supporting Hillary Clinton because she was a woman; instead, they were supporting her because she had a history of service to America that included fighting for causes important today, such as health care and education. To think Clinton supporters are some sort of knee-jerk supporters of anybody with double-x chromosomes is an insult to those individuals — and from the initial response to the selection, many are showing their disgust with such a poor decision by John McCain.

I hate to burst that bloggers bubble but there just might be some Hillary supporters that will vote for McCain because he chose a woman as his running mate. These are the same types of people that will vote for Obama because he's black or McCain cuz he's white. Or both cuz they're men. I'm not saying they're pulling the lever for the right reason but they're still gonna do it.

Honestly, I don't think McCain picked Palin cuz he wanted to lure Hillary supporters away from Obama. If he had wanted to do that he woulda picked a more moderate/liberal woman like Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins.

By picking Sarah Palin McCain dint want to try to woo Hillary voters he wanted to try to woo evangelical voters. I think it's gonna work, too.

To say that Palin is a poor choice is just wrong. Wrong. She's a really conservative woman that reaffirms that McCain isn't afraid of the conservative wing of Republican party. I wasn't really all that jazzed about McCain before today. I always intended to vote for him cuz I can't stand the thought of an Obama presidency and I am a realist that thinks that wasting a vote on a third party candidate is foolish. But now that he has shown that he can pick a really conservative Republican I am all ready to pull the lever for him.

[Spock]

You might wanna ask some Hillary supporters that question. If she is the nominee, it was a very savvy move on the part of McCain.

If I were you, I would quit fretting over Sarah Palin and start fretting over Joe Biden.

Here's from a Colorado blogger: Now, it is rather obvious that John McCain is making a rather naked attempt to go after Hillary Clinton supporters who are not quite all the way there toward supporting Barack Obama. But in doing so, he tragically misses the point. Folks weren’t supporting Hillary Clinton because she was a woman; instead, they were supporting her because she had a history of service to America that included fighting for causes important today, such as health care and education. To think Clinton supporters are some sort of knee-jerk supporters of anybody with double-x chromosomes is an insult to those individuals — and from the initial response to the selection, many are showing their disgust with such a poor decision by John McCain.

With all due respect-IMHO this is not a desperate attempt to grab Hilary supporters. Any realistic assessment of that situation points to them going to Obama in the end anyway.

This is a move that will energize and electrify the conservative base. It will motivate the grass roots.

Like my wife said-who had never heard of her-After her speech-she said-I wish she was running instead of McCain.

After further thought-I want to expand on this a little bit.

The analysis posted by SF and others points to Palin as a misguided attempt to grab Hilary supporters who liked her because she was a woman.

As I think about this-this might be an attempt to grab Hilary supporters-but not the feminist ones that this early analysis is pointing too-

Obama was very weak in the primaries among conservative blue-collar democrats in places like rural Ohio,, WV, and Pennsylvania. AKA-"Bitter clingers to God, Guns and Religion." Palin may play very well to that demographic.

I think the Palin choice might be geared toward peeling off some of those Hilary voters-in specific crucial counties in important states.

Don't forget that the beauty of the Bush campaigns-esp in 2004 was the county level strategic focus in places like Ohio.

[Tocqueville3]

You might wanna ask some Hillary supporters that question. If she is the nominee, it was a very savvy move on the part of McCain.

If I were you, I would quit fretting over Sarah Palin and start fretting over Joe Biden.

Here's from a Colorado blogger: Now, it is rather obvious that John McCain is making a rather naked attempt to go after Hillary Clinton supporters who are not quite all the way there toward supporting Barack Obama. But in doing so, he tragically misses the point. Folks weren’t supporting Hillary Clinton because she was a woman; instead, they were supporting her because she had a history of service to America that included fighting for causes important today, such as health care and education. To think Clinton supporters are some sort of knee-jerk supporters of anybody with double-x chromosomes is an insult to those individuals — and from the initial response to the selection, many are showing their disgust with such a poor decision by John McCain.

With all due respect-IMHO this is not a desperate attempt to grab Hilary supporters. Any realistic assessment of that situation points to them going to Obama in the end anyway.

This is a move that will energize and electrify the conservative base. It will motivate the grass roots.

Like my wife said-who had never heard of her-After her speech-she said-I wish she was running instead of McCain.

What Spock said.

[Buffacuse]

This was a very clever pick--he managed to maintain his image as a maverick AND placate the right all at the same time--not easy.

This pick was also made to provoke a reaction from the New York Times and Paul Begalas of the world--their vocal opposition and stinging quotes will be portrayed as anti-Christian, anti-woman, and used to raise millions of dollars. And, judging from Begala's reaction tonight--they are taking the bait.

[mellytu74]

Fairbanks isn't happy.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp ... 1003844472

[ToLiveIsToFly]

This is just pathetic. If anybody started spewing blatant racist rhetoric about Obama like the blatant sexist rhetoric I'm reading here about Palin, everybody would rightly be up in arms.

Maybe I'm missing the outrage and it's in other threads. I'll go check.

REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!

Add me to the list agreeing on this one.

[wbtravis007]

You might wanna ask some Hillary supporters that question. If she is the nominee, it was a very savvy move on the part of McCain.

If I were you, I would quit fretting over Sarah Palin and start fretting over Joe Biden.

Here's from a Colorado blogger: Now, it is rather obvious that John McCain is making a rather naked attempt to go after Hillary Clinton supporters who are not quite all the way there toward supporting Barack Obama. But in doing so, he tragically misses the point. Folks weren’t supporting Hillary Clinton because she was a woman; instead, they were supporting her because she had a history of service to America that included fighting for causes important today, such as health care and education. To think Clinton supporters are some sort of knee-jerk supporters of anybody with double-x chromosomes is an insult to those individuals — and from the initial response to the selection, many are showing their disgust with such a poor decision by John McCain.

With all due respect-IMHO this is not a desperate attempt to grab Hilary supporters. Any realistic assessment of that situation points to them going to Obama in the end anyway.

This is a move that will energize and electrify the conservative base. It will motivate the grass roots.

Like my wife said-who had never heard of her-After her speech-she said-I wish she was running instead of McCain.

Well, now I've seen her and heard her and can say with certainty that if she had sought any party's nomination for President she wouldn't have gotten very far.

Not so with Obama.

I think that a lot of people adopted the notion that Obama is an "empty suit" (or whatever) for a lot of different reasons. I think that many of those people have continued to assume that that's true, to the extent that they just quit paying attention to him -- not wanting to watch the Democrats' convention and what not.

I have seen a lot of those people dismiss people who have paid close attention to this and support Obama as "Kool-Aid drinkers" (or whatever).

Talk about arrogant! And insulting.

I wish that the people who fit that description would consider the possibility that those of us who have paid close attention and drawn a different conclusion about the man than they have are seeing something that they haven't seen, for whatever reason, and aren't just being hoodwinked.

I don't drink Kool-Aid. I just think that it would be good for the country to elect Obama President.

And, I think he's ready.

People are comparing those of us who have come to that conclusion to people who know little about Palin but would say that she's as ready to be President as Obama is, and saying there's no difference between us.

Talk about dumb!

You start thinking some people are kind of smart, and then see stuff like that.

I swannee.

[ne1410s]

I'm just happy that it seems we have four candidates who can speak a complete English sentence without mispronouncing a word or smirking.

[Tocqueville3]

This is just pathetic. If anybody started spewing blatant racist rhetoric about Obama like the blatant sexist rhetoric I'm reading here about Palin, everybody would rightly be up in arms.

Maybe I'm missing the outrage and it's in other threads. I'll go check.

REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!REC!

Add me to the list agreeing on this one.

I thought about voicing my disgust earlier but now that I've had my Friday night glass of chardonnay I feel like I can tell some of you (and you know who you are) that you were acting like horses asses today.

If I started talking about Obama's manhood size or his wife's big booty I would be crucified here. Most of you all would blast me off of this bored and yet you all take it upon yourselves to say Sarah Palin is a mother you'd like to f**k or that you wouldn't mind being under her or that she's been bent over a few times. How crude. How incredibly crude.

Somehow, though, I don't think that this will stop anytime soon. Dirty old men are usually stubborn old men.

[wbtravis007]

touq said:

If I started talking about Obama's manhood size or his wife's big booty I would be crucified here. Most of you all would blast me off of this bored and yet you all take it upon yourselves to say Sarah Palin is a mother you'd like to f**k or that you wouldn't mind being under her or that she's been bent over a few times. How crude. How incredibly crude.


Please notice that I wasn't a party to such crudeness.

Since you brought up the wookus size and what not, though, I'll add these comments:

1. The wookus rule works every time. This has been proven scientificly by the data and speculation.

2. Everybody knows who's going to win under that rule. Just because they aren't saying it doesn't mean that it's not obvious.

3. There's good reason to believe that Palin was chosen just so McCain could claim to be not in last place.

4. If McCain was really a guy who does things in an unexpected way -- a real maverick -- he'd have come out today and said:


"My Friends,

I undrstand the historical imperative of the Wookus Rule. You know it, I know it, the American people know it. [Insert Bob Dole joke here.]

Let's face it. I figured Hillary was going to win.

So, I forfeit."



He didn't do that. He wussied out.




Okay, touq. Now you can include me.

[Tocqueville3]

touq said:

If I started talking about Obama's manhood size or his wife's big booty I would be crucified here. Most of you all would blast me off of this bored and yet you all take it upon yourselves to say Sarah Palin is a mother you'd like to f**k or that you wouldn't mind being under her or that she's been bent over a few times. How crude. How incredibly crude.


Please notice that I wasn't a party to such crudeness.

Shocking, just shocking.

As for "wookus" size...I'm not even gonna attempt to go near that one.

[wbtravis007]

touq said:

If I started talking about Obama's manhood size or his wife's big booty I would be crucified here. Most of you all would blast me off of this bored and yet you all take it upon yourselves to say Sarah Palin is a mother you'd like to f**k or that you wouldn't mind being under her or that she's been bent over a few times. How crude. How incredibly crude.


Please notice that I wasn't a party to such crudeness.

Shocking, just shocking.

As for "wookus" size...I'm not even gonna attempt to go near that one.

ICM!

I've noticed that you're a lot funnier than you used to be.

I hope you won't take that the wrong way. I'm really glad you're back.

[Weyoun]

No, we nominated a guy because he keeps making good decisions. From the big stuff to the little nuts-and-bolts things that no one except political junkies know or care about.

What decisions? No, really.

My God, what does it tell you that in his first national political campaign, he outorganized and outsmarted a candidate with tons of experience who was touting competence as her calling card? What does it tell you that he weathered the Reverend Wright storm, a controversy that would have killed a lesser candidate? And that he did so by meeting the issue head-on. What does it tell you that he set out to put together a drama-free campaign organization, and succeeded at that goal?

Who says he has weathered Reverend Wright? The issue broke after he had virtually secured the nomination.

What does it say about his pristine judgment that he would even be in that position in the first place? (Religion has little substantive place in American politics, so it was a great surprise to find that Wright is a bit of a nut, and that Obama had little concern with using Wright).

Obama built his campaign on the Dean model - he went for the fanatics in the Democratic party, winning caucuses, not primaries, and winning little states, not big states. While it was a clever strategy, I don't think it translates into winning a general election, which makes him worth about as much as Mondale.

This man knows what he's doing. It's one thing to vote for McCain because you prefer where McCain would take the country. But if you share Obama's goals, I think the readiness issue is off the table. --Bob

I don't consider running a presidential campaign anywhere equivalent to running a country.

[Weyoun]

I think Christmas just came early for the Obama campaign.

Anybody still wanna challenge me on my "Obama/Biden by a landslide" call earlier?

But seriously, please tell me this is a joke. Somebody tell me that we're not having a discussion about Sarah Palin being the running mate.

You might wanna ask some Hillary supporters that question. If she is the nominee, it was a very savvy move on the part of McCain.

If I were you, I would quit fretting over Sarah Palin and start fretting over Joe Biden.

Here's from a Colorado blogger: Now, it is rather obvious that John McCain is making a rather naked attempt to go after Hillary Clinton supporters who are not quite all the way there toward supporting Barack Obama. But in doing so, he tragically misses the point. Folks weren’t supporting Hillary Clinton because she was a woman; instead, they were supporting her because she had a history of service to America that included fighting for causes important today, such as health care and education. To think Clinton supporters are some sort of knee-jerk supporters of anybody with double-x chromosomes is an insult to those individuals — and from the initial response to the selection, many are showing their disgust with such a poor decision by John McCain.

All he needs is a small % of that group of voters, and it works. Though, frankly, I think that the author assumes that if you have a double-x chromosone, you somehow become a knee-jerk liberal.

[Dawn Clark Netsch]

I thought about voicing my disgust earlier but now that I've had my Friday night glass of chardonnay I feel like I can tell some of you (and you know who you are) that you were acting like horses asses today.

If I started talking about Obama's manhood size or his wife's big booty I would be crucified here. Most of you all would blast me off of this bored and yet you all take it upon yourselves to say Sarah Palin is a mother you'd like to f**k or that you wouldn't mind being under her or that she's been bent over a few times. How crude. How incredibly crude.

Somehow, though, I don't think that this will stop anytime soon. Dirty old men are usually stubborn old men.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the Bored for that crude comment I made towards Gov. Palin earlier in this thread. As a fellow pioneer for the female gender in the political world having once ran for governor myself, it was truly stupid for me to make a sexist, male-oriented joke that does nothing but continue the degrading stereotype of women, and especially women in office, as being nothing but sluts and whores. I assure you, I never had sex of any kind with anyone while I served as the Comptroller of the great state of Illinois, and believe me, I tried. I should therefore, without any other knowledge, assume that Gov. Palin has been just as chaste and pure as I have been. I fully support Gov. Palin as the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States, even if she isn't a pool shark nor does she hang out in biker bars (Though that shot of her with those vikings is pretty cool). I look forward to the day that a woman will be sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office, and not kneeling under it....


Sincerely,

Dawn Clark Netsch

[silverscreenselect]

My God, what does it tell you that in his first national political campaign, he outorganized and outsmarted a candidate with tons of experience who was touting competence as her calling card? What does it tell you that he weathered the Reverend Wright storm, a controversy that would have killed a lesser candidate? And that he did so by meeting the issue head-on. What does it tell you that he set out to put together a drama-free campaign organization, and succeeded at that goal?

Obama won the campaign because Hillary ran an exceedingly bad campaign, ignoring the caucuses, in which she might have been competitive and certainly not lost by 2-1 margins (look at the results in the SD primary, when she was running a smarter campaign) and essentially assuming she would knock Obama out on Super Tuesday so she had no plan for the next month.

Beyond that, every time Hillary did something effective, Obama would cry either racism or "Rovian" politics and the press would pick it up and she backed off because she knows she has to stay in the Democratic party to be an effective politician in the future. Her campaign wasn't racist, and the tries to brand it as that were downright silly (a "fairy tale" about Obama's stance on the war becomes a racist slur by Bill Clinton).

Plus, he had the national media fawning over his every word and proclaiming his race speech the greatest thing since "I have a dream." The press didn't follow up on how he cavalierly threw Wright under the bus a month later when the pressure got too hot (any more than they followed up on any of his outrageous lies about his relationship with people like Ayers and Rezko). He "handled" Wright (who will be back in the fall, as will Ayers, Rezko and possibly other surprises) because the press was willing to give him a pass the second they could.

McCain and the Republicans have so such scruples about playing by Obama's "rules" of what is fair. So when they tried to make an issue about McCain "racism," (Obama + Britney + Paris = sex crazed black man lusting after white women), McCain rightly called him out for that and evened up the race (plus made it a lot easier to run some truly repulsive ads in the fall if he or the 527s backing him want). Plus, everyone votes in a general election which is carefully monitored by state election officials, not just a group of fanatic backers who crowd into a caucus hall for a couple of hours and intimidate supporters of other candidates.

Next week, you'll see the Republicans really begin to cut Obama down to size.

[wintergreen48]

My God, what does it tell you that in his first national political campaign, he outorganized and outsmarted a candidate with tons of experience who was touting competence as her calling card? What does it tell you that he weathered the Reverend Wright storm, a controversy that would have killed a lesser candidate? And that he did so by meeting the issue head-on. What does it tell you that he set out to put together a drama-free campaign organization, and succeeded at that goal?

Obama won the campaign because Hillary ran an exceedingly bad campaign, ignoring the caucuses, in which she might have been competitive and certainly not lost by 2-1 margins (look at the results in the SD primary, when she was running a smarter campaign) and essentially assuming she would knock Obama out on Super Tuesday so she had no plan for the next month.

Beyond that, every time Hillary did something effective, Obama would cry either racism or "Rovian" politics and the press would pick it up and she backed off because she knows she has to stay in the Democratic party to be an effective politician in the future. Her campaign wasn't racist, and the tries to brand it as that were downright silly (a "fairy tale" about Obama's stance on the war becomes a racist slur by Bill Clinton).

Plus, he had the national media fawning over his every word and proclaiming his race speech the greatest thing since "I have a dream." The press didn't follow up on how he cavalierly threw Wright under the bus a month later when the pressure got too hot (any more than they followed up on any of his outrageous lies about his relationship with people like Ayers and Rezko). He "handled" Wright (who will be back in the fall, as will Ayers, Rezko and possibly other surprises) because the press was willing to give him a pass the second they could.

McCain and the Republicans have so such scruples about playing by Obama's "rules" of what is fair. So when they tried to make an issue about McCain "racism," (Obama + Britney + Paris = sex crazed black man lusting after white women), McCain rightly called him out for that and evened up the race (plus made it a lot easier to run some truly repulsive ads in the fall if he or the 527s backing him want). Plus, everyone votes in a general election which is carefully monitored by state election officials, not just a group of fanatic backers who crowd into a caucus hall for a couple of hours and intimidate supporters of other candidates.

Next week, you'll see the Republicans really begin to cut Obama down to size.

I rarely agree with SSS about anything, but I think that he is spot on here. Of course, the comment/acknowledgment about Hillary's mismanagement of her campaign does somewhat beg the issue, and points out a fundamental weakness about her: she does seem to have a very strong sense of 'entitlement,' and a sense that she is always right and no one could/should ever disagree with her, and that, well, hubris gets her in trouble. She pretty much assumed that the nomination was hers for the asking, and was completely blindsided when someone (Obama) came up and seriously challenged her for it; she may have expected to have to work for the general election, but she took it absolutely for granted that she had the party nomination in the bag (just as she had the party's nomination-- and the general election-- in the bag for her Senate seat-- she thought she deserved it, and, well, that was that).

Same thing happened with the health plan 15 years ago: regardless of the merits of what she proposed, the delivery was handled with a 'Hillary Knows Best' approach, which ticked off too many people whose support she needed.

The big thing that a President needs to do is be an executive, to have and to deliver effectively an overall vision for what needs to be done and then get the right pieces in place to get things running. Regardless of what one thinks of Bill Clinton's politics, or his personal behavior, he does have those skills, and he used them effectively. Hillary does not have that, and it ruined her shot.

Obama won the nomination in large part because he did get (and continues to get) the fawning press that Hillary used to get (and that McCain gets when he runs against Republicans or anyone perceived to be more conservative than he is, but which he will not get when he is up against someone perceived to be to his left), but also, Obama actually had an organizational plan/vision (do the backroom stuff to win all the caucuses and the small states, and don't worry too much about the rest) and the organizational skills to carry it out. Whether or not he has the skills to accomplish more meaningful goals (i.e., national stuff as opposed to stuff that benefits him personally) remains to be seen.

[silverscreenselect]

Obama won the nomination in large part because he did get (and continues to get) the fawning press that Hillary used to get (and that McCain gets when he runs against Republicans or anyone perceived to be more conservative than he is, but which he will not get when he is up against someone perceived to be to his left), but also, Obama actually had an organizational plan/vision (do the backroom stuff to win all the caucuses and the small states, and don't worry too much about the rest) and the organizational skills to carry it out. Whether or not he has the skills to accomplish more meaningful goals (i.e., national stuff as opposed to stuff that benefits him personally) remains to be seen.

After the McGovern debacle in 1972, the Democrats changed their nominating procedures for 1976 replacing many of the closed delegate selections with caucuses and primaries. The one candidate who fully appreciated the significance of these changes was Jimmy Carter, who had a big volunteer organizing effort in the early states. As a result, he got early momentum and built up too big a lead to overcome in the later states.

Needless to say, the organizational skills and strategic savvy that Carter and company showed in the nominating process did not extend to the general election (he lost a 30 point lead and only held on to win because of the last gasp of the Democratic South and a major Ford gaffe during the Presidential debate) or to his administration.

[Bob78164]

In fact, I think [Palin] might be the best pick Senator McCain could have made.

I'm wondering, Cal, whether you still stand by this statement. --Bob