Hillary Convention Speech: I Question the Timing
It's 10:13 Eastern time and Hillary Clinton hasn't spoken yet. Granting that large numbers of people live in other time zones, it strikes me as awfully odd that they saved the premier speech of the night for so late. Perhaps she insisted on a 3 a.m. speaking time?Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 26, 2008 22:18
Can Hillary Convince Supporters to Back Obama?
Hillary Clinton's speech is the big draw tonight at the Democratic Convention. She's going to have to convince a lot of people -- perhaps starting with herself -- to put aside their grudges and voter for Barack Obama to be the next president. Matt Yglesias echoes my longstanding view that this will happen organically and notes a recent parallel: As you may ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 26, 2008 17:59
McCain Recycles 3 A.M. Ad
We all knew this would happen sooner or later: John McCain is using Hillary Clinton's "3 a.m." spot against Barack Obama. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT CLINTON AD: It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone? ANNCR: Uncertainty. Dangerous aggression. Rogue nations. Radicalism. HILLARY CLINTON: I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 26, 2008 08:08
Race Still Tied After Biden Pick
CNN is breathlessly reporting that Barack Obama and John McCain are now tied and that the selection of Joe Biden as Obama's running mate has hurt the ticket. It’s a dead heat in the race for the White House. The first national poll conducted entirely after Barack Obama publicly named Joe Biden as his running mate suggests that battle for the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 25, 2008 07:22
Why Not Hillary?
The GOP has come up with a clever yet bizarre line of attack on Barack Obama: How dare he pass over Hillary Clinton for Joe Biden as his running mate? As WSJ's Amy Chozick reported last night, Team McCain debuted a new spot, "Passed Over," at 3 a.m.: The timing is a reference to Hillary Clinton’s national security ad during the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 24, 2008 08:32
VP Speculation Heats Up
All indications are that Barack Obama has made his choice for running mate and will announce it today. Through some combination of clever public manipulation to throw people off the scent and wishful thinking on the part of those with a stake in the outcome, the guesses as to who it'll be are all over the map. Obama's stated criteria: "I want ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 22, 2008 08:11
Clinton Supporters Want To Lose Again For Catharsis
Marc Ambinder dutifully reports that the ordinary kabuki theater of the Democratic convention will now include an extra layer of double-secret kabuki theater so Clinton supporters will feel better about themselves. Jeff Jarvis is right: journalists and their employers must end the farce now. The conventions now only exist to feed the fantasies of political reporters who dream of a “brokered ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 14, 2008 09:51
Arkansas Democratic Party Chair Murdered
Bill Gwatney, the chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, has been murdered. A man barged into the Arkansas Democratic headquarters and opened fire Wednesday, fatally shooting the state party chairman before speeding off in his pickup. Police later shot and killed the suspect after a 30-mile chase. Police said they don't know the motive for the 51-year-old suspect, whose name has ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 13, 2008 18:45
Obama - McCain Tied Among Independents
John McCain and Barack Obama are tied overall and, more crucially, tied among registered voters who call themselves Independents, a new Gallup poll finds. Gallup's Lydia Saad concludes, In terms of building a winning coalition this November, McCain and Obama each start with nearly universal support from their political bases in the Republican and Democratic Parties. Initial Republican concerns that McCain would ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 7, 2008 08:43
Apples, Oranges, and Vice Presidents
Nate Silver compares Mitt Romney's 2008 primary fundraising with that of George W. Bush in 2004 and concludes that Romney would be an asset, were he added to the Republican ticket as vice presidential nominee, in the Mormon Belt but a liability in the Deep South. The problem with this is at least twofold. First, people simply aren't as ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 28, 2008 06:23
