West Virginia democratic primary contest May 13th: Results thread

Oh - not in regards to WV specifically. I think Obama would be a huge longshot to win there. But overall nationally, I think its simply overrated in Clinton's argument of why she's the better candidate. I think they each appeal to a different segment of people. But in the grand scheme of a general election, the vast majority of Dems will vote Obama, the vast majority of Republicans will vote McCain. The independents are in play, and each of the demographics that don't play to Obama/McCain within their own parties are in play.

I do think Clinton would probably fare better with working class voters in areas like Penn and Ohio. But then he would probably do better with them in areas like Colorado and Virginia. My thing is that you have to look at the whole of their appeal - you can't look at one group of voters and say that since he's not doing well with them, it's a problem.

 

No, he's rooting that you guys keep replying to his worthless banter.

 

Right, because the ballot reads:

1. Baraka Dukaka
2. Mane, you are racist for even looking at the other choice!

 

Would you be saying that if Condoleeza Rice or Collin Powell was McCain's Veep candidate?

 

Agreed. And I have a hard time accepting that after a focussed campaign with Hillary supporting an Obama presidency the potential that she might have done better with certain demographics means he won't fair well in a General.

 

Hint to AdmrPhilly76

Sometimes an asinine statement is only meant to point out another asinine statement.

 

Fixed.

 

Let's take a look at how McCain preformed yesterday.

McCain Endures Another Lousy Night At The Polls

With all the attention being paid to the last, divisive throes of the Democratic primary process, there hasn't been much word on how John McCain is doing now that he's earned a little mileage as the official nominee of the Republican party. As it turns out, not very well!

Since the Pennsylvania primary, McCain has consistently left about 25% of the primary vote on the table, ceding large chunks of support to people like Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul. Two of those gentlemen have made it pretty clear that they are no longer running for office - in fact, the same two (Romney and Huck, if you don't know already) have explicitly backed the McCain candidacy - yet voters continue to go to the polls to cast votes for McCain's competition, both real and imagined.

McCain's struggles have not escaped the attention of the DNC, and while one can hardly expect them to go out of their way to emphasize McCain's positives, the DNC notes several areas in which McCain's struggles run against precedent:

McCain is underperforming with Republican voters across the board: The Washington Times notes that McCain hasn't managed to capture more than 45% of the Republican primary vote. By comparison, in 2000, George W. Bush managed to pull 62% of all primary voters.

McCain's not benefitting from home cooking: Arizona has thus far offered McCain tepid support, ponying up only 47% of the vote in the state's February 5 primary. One would think that two decades of representation would earn a guy a bit more enthusiasm.

McCain campaign has chronic money problems: Since when does the GOP candidate come off looking like a pauper? A month after McCain earned his party's nomination, he only managed to pull in $15.4 million. The L.A. Times notes, "By comparison, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts raised almost three times that much in the month after helocked up the Democratic nomination four years ago." And in this month's Atlantic, Joshua Green notes that McCain's "small donor base is virtually non-existent."

Persistent and emerging alternatives continue to threaten the McCain brand: Look, it's easy to make fun of the blimp-piloting, gated-community building true believers that back Ron Paul. But once you notice that you've been poking at them for the better part of a year, the time comes to pay them a little mind. Last night's 5% haul out of West Virginia has been one of Ron Paul's worse nights. But recently, Paul grabbed 7% of the vote in North Carolina, 8% in Indiana, and an astonishing 16% in Pennsylvania. What Paul's support lacks in consistence is made up for by its persistence, and sooner or later, McCain's going to have to start looking at this as a sunk cost. Worse for McCain is the emergence of Bob Barr as the Libertarian candidate for president. Barr has solid GOP bona fides, evangelical appeal, and he gives conservatives who don't back Bush on the Iraq war, executive power, and civil liberties a place to hang their hat. And if Barr puts Georgia in play, that's real bad news for McCain.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/14/mccain-endures-another-lo_n_101707.html