First Votes of New Hampshire Counted

At Midnight the small town of Dixville Notch, total of 17 voters, cast their ballots at Midnight in New Hampshire. There were 12 Independents, 3 GOP, 2 Dems. Fox notes that they do not have a particularly good record at predicting the results of the state– should I be hoping that McCain is leading? I think not. (Looking at the ballot counting, I assume the blue ballots are Dems and the Pink are GOP.  They look fairly split.) Here they are:

GOP:

1. McCain 4 votes
2. Romney 2 votes
3. Giuliani 1 vote

Dems:

1. Obama 7 votes
2. Edwards 2 votes
3. Richardson 1 vote

Note that Hillary got no votes, OUCH!

Thank goodness for Mitt that this is not usually a good indicator.  Whew!  VOTE FOR MITT NEW HAMPSHIRE

Should Iowa really have this much control?

Perhaps the real question is do they really have any at all?

Reading the coverage today I was reminded of one of the posters hanging on our wall at work. You know the kind, where they are supposed to have some sort of trite phrase that affects the employee’s morale and motivation? Anyway, you can see the particular poster I’m reminded of here.

Yes, none of are indeed as dumb as all of us, CNN tells us this is true. I will applaud the subtlety.

Looking at that page without understanding the English language you’d be forced to see the pictures only. Which candidates seem to have the most appeal for CNN? What would you say about their personality, or suitability as a candidate based on photo alone? It would appear that according their coverage that Rudy, Hillary and Barack are the only viable candidates. Then interestingly enough compare the adjectives in the descriptions of each candidate. Look at the difference between the Edwards and McCain excerpts. Both of whom were unsuccessful in their seeking of the presidential nominations. Interesting.

The real question becomes, do small things like adjectives, photos and the like have so large an effect on us as individual thinkers? The answer is surprisingly, no. The problem is that those little things have a tremendous effect on people as a whole. In an election nobody wants to back the loser, so often times they pick the person who has the highest likelihood of winning. Not the best person for the job. That is what is alarming to me in this presidential race. There are only three people (or so) that I will be able to vote for, in no particular order: Barack, Mitt, Mike (Bloomberg). I’m half joking about Bloomberg, but if it’s a choice between Hillary and Rudy, I will either abstain or be voting some independent third party (if any real ones emerge).

My prediction will be that harnessing the power of Chuck Norris, Mitt will edge Huck by a few points with McCain a distant third, Ron Paul a close fourth.

Let’s hope the all of us are not dumb enough as some of us that buy into the garbage that Huck is presenting during the race.

~RationalZen  – part-time contributer, full-time thinker.

Go Seahawks!

OPEN THREAD: What is your ideal ticket for 2008?

This is your chance to share what your ideal GOP and/or Democratic ticket would be.  In a couple of days I will post the which candidates and veeps received the most votes.  Comment away!

Hillary’s an Idiot

Last Friday while speaking to the Congressional Black Caucus, Hillary said that if she became President she would mandate that all babies born in America would be given $5,000 to start an education savings account.  She gave no explanation as to how this would be implemented, how this would be paid for, or how to ensure the money actual went to the child’s education.  She’s an idiot or must think that we are all stupid (probably the latter).

While these questions certainly need to be answered, they are not the crux of the problem.  The problem is greater than one specific idea or program like this, but what this is indicative of is Hillary’s natural pull towards greater government involvement in our lives.  In this campaign cycle and even in much of her voting in the Senate over the last 8 years, Hillary has been trying to come across as a moderate.  Many people have bought it, while many are still doubtful as they remember her years in the Whitehouse.  This education plan confirms the skepticism that many have had.  Hillary has not changed at all.  She still has her socialistic ideals as strong as ever.  This would not bother me as much if she was just up front about it.  People are free to believe what they will.  However, we (and her especially) well know that socialists don’t win elections in America.  So she continues to attempt to look moderate, when in all actuality she is far from it.  This is a wise strategy on her part to try to win, especially because she is so divisive.  However, she revealed her hand too much on Friday night and exposed herself.  Sadly, most people won’t even notice and the media will act like it never happened or will applaude her for her forward thinking and generous ideas. 

Sizing up the Democrat Race: It’s Already Over

Well, we are now well into September and the political races are heating up…or so we should think.  However, on the Democratic side of the house it appears to me that things are at a low simmer.  Over the Summer, the race was brought to a boil and now the cook has turned down the heat.  Strange thing for this to happen when no one has even voted yet and certainly many people would completely disagree with this assessment; especially Edwards, Obama, and Richardson.  But ultimately, Hillary has already won the nomination.  While Barack Obama is still extremely exciting and popular and has the backing of a strong group of individuals, his hayday was July and August.  He has faded and will continue to.

You see, the Democratic race (and one may be able to argue the GOP at a lesser level) is dying because voters feel that Hillary is unavoidable candidate to represent their party in the General.  As a result, people are going to be less inclined to support the other candidates.  It seems to me that Obama has some extremely strong backing, perhaps the strongest in the entire race for both parties, however more and more big names are turning to Hillary.  I believe that most of those Hillary supporters, or at least the recent converts, like Obama more and believe that he would be a better president.  There are probably a lot of voters that feel the same way.  But because people want to back the eventual winner, most of those endorsements and votes will ultimately go to Clinton; despite the fact that if they all voted for whom they actually liked best, Obama would win.  

The only state that is remotely competitive right now is Iowa.  There is a solid race and if the winner is anyone but Hillary, that candidate may have a small chance to really use that as momentum.  But most likely, there will not be a quick enough turn over and bumb before New Hampshire, where Hillary currently leads by 20.  Once Hillary wins New Hampshire, the ball will be in her court and the nomination will be hers.  So here is my prediction, you already know that I am picking Hillary for the nomination, but I will predict that she will win 48 states.  She will lose Illinois and New Mexico, and New Mexico is just a shot in the dark, I think the ever popular Richardson can pull that out.  This prediction of course is assuming that both Obama and Richardson are still in the race come Feb. 5th.  If one or both drops out before then, that respective state will go to Hillary.  It is well within the realm of possibility that Clinton could win all 50 states and DC. 

 What this does for Clinton is it allows her to save her money for the general election, where she already has a much larger war chest than any GOPer.  She can do a minimum of campaigning now, for she is the most well known of the candidates and she has the media to give her free positive advertising.  If I were Obama, I would quickly realize that the race is all but over and hold off until 2012 or 2016.  If he plays his cards right he will be a perfect Dem candidate.  He is still young enough for the wait to not matter too much. 

This win by Hillary in such a manner ultimately establishes her as the de facto incumbent candidate.  With this status, the money, and the fact that the GOP are eating themselves alive in an extremely close race, Hillary not only holds the advantage in the primary, but also in the general.  Much to my chagrin.