2008 Woodie Awards
Obama's VP choice
Darren Staley, Staff Writer
Issue date: 7/14/08Section: Editorials and Opinion
The Democratic primary is over, but what a long, strange trip it's been. Even though Barack Obama mathematically sealed the deal months ago, Hillary Clinton made good on her promise to see it through until the last vote was cast. So what happens now?
In most cases, the party would rally behind the nominee and move forward, but this is not most cases. According to exit polls, many Clinton voters said that they would either not vote or vote for the Republican nominee, John McCain, if Obama was the nominee or if Obama did not at the very least put Clinton on the ticket as Vice President.
Unfortunately, Clinton's action may have made the latter scenario impossible. A primary campaign is always brutal, but Clinton went out of her way to paint Obama as inexperienced and unready for the presidency, going so far as to say that even McCain may be better.
This culminated with Clinton refusing to concede after the final primaries in South Dakota and Montana, and threatening to dispute the votes in Michigan and Florida, two potential swing states in November.
Most of the fuss has centered on female Clinton supporters who claimed her loss on misogyny. While this may be a nice talking point in the media, the numbers do not add up.
As Frank Rich pointed out in a recent New York Times, Al Gore won the female vote by 11 points in 2000. John Kerry won the demographic by three in 2004. Barack Obama currently has a lead of between 13-19 points over McCain.
Other signs also point to an Obama victory in November. Obama leads McCain by an average of six points in a variety of polls, better than George W Bush did against John Kerry throughout the 2004 campaign.
Nate Silver (aka Poblano from the Web site 538.com), who has been prescient with his primary predictions, sees Obama winning handily, 308 electoral votes to McCain's 229.
Of course these numbers do not take into consideration either candidate's VP pick. The choices for McCain seem pretty simple. He could take Mike Huckabee, the GOP runner-up, to bring back the religious voters who have eluded him thus far, or Mitt Romney, who could heal McCain's rift with big business.
In most cases, the party would rally behind the nominee and move forward, but this is not most cases. According to exit polls, many Clinton voters said that they would either not vote or vote for the Republican nominee, John McCain, if Obama was the nominee or if Obama did not at the very least put Clinton on the ticket as Vice President.
Unfortunately, Clinton's action may have made the latter scenario impossible. A primary campaign is always brutal, but Clinton went out of her way to paint Obama as inexperienced and unready for the presidency, going so far as to say that even McCain may be better.
This culminated with Clinton refusing to concede after the final primaries in South Dakota and Montana, and threatening to dispute the votes in Michigan and Florida, two potential swing states in November.
Most of the fuss has centered on female Clinton supporters who claimed her loss on misogyny. While this may be a nice talking point in the media, the numbers do not add up.
As Frank Rich pointed out in a recent New York Times, Al Gore won the female vote by 11 points in 2000. John Kerry won the demographic by three in 2004. Barack Obama currently has a lead of between 13-19 points over McCain.
Other signs also point to an Obama victory in November. Obama leads McCain by an average of six points in a variety of polls, better than George W Bush did against John Kerry throughout the 2004 campaign.
Nate Silver (aka Poblano from the Web site 538.com), who has been prescient with his primary predictions, sees Obama winning handily, 308 electoral votes to McCain's 229.
Of course these numbers do not take into consideration either candidate's VP pick. The choices for McCain seem pretty simple. He could take Mike Huckabee, the GOP runner-up, to bring back the religious voters who have eluded him thus far, or Mitt Romney, who could heal McCain's rift with big business.
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