Kentucky-Oregon videos: Matthews wonders why HRC can’t win certain demographics, Gigot wonders why HRC won’t denounce racist supporters

First, Chris Matthews asks a Clinton surrogate: “why can’t HRC win educated voters?” Also, he brings up race.

Also watch this companion video:

from www.dailykos.com posted with vodpod

Delaware Dem wrote an interesting Kos diary:

This quote is found as the very last sentence of Alessandra Stanley’s latest “TV Watch” column in the New York Times.

The full quote is as follows:

Mrs. Clinton was gracious — but ungiving — in her promises to keep the Democratic Party united, even as she promised to keep fighting for the nomination. Mr. Obama, whose remarks in Iowa came off as a dress rehearsal for a convention speech, tried to make amends to hard-core Clinton supporters at the same time.

“No matter how this primary ends,” he said, “Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and yours will come of age.”

That serenity is not yet shared by women who identify with Mrs. Clinton. Whoopi Goldberg asked her co-hosts on “The View” how they would describe Mrs. Clinton’s historic battle for the Democratic nomination.

“A man took it away from a woman,” Joy Behar replied. “Then they yelled at her for complaining about it.”

Video.

I should note that the quote itself:

Many commenters have pointed out that Joy Behar was not voicing her own opinion in that quote, and indeed she is an Obama supporter. Instead she was asked to comment on how the primary will be perceived and the quote is her response. Fair enough. This diary is not an attack on Joy Behar, it is an attack on the perception she offers.

This diary got some interesting responses; I put the second video (note: how the Clinton supporter almost seemed resentful that Obama ran at all). The first video…well, watch for yourself.

from www.dailykos.com posted with vodpod

Obama wins Oregon, locks a majority of pledged delegates

Workout notes I’ll push my workout back to 4 pm, and then workout with my group at 6. That should do it for the long run.

We are taking a trip to Texas via Missouri and Oklahoma City, where I hope to finish the Andy Payne Marathon. Yeah, it will be hotter than I am used to, so I’ll have to force myself to keep the pace under control. The course is a short out and back (1.9 miles, or 3.1 km) followed by three 8.1 mile loops (13 km each) around Lake Overholser. (see some photos here)

Some photos:

(more photos)

The last time I did this (2005) I walked a 5:25; this is my race report:

This is not an ultra but I did do the Andy Payne Marathon today.

My time was nothing to write home about (5:25 or just under 12:30 mpm) and I was in dead last place until mile 19 (I caught 3 runners on the last 8 mile lap). But it was a bit warm by my Illinois blood by the end.

Actually the course consisted of an “almost” 1 mile out and back followed by three 8.1 mile loops around a Lake. The out and back took me 22:45 and the three 8.1 mile loops took me:

1:35, 1:41 and 1:46. I think that I slowed down as it got hotter (57 to 75 F).

The race was very low key; only 60 starters. There were many more in the 5K and 10K; there were racewalkers in the shorter races. I got to see them while on my second lap.

The course was pretty and had adequate aid stations. But most of the course was open to traffic, though most of it was slow and the vast majority of the drivers were very polite.

The course was unshaded and had a 6 hour time limit but the course was also pretty easy as the course never varied in elevation by more than 5 feet.

Aside from a bit of kidney trouble (lots of trees!) and some rocks in my shoes, I enjoyed the race and walked hard enough to make myself mildy nauseated at the end. My guess is that my lack of speedwork hurt me a bit in terms of performance.

Note that I had finished a trail 100 miler one month prior, so I was a bit tired going in.

Politics

Obama adopted by the Crow Nation.

Sen. Barack Obama became the first American presidential candidate to visit the reservation of the Crow Nation and in doing so was adopted into the nation under the Crow name “One Who Helps People Throughout the Land.”

Drums pounded and the crowd cheered as Obama was escorted to the podium by his “new parents,” Hartford and Mary Black Eagle, in the manner of a groom being walked down the aisle. Obama beamed. His adoptive parents gave Obama hugs as he stepped onto a riser to speak.

“I want to thank my new parents,” he said. “The nicest parents you could ever want to know. I like my new name. Barack Black Eagle. That is a good name!”

For all the symbolism — members of the tribe wore colorful traditional clothing and feathered head-dresses — Obama addressed some issues of serious concern not only to the 12,100-member Crow Nation but to many Native American tribes around the country.

Obama told those gathered that he intended to acknowledge the “tragic history” of Native Americans over the past three centuries. They “never asked for much, only what was promised by the treaty obligations of their forebears,” he said, promising to honor those treaties.

Obama wins Oregon 58-42, loses Kentucky 65-30.

Oregon data

Some key elements: Oregon was 84 percent white, 2 percent black.
White 18-29 (11%) 71% Obama
White 30-44 (22%) 63%
White 45-59 (29%) 53%
White 60 and Older(22%) 48%

So Clinton wins the white 60 and older vote.

Education
H.S. Graduate (19%) 45%
Some College (32%) 55%
College Graduate (29%) 65%
Postgraduate (17%) 65%

So Obama wins all but the “no college” vote.
Obama won men 65 percent and women 51 percent.

Kentucky data
Note that Kentucky won Louisville and Lexington (two university counties) and lost the rest.

83 percent of voters are white, (same as Oregon), 9 percent black (much more than Oregon)

Clinton got 72 percent of the white vote, Obama got 92 percent of the black vote.

Education:
Clinton won 72 percent of the high school educated vote (30 percent of voters), 65 percent of the “some college” (30 percent), 57 percent of the college graduates (19 percent), 56 percent of the college graduate degree holders (15 percent of the voters).

By age:
17-29 (13%) 54%
30-44 (25%) 61%
45-64 (44%) 67%
65 and Older (19%) 78%

National: Obama leads McCain 47-37 percent. Source for the data.

Democrat Barack Obama has opened an 8-point national lead on Republican John McCain as the U.S. presidential rivals turn their focus to a general election race, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Obama, who was tied with McCain in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup last month, moved to a 48 percent to 40 percent lead over the Arizona senator in May as he took command of his grueling Democratic presidential duel with rival Hillary Clinton.

The Illinois senator has not yet secured the Democratic presidential nomination to run against McCain in November.

The poll also found Obama expanded his lead over Clinton in the Democratic race to 26 percentage points, doubling his advantage from mid-April as Democrats begin to coalesce around Obama and prepare for the general election battle with McCain.

Other topics:
McCain wants bloggers to “troll” liberal blogs.

Wishing you could be a campaign surrogate, but don’t have a national platform? Do you find blogging your own opinions tedious? Wish you could have someone tell you what to think during this political season? Well look no further than John McCain’s new blog outreach!

That’s right; the McCain camp wants to recruit online supporters and activists to serve as comment trolls. From their website:

Help spread the word about John McCain on news and blog sites. Your efforts to help get the message out about John McCain’s policies and plan for the future is one of the most valuable things you can do for this campaign….

Select from the numerous web, blog and news sites listed here, go there, and make your opinions supporting John McCain known. Once you’ve commented on a post, video or news story, report the details of your comment by clicking the button below.

Yes, the Daily Kos is one of the blogs, and yes, they provide talking points.

Some (conservative) Students at Furman University: want faculty members to suffer through the Bush commencement speech.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Some faculty members at Furman University have suggested they won’t attend graduation ceremonies because President Bush is scheduled to speak, but a group of conservative students wants the university to step in and block the protest.

Bush is scheduled to give Furman’s graduation speech May 31 at the fairly conservative school of 2,625 undergraduate students with Baptist roots.

More than 500 members of the Furman community signed a letter released Monday asking that administrators refuse to allow faculty members to skip ceremonies in protest of the Bush visit. The move comes after more than 200 students and faculty members signed a statement earlier this month criticizing the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war and environmental issues.

“Some professors seem intent on turning what should be a celebration of their students’ accomplishments into a forum to air their political differences with President Bush,” said the letter, released Monday by Conservative Students for a Better Tomorrow.

Christopher Mills, a junior leading up the Conservative Students effort, said Tuesday that no faculty members had signed the letter, which also asks that the petition opposing the visit be removed from the university’s public Web site.

“Their letter doesn’t really have anything to do with commencement,” said Mills, 21, an economics major. “We were just disappointed that they were putting publicity above professionalism and above the students that they’ve taught for four years.”

Judy Grisel, a neuroscience professor who signed the petition opposing Bush’s visit, said she and other faculty members were merely exercising what they see as their obligation to share their viewpoints and ideas.

Interestingly enough, I would go, listen and report.

Linda Bergthold: Clinton supporters should quit whining. They are sounding selfish.

With apologies to Richard Dawkins (author of The Selfish Gene), I have to point out a noticeable selfishness on the part of some Democratic women voters. When Hillary Clinton declared she was “in it to win”, many women around the country felt a rush of pride and hope. As Senator Clinton progressed throughout the primary season, she galvanized women all over the country, who came out to work for her and vote for her.

But now that Clinton is not going to be the nominee of the Democratic party, we are hearing a terrible moaning and whining on the part of Clinton’s women supporters, even to the point that some are saying they will not vote for Obama in the Fall. As much as many of us would have liked to see a woman President, it has become apparent that to insist on a woman candidate is mainly about “us” not about what the majority of Democratic voters may want or need. It is selfish of us to insist on a Clinton victory, and appalling to hear such women leaders as Geraldine Ferraro implying she might not vote for Obama because she is so disappointed that Hillary cannot win. A McCain victory would be anathema to the causes that Hillary Clinton has always supported like choice, a repudiation of No Child Left Behind, health care for all, and women’s rights.

Selfish women like the ones who are grousing about Hillary’s loss are precariously close to embarrassing our entire gender. If we can fight for a nomination as good or better than any man (and Hillary has fought as hard as any man would or could), then we ought to be able to lose as good or better than a man. That is, losing without pouting, without recriminations, without blaming — the media, our opponent, men, etc. I so want women voters and Hillary Clinton to be exemplary losers. There is nothing to be gained now by this complaining and finger pointing. It has been over for months, and insisting on having Clinton fight to the finish is not only somewhat unique in political campaigns (most candidates bow out long before the so-called ‘end’), it has been undoubtedly damaging to the fight against McCain in the Fall.

Here is an example of what she is complaining about:

Check out Geraldine “Imperial Wizard” Ferraro whining about the supposed “sexism” of Obama.

Kentucky: bittersweet moment for Obama

Well, Clinton racked up a 65-30 victory in Kentucky with Oregon just closing up the polls.

But something interesting happened:

Way to go Kentucky! I’m sick of all the down on the racist state of Kentucky diaries.

What you know? Enough of us knucle-dragging white working class hillbillies showed up today to vote for Obama to give him the pledged delegate majority.

It felt so good to vote for that man today, and I can’t wait for the general.

Good things are going to start happening right NOW.

That’s right: though Clinton got more delegates in Kentucky than Obama did, Obama got enough of them to ensure that he will have the majority of pledged delegates, even if she were to win all of the remaining pledged delegates (which won’t happen).

So, I’ll post this:

(The Obama theme song). O will speak in about 25 minutes; I’ll probably be asleep before then.

There is lots of chatter on the Daily Kos; one of the interesting topics is the old “why don’t they ask Clinton or her surrogates why she can’t win certain segments of the population!” For example, after a HRC surrogate brought up the “uneducated white” canard again, Tweety (aka Chris Matthews) asked her “why can’t HRC win the educated voters?” You should have seen her squirm. Then he asked her why HRC was winning the racist vote (e. g., “democrats” who admitted that “race was important” who “voted for HRC but would vote McCain in the fall if BHO won”….again, more squirming.

It is about time those questions were asked!

For more thoughts like these, go here to read John K. Wilson’s excellent diary.