“Mitt Romney, John McCain’s former chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, will endorse the Arizona senator, officials familiar with the decision said Thursday”
Steven Stark writes is this week’s Boston Phoenix about how Hillary Clinton squandered her lead. The reasons? Hubris and mismanagement, plus the outrage over Bill’s verbal assaults on Obama now makes it difficult for the former first lady to go on the attack against the Illinois Senator.
The Wisconsin Primary is open, which means that registered voters can participate in either party’s primary no matter their affiliation. David Schaper takes a look at the upcoming vote on Morning Edition, and NPR’s Nancy Cook asks ‘What’s At Stake?’ in the state for both parties.
Morning Edition’s Renee Montagne talks with Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, a superdelegate from Ohio, about the agressive courting of superdelegates by Clinton and Obama. On MSNBC, political analyst Howard Fineman looks at the mathematical complexity of delegate counts facing the Clinton and Obama campaigns, and how the margins may play out.
Even before the polls closed in the Potomac primaries, Clinton was campaigning at a rally in El Paso — she’s hoping to stop Obama’s recent momentum with a big win in the Lone Star state on March 4.
Obama and McCain win the Potomac/Chesapeake/Crabcake primary (Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia).
Analysis from Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall
“No matter how one slices the election results from last night, there’s no denying that Obama is the statistical front-runner.”
Conservative talk radio has been raging against John McCain but John McCain is winning anyway. Why? Listen to an On Point conversation on what now for Rush Limbaugh and his legions with Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of National Review Online, Ross Douthat, senior editor and blogger for The Atlantic Monthly, and Brian Maloney, conservative analyst and author of the blog radioequalizer.
Here & Now’s Robin Young speaks with the former senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart about the Democratic super-delegates and their role in the nominating process. Hart. the insurgent candiate, nearly won his party’s nomination in 1984, but former vice president Walter Mondale edged him out by getting more votes from super-delegates.
Right click to download Audio Length: 07:35
If you’re curious about Massachusetts’ super delegates, check out Boston.com’s photo slideshow of who they are, and who some of the are voting for — as of now.
Former president tells of lesson learned from dust-up with Obama.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7UdwhaLCRI&eurl=http://prezvid.com/2008/02/08/bill-clinton-explains-it-all/[/youtube]
“John McCain may look more like the Republican Party’s presidential nominee every day, but that doesn’t mean the conservative base is on board, yet…”
Speaking before the Conservative Political Action Committee today, the former Massachusetts governor essentially conceded the GOP nomination to his chief rival John McCain
Dan Payne, Democratic analyst for The Boston Globe, tells Robin Young, host of WBUR’s Here & Now, why Romney’s White House bid failed.
Right click to downloadAudio Length: 04:37
Presidential Tote Board: “Don’t Count Out Huckabee”
Greater Boston’s Emily Rooney and On Point’s Tom Ashbroo teamed up for post-Super Tuesday analysis. This one-hour special aired jointly on WGBH 2 and WBUR 90.9, and has been archived online here.
Political analysts Dan Payne and Todd Domke, both of whom write for The Boston Globe, joined WBUR’s Bob Oakes on Morning Edition to discuss last evening’s results. You can listen to that conversation here.
Analysis continues on today’s On Point where Anne Kornblut, national political correspondent for The Washington Post and Bob Shrum, Democratic campaign strategist for eight presidential candidates are among the guests handing out their Super Tuesday verdicts. The envelope please…
Exit polls from the primaries revealed African Americans voting for Obama, Hispanics voting for Clinton, white men divided but leaning toward Obama and white women choosing Clinton. What do these racial and gender trends reveal about the Democratic Party and voters in general? To find out Robin Young speaks with Kerry Haynie, professor of political science and co-director of Duke University’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Social Sciences.
It was a big night for McCain, who despite the kerfluffle over his conservative bona fides is the clear GOP frontrunner “by a country mile.” Romney’s Bay State win completes the trifecta of states he calls home (Michigan, Utah, Massachusetts), but his otherwise tepid showing triggers a “frank discussion” about his future. Huckabee’s string of wins south of the Mason-Dixon Line revive his candidacy (though Romney leads him in delegates), with the former Arkansas governor saying it is now “a two man race.”
McCain’s Super Tuesday Victory Speech:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yex6yoouQo[/youtube]
On the Democratic side, “Obama won 13 Super Tuesday states; Clinton won eight, plus American Samoa.” In Obama’s column is Georgia, which he won with an astonishing 88 percent of the black vote, and his homestate of Illinois. Clinton finished first in delegate-rich New York and California and — notwithstanding Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of her opponent — the Bay State.
Clinton’s Super Tuesday Speech:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB16r8K4NHI[/youtube]
Unlike the GOP, the Democrats assign their delegates proportionally, and both the candidates netted enough delegates that observers are now talking about a “split-decision,” with some anticipating a long, hard slog on the road to the nomination. In today’s Boston Globe, Peter Canellos ponders whether such a scenario will energize the base or “sour the good feelings” going into the November general election.
Obama’s Super Tuesday Speech:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dzHDzvTfzQ&eurl=http://www.prezvid.com/[/youtube]
“Front-runner John McCain built his lead over rivals in the race for the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, winning key primaries in all regions of the country.”
And on the Democratic side “New York Sen. Hillary Clinton won all but one of the large states on Super Tuesday but was not able to lock up the nomination, because nearly all of the contests were so close.”
McCain:
N.Y., N.J., OK, Del, Conn., Illinois;
Huckabee:
Arkansas, Alabama, W. Virginia
Romney:
Mass., Utah
Hillary Clinton:
New York
Tennessee
Oklahoma
New Jersey
Massachusetts
Arkansas
Barack Obama:
Delaware
Georgia
Illinois
Alabama
Kansas
Hat Tip: Daily Kos
Kennedy, Kerry endorsements fail to deliver state for Obama, though Clinton’s margin of victory will determine distribution of delegates.
CNN projects Romney as winner in Bay State and McCain winning both Connecticut and Illinois. On the Democratic side, Obama is the projected winner of Illinois and Clinton takes Oklahoma.
Decisive win for Obama in Georgia. Presidential Tote Board says percentage of black vote and early exit polls may portend a big night for the Illinois senator.
The former Arizona governor scores an upset over Romney in the Mountain State, netting its 18 winner-take-all delegates.
Upset may be the consquence of some backroom wheeling and dealing between McCain and Huckabee camps.
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Super Tuesday is here, at last. Twenty-four states are holding primaries or caucuses on the single biggest day of presidential primary voting in the country’s history.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fight for a breakout in their head-to-head Democratic duel while Republican John McCain trys to end rival Mitt Romney’s presidential ambitions.
Here in the Bay State, an estimated 1.3 million voters will head to the polls in what Secretary of State William Galvin predicts will be the highest primary turnout in nearly 30 years.
For months, pollsters and pundits have had their say. Today, WBUR is turning the microphone and this site over to you. Sound off now On Point or post your comments here.
 WBUR’s special coverage begins at 7 p.m. Listen on the radio at 90.9 or online here |
Here is a selection of some of your comments:
“Who ordained McCain? He was like an old FORD (found on road dead) before SC. He does not get my vote. Have been a republican for 50 years including elective office. They are leaving no choice for the R’s.
I will sit out, or vote for Obama, if things do not change.”
“It disturbs me that the buzzwords and phrases used in the drumbeat for Obama would, if used in the employment arena, would be deemed illegal violations of the age discrimination laws.”
“The issue that will define the next 8 years will be global warming. All other issues will pale compared to the global crisis response that we have to mount immediately – countries disappearing under water, famine, weather, US coastal cities disappearing. I hope to see more questions to the candidates on both sides about how their response to this issue will affect their plans on the other issues that have been covered rather thoroughly.”
“What is Obama’s stand on the Kenyan crisis? The Kenyan opposition (which includes his father’s tribe), is calling for help.
How far will he commit American troops in the cause, if he becomes president? I worry a lot about that.”
“The polls are not always correct -remember New Hampshire? I wish the media would stop making predictions and selling us the winners.”
“I am saddened to hear of Edwards withdrawal. Although I had not intended on voting for him, my vote could have been swayed,I liked having that option.”
Post your observations (what’s the mood liek where you are voting? How many candidates’ signs to you spot) and opinions about the candidates here (make sure to scroll down to the comment field).
WBUR’s Martha Bebinger reports on how a tight Democratic race has led to a split among the state’s Democratic leadership and among Democratic voters. And tight it is, with one Masschusetts poll suggesting the race is a statistical dead heat, though Clinton appears to have the lead in the majority of Super Tuesday states.
One the Republican side, Romney appears to have a significant lead over McCain in the Bay State, but lags in other Super Tuesday state with the possible exception of California, where some polls have it “too close to call.”
By most accounts debate last night between Obama and Clinton was a civil affair, free of the contrapuntal arcimony and barbs characteristic of the race at times. The New York Times even noted that it was “almost as if the battle was to see which of them could outnice the other.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHXbLmrroUE[/youtube]
As Super Tuesday inchers closer, WBUR political analysts Dan Payne and Todd Domke give us this update on what is at stake that day and how the various candidates are fairing.
