Race Loses

Race a factor?

Obama did not win a majority of white voters; no Democrat has since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. But he ran equal to the last three Democratic candidates for president among white voters, and even slightly better than the party's 2004 nominee, according to an Edison/Mitofsky exit poll conducted for a consortium of TV networks and the Associated Press.

The prejudice against John Kerry was stronger than it was against Barack??? Or maybe, race was simply not a factor.

Race proved to be no discernible handicap, even among the small-town, working-class whites who were considered most resistant to the black political newcomer from Chicago.

The force propelling Obama was clear: a troubled economy that had gone from shaky in the spring and summer to frightening in the fall. But in choosing an African American as the best person to lead in a time of crisis, the nation's voters have broken a number of long-held truths about the hold of race on the country.

Exit Polls I

For what it's worth, exit polls were embargoed until 5pm, which means they are embargoed no longer. Will keep you up to date as they become available.

From AP:

The economy is by far the top issue on voters' minds as Election Day at last arrives.

An Associated Press exit poll finds six in 10 voters across the country picked the economy as the most important issue facing the nation. None of four other issues on the list — energy, Iraq, terrorism and health care — was picked by more than one in 10.

Not surprisingly, voters also have a very sour view of the condition of the nation's economy. About half said it's poor and nearly as many said the economy is not good. The results are based on a preliminary partial sample of nearly 10,000 voters in Election Day exit polls and telephone interviews over the past week for early voters.

From Gawker.com

Before we tell you what we're hearing the exit poll numbers are saying, can we just remind you about Bob Shrum who famously asked John Kerry, after the 2004 early exit polls came out, "Can I be the first to call you Mr. President?" After the jump, the numbers we're hearing are floating around.

Estimate for Obama low end is 300 EVs

Potentially as high as 350. The realistic number is between the high and 320.

Obama is +40 among Hispanics, +60 among young voters.

Also remember, more Ds than Rs will talk to exit pollsters. So it will be skewed D. It always is.

Slate, which has long argued that journalistic principle forces them to release exit poll numbers, spent Election Day 2004 telling readers that exit poll numbers were "mucho flattering" for Kerry. So, yeah, Obamaniacs, go crazy at your own peril.

CNN headlines its exit poll story by indicating that voters are "Excited by Historic Choice." I assume they're referring to the opportunity to vote for the oldest incoming president ever?

Confident Commies

The socialists are feeling confident enough about victory to speak honestly about their hopes and dreams.

The nation’s battered economy needs an old-fashioned “Rooseveltian lift” of regulatory reforms and government spending on the infrastructure, clean energy and other sectors, U.S. Sen. John Kerry said yesterday.

We're still trying to cope with the legacy of the first New Deal.

Kerry, facing a re-election challenge from Republican Jeff Beatty, rejected GOP calls for more tax rebates to stimulate the economy, as was done last spring.

“I am for a stimulus package. I am not for a stimulus package that just sends out checks,” said Kerry at a Boston Herald editorial meeting yesterday.

And they want to give us a new one.

Democrats in Washington are pushing for more New Deal-like spending approaches for helping the economy, while the Republicans support boosting the economy via tax cuts.

But asked to respond to Kerry’s economic remarks, Beatty’s camp made references to a famous anti-Kerry crack by former state Senate President William Bulger and to rumors Kerry might be in line to become secretary of state if Barack Obama wins the presidential race.

Massachusetts could be losing Kerry and Deval to an Obama administration. One small step for Massachusetts, one giant disaster for mankind.

“The only thing we know about John Kerry’s ‘plans’ is that printed on the bottom line is JFK - Just for Kerry. We just wonder how he’s going to get all this done from inside the Secretary of State’s suite in Foggy Bottom,” the Beatty camp’s statement read.

Left Ugly

Cindy Sheehan, the ultimate lefty, believes she's being harassed by the ugly left. This is just the latest of signs that Democrats are guilty of everything they parade around pretending to be against.

I'm still waiting for Dems to get upset about the racism of Reverends Pfleger, Meeks and Wright. There is no outrage over racial divisiveness when it's done by the home team.

Where is the furry over the constant ageism displayed by the Obama campaign? There is none. Instead, they join in. John Kerry, expressing his frustration over the stupid questions asked of presidential nominees during the last few weeks of the campaign said this:

"I don't know if any of you know what it's like. I do, obviously," Kerry told the crowd. "I've been asked all of those brilliant questions that were repeated this year...Barack got asked the famous boxers or briefs question. Then they asked McCain and McCain said, ‘Depends,'" Kerry said.

Is Congressman John Murtha facing the wrath of the God of Liberalism for being bigoted and offensive?

U.S. Rep. John Murtha is calling many of the people who put him in office "rednecks."

The news comes one week after Murtha claimed the area is racist, then apologized for that comment.In explaining his comments about racism, Murtha told WTAE it's difficult for many in the area to change. Murtha said that just five to 10 years ago the entire area was "redneck." Now Murtha said only certain segments of the population are holding on to those racist feelings.

Just days after classifying western Pennsylvania as racist, Murtha took a step back from those comments, albeit a small one."What I said, that indicted everybody, that's not what I meant at all. What I mean is there's still folks that have a problem voting for someone because they are black," Murtha said.

Nah. The Liberal God only cares when the insults go in the other direction. Back to Cindy Sheehan. She's a radical who is offended by the faux anti-war stance of the liberal elite. So she's running against Nancy Pelosi in California. She thinks that her liberal bretheren are out to get her.

Starting with the necessity of "changing a light bulb" (bugging my phone) in my hotel phone at the DNC (brought to you by AT&T) while I was out of the room, Cindy for Congress has had an increasing number of attacks. Two weeks ago, we were begged by organizers of a "radical" music festival called "We the People(Sheeple)" forbade me from speaking after having begged me to be there. An article in LA Beat said that the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigoso was involved in the decision to silence my voice. Not only did we go down to L.A. at our own expense, but also we took an entire day of valuable campaign time to do so.

The past week, though, has been incredibly trying. First of all we had to file a restraining order against a former volunteer whom, with hindsight, we now know was probably spying on us for the Pelosi camp. After we let this person go, his emails to us became increasingly hostile and threatening. After that happened, the tail lights in our campaign-mobile were busted out (the campaign mobile that has Cindy for Congress signs all over it and pictures of it were in an AP story.

Towards the end of the week, four young men walked into our office and they were acting quite suspiciously as they pretended to be registering to vote. One of our interns was helping them when I heard her yell: "No! Stop!" I heard an awful noise and ran out of my office to see the young men run off. They had grabbed one of our computers (leaving a jar of donations on the front desk) and beat our intern over the head when she tried to stop them. Our front windows are almost totally covered with signs and posters and it would be hard to see what we have from the street…we did, thankfully, recover the computer which has sensitive material on it and we are even more thankful that Somer is okay. (She's tough like her boss).

What did she think was going to happen when she messed with the liberal power brokers - did she think they were going to be compassionate?

Frank Armstrong was preparing to go for a jog this morning when he noticed his Lexus – adorned with a McCain-Palin sticker - had been vandalized with obscenities and a burned American flag.

Armstrong discovered the damage to his 2006 Lexus about 8:30 a.m. at his Sand Key condominium at 1400 Gulf Blvd. Clearwater police and Armstrong said someone etched obscenities and "KKK" into the paint, burned several areas of the car with cigarettes, set the flag on fire on his hood and may have urinated on the vehicle. Officers and Armstrong think the car was singled out because of its political stickers, including one reading "Nobama."

Liberals, who have their own, state supported radio and tv network, are nevertheless furious that the right, unprotected from the leftist bent of the commercial news media, has the niche of talk radio to voice it's opinions.

SHOULD Barack Obama win the presidency and Democrats take full control of Congress, next year will see a real legislative attempt to bring back the Fairness Doctrine - and to diminish conservatives' influence on broadcast radio, the one medium they dominate.

Meanwhile, the haters of religion feel no hesitation in hijacking religion's most powerful symbols to help ordain their savior.

The left obviously cares about nothing but getting power. They'll stop at nothing. Which makes them exactly what they claim to hate.

The Image of Adlai

Ed Rendell, the Governor of Pennsylvania, was a big Hillary supporter. And now he's supporting, of course, Barack Obama, but he doesn't sound particularly excited about it.

"With people who have a lot of gifts, it's hard for people to identify with them," the governor said. "Barack Obama is handsome. He's incredibly bright. He's incredibly well spoken, and he's incredibly successful -- not exactly the easiest guy in the world to identify with."

Voicing the concerns of those Hillary supporters who are reluctant to sign on with Barack, Rendell speaks to the underlying sense of many that the wrong candidate has secured the nomination. His decision to speak so frankly betrays, perhaps, a hope that somehow, at this late moment, something magical could happen to undo the result of the primaries.

"He is a little like Adlai Stevenson," Rendell mused. "You ask him a question, and he gives you a six-minute answer. And the six-minute answer is smart as all get out. It's intellectual. It's well framed. It takes care of all the contingencies. But it's a lousy soundbite."

Adlai Stevenson is the template that George McGovern and John Kerry were made from. Not much of a compliment for The Messiah.

Kerry's Mistake

Some advice, from recent history, for Barack on his VP pick - as with everything in your campaign, do the opposite of John Kerry. This is an excerpt from Bob Shrum's book about John Kerry making his choice for vice president.

Kerry talked with several potential picks, including Gephardt and Edwards. He was comfortable after his conversations with Gephardt, but even queasier about Edwards after they met. Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story with him that he'd never told anyone else—that after his son Wade had been killed, he climbed onto the slab at the funeral home, laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he'd do all he could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade's ideals of service.

Pretty powerful story - hard for Kerry not to have been impacted.

Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me later, Edwards had recounted the same exact story to him, almost in the exact same words, a year or two before—and with the same preface, that he'd never shared the memory with anyone else. Kerry said he found it chilling, and he decided he couldn't pick Edwards unless he met with him again.

Add a Touch of Forbes

John Kerry for Vice President?

A top aide to U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) during her presidential run this year said Tuesday night that U.S. Sen. John Kerry has been vetted to be presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama's running mate.

Now there's an idea for how Barack can shake the "elitist" rap.

Howard Wolfson, who was the primary spokesman for Clinton's campaign, said that he has "heard some rumors" about Kerry (D-Boston) being vetted on Fox News Tuesday, where he has since become a political analyst.

Wolfson also said that Kerry would be a smart pick for Obama.

Howard must still be a little hot over Hillary's loss to Obama.

"Look, John Kerry has been vetted," Wolfson said. "He ran for president. I think he would be a strong choice. He'd be a good choice, especially in the context of foreign policy."

Barack Weaker?

Gallup and Rasmussen tracking polls, each with three days of data ending Wednesday, show no bump for Barack, but, instead, a tightening of the race over the week of Barack's trip. A Fox News poll, taken Tuesday and Wednesday, shows the race in a virtual tie. The slim Obama leads look like this:

Rasmussen - 3%
Gallup - 2%
Fox - 1%

Gallup had Barack up 6% earlier in the week. Rasmussen had the race tied on Tuesday.

Voters aren't as convinced about Barack as they were about John Kerry four years ago, throwing into question his status as the Divine.

One big difference today is that fewer voters are committed to a candidate at this point in the 2008 cycle. In Election 2004, 92% had decided to vote for either Bush or Kerry (97% with leaners). That left only 8% of voters who were still persuadable and most of those were leaning one day or another. This year, 86% say they’ll vote for either Obama or McCain. That leaves 14% who are persuadable, most of whom are not leaning towards either candidate.

Maybe Germany will start to move things for Barack, but right now his weakness continues.

Four years ago today, John Kerry enjoyed a two-point lead (Rasmussen) over George W. Bush (three points with leaners). That was down slightly from the day before when the Massachusetts Senator reached the high-water mark for his campaign heading into the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Kerry didn’t get a bounce from that Convention but was able to hang on to a very small lead until late-August (see Election 2004 daily tracking summary).