Thursday, February 7, 2008

More thoughts post-Super Tuesday

In no particular order:

1. Senator Obama's campaign raised $3 million since polls closed Feb 5. As has been pointed out elsewhere, 28% is from small (<$200) donors. These donors can give again (and apparently do so repeatedly). Senator Clinton loaned her campaign $5 million in January; only 13% of her funds come from sub-$200 contributions. Did someone say "Romney's trying to buy his way into the Presidency"? $5 million is nowhere near the $50 million Governor Romney has apparently loaned his campaign, but that's still almost five times Senator Obama's net assets!

[Update, Thursday morning: Senator Obama has raised over $7 million. If money follows the Big Mo'...]

2. Someone said "why are they spending so much on the elections, when we could help out poor people?" or something to that effect. As my dad always says, though, "let people spend on marriage ceremonies etc. - that's one way to get money into the economy!" Especially now with Senate Republicans blocking the latest economic stimulus plan, under the guise of a new-found financial responsibility. [Come on! I want my $500!]

3. Apparently, President Clinton said lending his personal money to Senator Clinton's campaign "would clearly violate the spirit of campaign-finance reform." What does he say now? [Link from Ben Smith.]

4. We have seen the "up yours" debate, and the love-fest - what else is left? But if Senator Obama rejects any further debates, the Clinton campaign will no doubt paint him as "unwilling to participate in the democratic process," even though he (playing to his strength) will be spending that time meeting actual voters (can't get more into the democratic process than that!) Guess that's why Senator Obama left the door open to at least one more debate.

[Update, Thursday morning: Predictably, the Clinton campaign is "disappointed to see that Senator Obama rejected the idea of having more debates..." I mean, who doesn't want free publicity? 22 debates are not enough! Even though candidates like Senator Biden complained about the focus on the big 3 in those debates. (Link from Slate.com)]

5. The ending of Senator Obama's speech Tuesday night was not pitch-perfect as is usually the case. I think he ended up saying "Yes we can! Let's go to work!", but then the crowd kept chanting "Yes we can!" three more times (which he joined) before he could finally say "Let's go to work!" so it could be heard. He's human, after all... :-)

6. Apparently, 1/4 of those Texas delegates are elected by caucuses, while the remaining 3/4 are based on the primary. And you thought the delegate count till now was hard... [Link from Ben Smith, again!]

7. A colleague at work, a registered Independent, says "if I hear another Obama ad on FM... My iPod is getting extreme use these days." That's something the Obama campaign should be careful about. [Moi, I very rarely listen to the radio, and saw only one ad - for Huck! - on TV. Then again, I just have basic cable.]

8. IMHO, the most powerful statement of the night came from Senator Clinton, when she thanked her mother "who was born before women could vote and is watching her daughter on this stage tonight." [Personally, I think it is a crying shame - no pun intended - that the USA has not elected a woman President in >200 years. Which is the sole reason I would be happy if Senator Clinton becomes the next President.]

On that note, good night.

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