<p>Could Obama win the general election by shaming Whites into voting for him to prove they are not racist? Of course he would not do this, but I think that surrogates, political pundits, and even everyday Obama supporters could help him win by doing this.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p><em>Of course this would only be relevant to those who are currently uncomfortable with having an African American president.</em></p>
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<p>Are you serious? The people who are currently uncomfortable with having an AA president are not the type of people who are going to be “shamed” into voting for one.</p>
<p>And the last thing Obama wants to do is make this election about race…or at least limit how much of a role it plays.</p>
<p>He has to capture some red states (nv, nm, co, oh, wi) and hold the borderline blue states (mi, pa, nh, ia, mn)</p>
<p>Obama lost the white vote in Kentucky today 72% to 23%.</p>
<p>Obama won the white vote in Oregon today 57% to 43%.</p>
<p>Just like he won the white vote in Iowa, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska…</p>
<p>He wouldn’t have racked up the delegate lead he now has without all those victories in predominantly white states.</p>
<p>Kentucky means nothing. Obama conceded to Hillary there weeks ago so she could have her last “victory”. He never even campaigned there. Now Hillary can concede the nomination on a high note. Obama gave her that.</p>
<p>The bigger question still is how he hasn’t managed to win every state now with all of the media coverage stating Hillary can’t win! How is it he still hasn’t convinced them. I see a vote for Hillary is now an anti-Obama vote. Reading the statistics that out of Kentucky only 50% would support Obama in the general. Oregon Hillary supporters are stating (21%) that they too will walk or not support Obama. 22% in WV would go to MCCain. 25% of PA Hillary voters will do the same also…you cannot start off a general election this late in the game down @25% from your base party. As much as people state the republican party is in trouble with McCain, they do not show any % that the base will stay at home or vote for a dem. The true power for McCain is he does get independents and republicans, now he is getting dems too. Once you say one state doesn’t matter, it is like a cold, the rest of the family, friends and everyone you come in contact with may get it. </p>
<p>Finally he still is not pushing for FL and MI to be seated, this might hurt him in those states</p>
<p>Sure race will be an issue in this election. The question is how many net votes will it siphon off to McCain. If you look at the number of Dem/Rupub votes in the early primaries when both parties were running slates of delegates, in most states the total Dem vote was far greater than the Repub vote. The major exception was Utah where there was a huge turnout for the Mittster.
Even in Fla where the Dems were participating in a non-primary primary, the Dem vote was not significantly less than the Repub vote total.</p>
<p>I think that it will be an interesting election campaign.</p>
<p>Obama won Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Alsaka, and a lot of these states. These states mean nothing for Democrats in the Fall. </p>
<p>I lived in Utah for about a couple of years, and this state wont turn blue this election. A ham sandwich with an R has a better shot than a human being Democrat. </p>
<p>How can the Democratic Party allow these states to determine who the nominee is? </p>
<p>Claire Mccaskill was saying that Kentucky does not matter, but what about Idaho, Utah, Nebraska, and all those red states that Obama won? What about the fifty state strategy that Dean has been talking about? These people are so confusing now, I honestly don’t know where they stand on anything. </p>
<p>Every 4 years the Republican Party ask the nation, “Can you really entrust this country into the hands of these people?” The American people have responded no a lot of times for the last couple of decades. (I know they can’t play this card this cycle because Bush has been a very terrible president)</p>
<p>The Democratic Party also can’t brand McCain as a third term Bush either. He is a rebel in his own party, they see him as RINO. He played a critical part in the gang of 14, he really has cross over appeal, and he has shown that he is willing to work across party lines.</p>
<p>I do not put a lot of weight in primaries, since many voters do not come out. This yr in the dem party people were more motivated to come out and of course the repubs basically ended the nom process before it really ever started. Add also into the factor that many Rush supporters crossed over under his direction, so I think the numbers were inflated a bit. Even now I don’t think the polling is correct because people are being asked if Hill V McCain and Obama V McCain…once the dust settles with a true nom than we will all see a clearer picture.</p>
<p>I do agree McCain is a RINO, but he still is on the basis a Republican, he just happens to vote the way I would love to see every politician vote…I give him pts for that. He is known to cross party aisles to do what he thinks is right for the country. He doesn’t vote for the sake of the party. This of course can bite him like it did Lieberman, but I think Lieberman is one of the more successful politicians now since he is under (I). I would much rather have someone who goes against their party then someone who follows. Afterall, don’t we want leaders and not followers? Our govt is so partisan that it is disgusting! IT has become either you are one of us or one of them!</p>
<p>“How can the Democratic Party allow these states to determine who the nominee is?”</p>
<p>Because they have lots of party members? And those members’ opinions count?</p>
<p>Just a guess.</p>
<p>"The question is how many net votes will it siphon off to McCain.;</p>
<p>McCain only voted against minimum wage increases EIGHT times. If folks decide to vote against their class interests because of…whatever…they’ll get what they deserve. </p>
<p>(Clinton is a non-issue.)</p>
<p>The uneducated “white” hillbillies from Appalachia are not going to carry the general election either. Hillary was able to get these people out to vote for her for the primary because of the past popularity of Bill Clinton. She and Bill both were successful in fostering racism with this particular group. They ain’t never gonna’ vote for no black man. </p>
<p>This demographic doesn’t speak for the rest of us. Thank goodness.</p>
<p>In my opinion, anybody who votes against Obama solely because he is black is an ignorant yahoo. The question is, how many such ignorant yahoos are there who would have voted for a white female Democrat? And furthermore, how good will McCain be at mobilizing the yahoo vote?
Note that I recognize that there may be some Clinton voters who will prefer McCain for sensible reasons. I’m only talking about people who would vote for O’Bama, but not Obama.</p>
<p>I am against the min wage increase…here is my reason, my DS is a lifeguard at the Y in our town, when the last time it was up, they had stated to prepare them that if it was passed, the pool would have to lessen the hrs they were open since they could not afford to continue to run with the amt of mandated guards needed for the facility, they would also have to permanently close one pool in the city for the same reason. Now this is the Y, what about the Mom & Pop Pizza restaurant, or even a major retailer? The major retailer is not going to hire another salesperson when a vacancy opens they will just force us to go to another register. The bottom line is we are a capitalistic society, companies exist to make a profit, costs add into the profits and thus, labor is a cost they can control. So if it is a choice that my DS makes less and has a job that is better than him not having a job at all. Many more people would be effected by losing a part time job that th have for their own financial needs then those who are working full time min. wage. Also remember if someone is working full time min wage they are still effected, it just may show in different manners, ie. maybe their health insurance will be changed to cut costs or maybe the job will be outsource to a temp who still gets pd the new min, but now the company doesn’t have to give benefits.</p>
<p>Okay Hunt here is question for you…then why do they show that if Hillary gets the nom @20-25% of Obama supporters will go to McCain? It has nothing to do with him being African American if it is also true that if she wins some of his supporters will go to McCain</p>
<p>What about Michelle Obama who said she is not sure she will vote for Hillary if she is the nominee? </p>
<p>Can’t we all make our independent decisions? </p>
<p>This is very common among Obama followers, there can’t possibly be any other reasons why people in Appalachia are voting for Hillary other than race. According to them, if you are white and you vote for Hillary you are racist. If you are black and you vote for Obama you are inspired. </p>
<p>Did anyone watch sixty minutes a couple of weeks ago about the health care system in Appalachia, I was really appalled, How can we let this happen in this country? I was really saddened by this lady who has worked all her life but she can’t afford health insurance. </p>
<p>Did it occur to anyone that, maybe, these people are voting for Hillary because they want universal health coverage?</p>
<p>^ Why do the educated white voters lean toward Obama? Race isn’t the only issue. Education seems to play a part in the decision also. Educated people may be better informed and possibly more knowledgeable about the issues as well.</p>
<p>"The poll found Obama was seen as a better steward of the economy than McCain, leading 48 percent to 39 percent. McCain led Obama by 3 points last month on an issue that is certain to be crucial in their campaign.</p>
<p>Obama led McCain among independents, 47 percent to 35 percent, and led among some groups of voters who have backed Clinton during their Democratic primary battle, including Catholics, Jews, union households and voters making less than $35,000 a year.</p>
<p>McCain led among whites, NASCAR fans, and elderly voters. McCain led with voters who believed the United States was on the right track, and Obama led with the much higher percentage of voters who believed it was on the wrong track."</p>
<p>(from Zogby)</p>
<p>As to why folks voted for Hillary, it doesn’t matter. She’s been toast for over a month.</p>
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<p>These people have health insurance, so they care less about universal health coverage. </p>
<p>Educated people are better informed about what? Are you saying that those who have not attended college are not better informed?</p>
<p>There was an article in the WSJ a couple of weeks ago about Duke (I am not picking on Duke, the article was about Duke, and also, Duke was one of my dream schools when I was applying to college). The article stated that, although a lot of the white students were supporting Obama, there is very little race interactions among the students of different races on campus. In fact, few of the white students have black friends and vice versa. </p>
<p>I went to a school with over 90% white population, and a lot of people want to look cool by having black friends. I could see through a lot of them, they wanted to be friends with me for all the wrong reasons. This problem is very common among the so called liberal “elites”.</p>
<p>Wasn’t Zogby the pollster that said Obama was going to win Cali by 10 points and NH by 20 points?</p>
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<p>How about Florida and Michigan, don’t they deserve a second chance to vote? If every vote must count, shouldn’t we give the voters a chance to have a say? The party leaders were at fault not the voters.</p>
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<p>And this why Hillary will not be a VP! I can see the 527 ads now with MO saying this. The ads will then force Obama to explain why he chose her.
The ad will also run if Hillary isn’t picked b/c they will then warp it into that had her husband not won she may have voted for McCain! Or if he didn’t she wasn’t going to vote. So many ways to play in the general for the 527’s that if someone like me has thought of it you can be assured they thought of it too! Then add in this is the 1st time comment, MO is going to become an achilles heel to him just as Theresa Heinz was to Kerry</p>
<p>“Okay Hunt here is question for you…then why do they show that if Hillary gets the nom @20-25% of Obama supporters will go to McCain?”</p>
<p>Perhaps they are sexist yahoos. I don’t believe that number, or any similar number, by the way. By November most of those people will settle down.</p>
<p>“What about Michelle Obama who said she is not sure she will vote for Hillary if she is the nominee?”</p>
<p>That’s probably for the same reason Cindy McCain said in 2000 that she couldn’t vote for Bush. The spouse tends to get more incensed by attacks than the candidate does.</p>