The 2008 US Election thread

[Carmen Stateside]

Record turnout! Polls close at 8. Watching this hateful so and so Lou Dobbs He seems to want Bloomberg to run which may well happen.

[heganboy]

It will be a diificukt case to get bloomberg to run if obama gets the nomination, obama seems to have started to use inclusive and bipartisan a lot in the last 2 weeks, very likely to stave off a bloomberg run. Its getting interesting all the same

[Carmen Stateside]

early results  Clinton and Mc Cain ahead!

[J70]

early results  Clinton and Mc Cain ahead!

They must be very early. Clinton insiders have said that if she finishes within 8 points of Obama it will be a moral victory for her!

Apparently there are major shake-ups in her campaign management on the way as well.

[Carmen Stateside]

Mc Cain projected to win
Clinton still leading with 40%
Still only 20% of votes in

[Puckoon]

If the rednecks I was listening to today have anything to do with it - there will never be a woman president - and there sure as hell wont ever be a "nigger president".


This country is going to hell in a handbasket on a rocketship.

[stephenite]

AP are calling it for Hillary

[heganboy]

Interesting early call by AP I'd wait on the college towns first. Was hoping ron paul could beat rudy the dick, close but no cigar. Surely thompson, kucinich and grabel should chuck in the towel now? (And rudy with any luck)

[stephenite]

66% counted according to this article - I'd have thought that was about the right time to call it but no one else appears to have done so -


The Associated Press have named Hillary Clinton the surprise victor over her rival Barack Obama in the crucial New Hampshire Democratic presidential nomination contest.

With 66 per cent of the vote counted, Hillary Clinton is leading the Democratic race with 39 per cent to Barack Obama's 36 per cent.

Clinton, a New York senator, is under intense pressure to revive her campaign after a disappointing showing in Iowa.

Senator John Edwards will finish in distant third place with around 17 per cent of the vote.  New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson finished in fourth place with 5 per cent.

In the Republican primary, US Senator John McCain has beaten former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney 28 per cent, repeating history by upsetting the favourite to win New Hampshire presidential primary.

The Democratic results contradict the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released today, which showed Barack Obama leading the Democratic vote 42 per cent to Hillary Clinton's 29 per cent.

Commentators had all but written off the former first lady's campaign, up until results starting flowing in a few short hours ago.

Obama, an Illinois senator aiming to be the first black president, is looking for a New Hampshire win that would solidify his hold on the top spot in the campaign to be the Democratic candidate in November and deal a second consecutive humiliating loss to Clinton, the former front-runner.

There are reports of a record 500,000 voter turnout at polling stations across the state, aided by the unseasonably balmy weather.

New Hampshire's primary is the second high-profile battleground, following Iowa, in the state-by-state process of choosing Republican and Democratic candidates for November's election to succeed President George Bush.

The candidates made a late drive for support, visiting voting stations and holding rallies.

"The American people have decided for the first time in a very long time it is time for change in America,'' Obama told a crowd at Dartmouth College.

Huckabee and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani ran into each other at a Manchester polling site, with Huckabee jokingly asking for his support before they wished each other well, a Giuliani aide said.

Clinton greeted a handful of supporters at a Manchester polling place before dawn and made similar visits in Nashua, Derry and Concord.
Asked if she needed to win New Hampshire, she referred to the "Super Tuesday'' round of 22 nominating contests.

"I think the nominating process ends at midnight on February 5,'' she said.

"I look forward to campaigning across the country.''

Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, said Obama had gotten a free pass from the media on his claims to have consistently opposed the Iraq war.

"Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen," Clinton said.

Obama shrugged off the remarks, telling reporters he had been "knocked around'' by the press last summer when he trailed Hillary Clinton by 20 points in polls "and I didn't hear the Clinton campaign complaining about how terrible the press was.''

"I understand they are frustrated right now," Obama said of the Clintons

[heganboy]

68% in and cnn have followed suit and appointed clinton the winner.
A huge percentage of the female vote and the majority of the 30+ age group went her way. Obama should in SC though its starting to get interesting now. Opinion polls yesterday had obama with a 13% lead, oops...

[Boynegael]

Jesus, By November I'm going to be tullyeyed....this is great stuff...I love politics....I love democracy...I love voting....Still don't know who I'm going to vote for in the NY primary......I keep going back and forth....When you listen to Obama ( his speech writers better be on six figures) he delivers so well......Hillary not so good...
I really don't think the tearful moment yesterday had as much effect as Bill's "fairytale" remark, on her comeback in NH......although all the pundits are saying it was the woman vote that turned it...

Obama has to have more than words, and I think People are starting to think the same.....
I'm not really worried about any of the Republican candidates....I actually really like McCain as a man...not as a politician....and I hope he wins the Republican nomination.
My biggest concern, as Heganboy stated earlier is a Bloomberg entry to the race...I truly believe he will split the Democratic vote...he was a Dem all his life until he ran for mayor of NY...then became a Republican...Now an Independent... He was never excepted by the Republicans, he got a very lukewarm reception at the last Republican National Convention in NY....he will def take more votes from the Dems than the Repubs....and that will mean only one thing...A REPUB IN THE WHITE HOUSE AGAIN...
keep it coming....I'm hooked...

[Boynegael]

never accepted by the Repubs... 

[Silky]

I agree with FL/Mayo. This is essentially a direct election of the President where individual Americans to go into a private voting booth and make their choice.  Even if the opinion polls had Obama 10 points clear I would still bet against him. Middle America and the South will not vote for an African America as President. I wish I was wrong but I'm convinced I 'm not. We'll see in November.

A bit of a prophet there Lecale - he was 13 pts ahead in the opinion polls and still didn't win!

[Homer]

I see Paddy Powers had already paid out on Obama yesterday! 

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/media/article/obama-costs-irish-bookie-75000_425252_15.html

Current Odds
Clinton - 8/15
Obama - 11/8

What a difference a day makes.....

[magickingdom]

Record turnout! Polls close at 8. Watching this hateful so and so Lou Dobbs He seems to want Bloomberg to run which may well happen.

why do you think that carmen? watched him on cnn the last few days and thought he was very good, refused to rule hillary out when most had her dead. got up at 7am this morning to check the results! i love politics! delighted that clinton won its going to be a fascinating few weeks. obama sure gives a good speech imo...