Mad Mike Gravel says he’s no longer a Democrat and is now running for president as a Libertarian.
Sound Bite: “It’s not so much that I left the Democratic party, it’s the Democratic party left me. And what I believe in is more what the Libertarian party stands for.”
Since Gallup reported that a high proportion of Hillary Clinton supporters would defect to vote for McCain if she loses — and a not insignificant number of Obama supporters would do likewise if he loses — the pollsters have been trying to dissect their numbers yet further. They show that 39 percent of Clinton supporters who are independent but lean Democratic would cross the line. Conservative Democrats — 38% — are also more likely to defect. The more education the voters have, the more loyal they are to the party. Race and gender are not huge factors.
Barely Political combines Obama Girl and the Jeremiah Wright kerfuffle for some good humor about religion, race, and sex. Is nothing sacred?
Sound bite: “Obama pimps white women and black women…. You didn’t notice him until he brought out those big-chested white women with their tight T-shirts.:
The New York Times’ Brian Stelter reports today on the importance of young voters passing around links — especially videos — not just consumers but conduits of campaign news.
Rather than treating video-sharing Web sites as traditional news sources, young people use them as tools and act as editors themselves.
“We’re talking about a generation that doesn’t just like seeing the video in addition to the story — they expect it,” said Danny Shea, 23, the associate media editor for The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com). “And they’ll find it elsewhere if you don’t give it to them, and then that’s the link that’s going to be passed around over e-mail and instant message.”
In a much-blogged report today, Gallup says that many Democrats would desert if their candidate doesn’t win. 28% of Clinton voters would shift to McCain if Obama wins while 19% of Obama voters would do likewise if Clinton wins. Gallup says this is an indication of the damage from the ongoing battle for the nomination; I don’t see the logic in that. I’d also be curious to see similar stats for Republicans whose guys did not win.
Ralph Nader tries to justify his role in George Bush’s victory, saying that the election was stolen from Al Gore and that Democrats here and there voted for Bush.
Soundbite:
Questioner: “We all know you don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming president.”
Nader: “How about in heaven?”
He says the Democrats “could have landslided George W. Bush and sent him back to Crawford, Texas.” And then he says the Democrats “could have blocked him on the war.”
At Butler University in Indiana, Chelsea Clinton is surprised to get a Monica Lewinsky question.
Sound Bite: “”Wow, you’re the first person actually that’s ever asked me that question in the, I don’t know maybe, 70 college campuses I’ve now been to, and I do not think that is any of your business,”
At an MTVu roundtable interview, Bill Clinton explains his position on the Defense of Marriage Act. When challenged by the students, the former president tells them how the “real world” works.
It has been a spell since we’ve seen a new campaign commercial, but now here’s Hillary’s latest. She promises to level the playing field for American workers.
Hillary Clinton may not have come under sniper fire as she “mistakenly” recalled during a recent campaign speech, but she’s sure taking plenty of incoming now. Looks like a CBS News crew accompanied her on that 1996 trip to Bosnia. And they have a whole lot of footage.
