You've got to read this Washington craziness!
Huckabee won't concede state; GOP resuming delegate count
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
Related
Postman on Politics | State GOP to count more today
Obama beats Clinton 2-1; McCain edges Huckabee
The results of the state Republican caucuses were called into question today after presidential candidate Mike Huckabee challenged the party's declaration that Arizona Sen. John McCain had won the delegate count.
Huckabee's campaign took issue with the fact that Washington state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser called the race Saturday night with 87 percent of the precincts counted. At that point, McCain was ahead of Huckabee by 242 delegates out of the 13,000 counted, Esser said. The Huckabee campaign contends there were another 1,500 or so delegates not counted.
In the face of the Huckabee protest, the state Republican Party quickly resumed its count today, a bit sooner than it had planned.
In a news release, Huckabee's campaign said there were "obvious irregularities" in the state's Republican caucuses and that it is sending lawyers to explore "all available legal options regarding the dubious final results."
According to the GOP's Saturday tally, Arizona Sen. John McCain won about 26 percent of delegates, Arkansas Gov. Huckabee won 24 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished with 21 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has dropped out of the race, got 17 percent. Most of the rest were non-committed.
"This was an error in judgment by Mr. Esser," the release from the Huckabee campaign said. "Washington Republicans know, from bitter experience in the 2004 gubernatorial election, the terrible results that can come from bad ballot counting."
The state Republican party posted new numbers late this afternoon, with 93 percent of the precincts reporting. The percentages didn't change much, with McCain winning about 25 percent of the delegates, Huckabee 24 percent, Paul 21 percent, and Romney 17 percent.
Esser's acceleration of the count hasn't altered the Huckabee campaign's intent to investigate. Its lawyers should reach the state by late today, said James P. Pinkerton, a campaign spokesman.
"This clearly requires a full excavation as to what happened," Pinkerton said. "The political impact of calling an election before all the votes are counted is pretty seismic. Chairman Esser should fully explain what happened and why to the satisfaction of all Washington state Republicans and all Republicans nationwide."
Esser said this afternoon that the Republican Party was going to try to get as "close as we can to 100 percent" in the vote count, and may have more numbers by later today. But Esser doesn't believe counting more votes will change the outcome.
"We're eager to give everybody the same level of confidence in the numbers as we have," he said.
Esser said their last county report on Saturday came shortly before 10:15 p.m., at which point they had 87.2 percent of precincts reporting. That's when they did an analysis, saying: "Let's take every county where Huckabee is beating McCain, and double the margin of victory," Esser said. "And then take every county where McCain is winning and cut in half that margin of victory. Even if you assume that, Sen. McCain still holds on.
"That's when we said we're confident that Sen. McCain's lead was going to hold up," Esser said. "I would have done the same for Gov. Huckabee if he had the same margin and the same underlying dynamics as Sen. McCain."
Esser said he spoke today with Pastor Joseph Fuiten of Bothell, who's heading Huckabee's volunteer effort in this state. According to Esser, Fuiten said Huckabee supporters reported some voting irregularities. Esser said the party would investigate those allegations. Fuiten could not be reached for comment.
Esser said he didn't have a figure for the number of people who attended the Republican caucuses, since he asked workers to focus on the delegate elections.
Saturday's caucuses will determine only a portion of the 40 Republican delegates who will go on to the Republican National Convention. Caucuses at various levels will determine 18 of those delegates; 19 will be based on the state primary election on Feb. 19. The three remaining positions are "automatic" delegates — the state party chairman and two national-committee members.
Paul's campaign is also not conceding the state.
Maureen Moore, Washington state coordinator for the Paul campaign, said her candidate "did wonderful — a lot more wonderful than what's being reported."
On the Democratic side, more than 200,000 people — a record number — turned out for the state caucuses. With 96 percent of the precincts counted, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won about 68 percent of the delegates, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton won about 31 percent, and the rest choosing either "uncommitted" or "other."
Final numbers will be released by 5 p.m. Monday, said Kelly Steele, spokesman for Washington State Democrats.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Randy Moss in College; 90-Yard Screen Pass To TD Video
For those who wondered what talent Randy Moss showed at Marshall that caused him to go in the first round of the NFL Draft, here's a good look. This video should be the measure of all wide receivers coming out of college to the NFL. If you can find a senior receiver who made a play like this, put him or her on your list. Check this out!
Barack Obama Wins Maine - Obama Sweeps Weekend Contests - Adds Maine Caucus
After taking Lousiana, Washington, and Nebraska, Senator Barack Obama captured Maine's caucuses this weekend. According to C-SPAN and CNN.com, Obama, with 70 percent of the precincts counted, had 58 percent of the votes, versus 41 percent for Senator Hillary Clinton.
This marks a clean sweep for Obama, and has started to turn the last part of this campaign into an ass-kicking. Let's see how this impacts the delegate race; it should put him past Clinton.
This marks a clean sweep for Obama, and has started to turn the last part of this campaign into an ass-kicking. Let's see how this impacts the delegate race; it should put him past Clinton.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Barack Obama Sweeps Louisiana, Washington, & Nebraska Today - Washington Post
Riding a huge tide that's only masked by media outlets who support Clinton, Senator Barack Obama won the caucus primaries in Louisiana, Washington, and Nebraska, confounding "experts" and pointing to a clear movement. Read this account from the Wash Post..
Obama Sweeps Clinton in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington
By Eric Pianin
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) swept to solid victories over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y) in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state today, an impressive showing that left the two Democrats in a virtual tie for national delegates but with Obama gaining momentum.
On the Republican side, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee delivered two humiliating defeats to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses and the Louisiana primary, while running slightly behind McCain in Washington state with incomplete returns.
Obama also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands, completing his best night of the campaign. The freshman senator from Illinois celebrated his victories tonight in a speech to a Democratic dinner in Richmond Va., on the weekend before important primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
"We won in Louisiana, we won in Nebraska, we won in Washington State," he said. "We won north, we won south, we won in between, and I believe we can win Virginia on Tuesday if you're ready to stand for change."
In the wake of Tuesday's showdown in 21 states that left Clinton and Obama roughly even in the number of pledged delegates, the two lavished attention on Nebraska, Louisiana and Washington state, in a frenetic effort to bulk up their delegate counts. Obama stood to pick up as many as 170 delegates tonight.
With nine-tenths of the precincts reporting, Obama led Clinton, 56 percent to 37 percent, in Louisiana. Obama romped to victory earlier in the evening in Nebraska, 68 percent to 32 percent, and then overwhelmed Clinton in Washington, 68 percent to 31 percent, with 96 percent of the caucus vote counted.
That's called a butt kicking.
Obama Sweeps Clinton in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington
By Eric Pianin
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) swept to solid victories over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y) in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state today, an impressive showing that left the two Democrats in a virtual tie for national delegates but with Obama gaining momentum.
On the Republican side, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee delivered two humiliating defeats to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses and the Louisiana primary, while running slightly behind McCain in Washington state with incomplete returns.
Obama also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands, completing his best night of the campaign. The freshman senator from Illinois celebrated his victories tonight in a speech to a Democratic dinner in Richmond Va., on the weekend before important primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
"We won in Louisiana, we won in Nebraska, we won in Washington State," he said. "We won north, we won south, we won in between, and I believe we can win Virginia on Tuesday if you're ready to stand for change."
In the wake of Tuesday's showdown in 21 states that left Clinton and Obama roughly even in the number of pledged delegates, the two lavished attention on Nebraska, Louisiana and Washington state, in a frenetic effort to bulk up their delegate counts. Obama stood to pick up as many as 170 delegates tonight.
With nine-tenths of the precincts reporting, Obama led Clinton, 56 percent to 37 percent, in Louisiana. Obama romped to victory earlier in the evening in Nebraska, 68 percent to 32 percent, and then overwhelmed Clinton in Washington, 68 percent to 31 percent, with 96 percent of the caucus vote counted.
That's called a butt kicking.
The Crumbling Educational System In The United States
What began as the great strong hold in our country, has rapidly increased to a grave crisis and epidemic across classrooms from New York to California. The public school system in the United States has precipitously deteriorated for years and inadequate action has been taken to discover any logical remediy for the failing districts.
Currently, the city of Detroit graduates 25% of students and a mere 50% of children have the opportunity to receive their diplomas in Chicago. Education is the key predictor and great equalizer in our nation, yet there’s no accountability from parents, teachers, administrators, politicians or the school boards. This is a serious emergency and the grim and harsh reality is that this conflict is only going to be exacerbated as time progresses.
It’s time for the millions of students who board buses to elementary schools, middle schools and high schools five days a week to be good at something and for something. We can not permit failure, and it’s completely irresponsible and unacceptable to have arrived at this startling point. Our economic success and viability is squarely dependant upon education and the availability of structured opportunities.
When 60% of African-Americans, 64% of Latinos and 80% of Caucasians graduate from the public school system that is incomprehensible and devastating. In addition, 40% of children drop out of secondary school before the possibility of graduating is even fathomable. Clearly, the thirst to live the American dream has dried up.
This situation is hampering people all across the nation at record depths. The magnitude and seriousness of this crisis is too high and transparent steps must be taken in order for the future of our great country to have even a slim chance of survival in an extremely competitive and thriving world.
At the current juncture, the facts indicate a despondent and gloomy outlook, not bright and prosperous. Since half of the teachers in public schools leave after five years, there’s an inability to establish any line of consistency and continuity with students. In New York City alone 6,000 teachers leave every year.
Incompetent educators, administrators and politicians have stolen an entire future generation of students and it’s time that they are held culpable for their actions.
Currently, the city of Detroit graduates 25% of students and a mere 50% of children have the opportunity to receive their diplomas in Chicago. Education is the key predictor and great equalizer in our nation, yet there’s no accountability from parents, teachers, administrators, politicians or the school boards. This is a serious emergency and the grim and harsh reality is that this conflict is only going to be exacerbated as time progresses.
It’s time for the millions of students who board buses to elementary schools, middle schools and high schools five days a week to be good at something and for something. We can not permit failure, and it’s completely irresponsible and unacceptable to have arrived at this startling point. Our economic success and viability is squarely dependant upon education and the availability of structured opportunities.
When 60% of African-Americans, 64% of Latinos and 80% of Caucasians graduate from the public school system that is incomprehensible and devastating. In addition, 40% of children drop out of secondary school before the possibility of graduating is even fathomable. Clearly, the thirst to live the American dream has dried up.
This situation is hampering people all across the nation at record depths. The magnitude and seriousness of this crisis is too high and transparent steps must be taken in order for the future of our great country to have even a slim chance of survival in an extremely competitive and thriving world.
At the current juncture, the facts indicate a despondent and gloomy outlook, not bright and prosperous. Since half of the teachers in public schools leave after five years, there’s an inability to establish any line of consistency and continuity with students. In New York City alone 6,000 teachers leave every year.
Incompetent educators, administrators and politicians have stolen an entire future generation of students and it’s time that they are held culpable for their actions.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Super Bowl XLII, New England Patriots Final Drive, Tom Brady
This is the companion video to the first one showing the NY Giants touchdown drive and the David Tyree catch. Here, we see what happened to the New England Patriots as they had a chance to either kick a field goal to tie the game, or score an even more dramatic touchdown.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Hillary Clinton On Walmart Board - Video Shows Her On It
This video by ABC and now on YouTube is a daminng example of Senator Clinton's past association with Walmart as one of its board members. She says she now denounces Walmart's practices, but why did she associate with them in the first place? Here is the video.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Obama Raises $6.2 Million In One Day, Surpassing Money Clinton Used From Her Own Pocket
In a fine show of financial power, the Obama for America campaign chair David Plouffe issued this email call to donation action:
Zenophon --
I was writing a note to you about the state of the race after Super Tuesday when we got some startling news.
The Clinton campaign just announced that Hillary and Bill Clinton injected $5 million of their personal fortune into her campaign a few days ago.
This is a dramatic move, and a clear acknowledgement that our campaign has the momentum. We saw undeniable evidence of that last night as the results came in.
Barack Obama won the most states and the most delegates on February 5th.
We have gotten to this point thanks to an unprecedented outpouring of support from ordinary Americans.
To date, more than 650,000 people like you have taken ownership of this campaign, giving whatever they can afford.
The Clinton infusion of $5 million -- and there are reports it could end up being as much as $20 million -- will give them huge resources for the next set of primaries and caucuses.
Thanks to you, we have raised more than $3 million since the polls closed on February 5th. But we have no choice -- we must match their $5 million right now.
We're going to do it the right way, with small donations from people like you. It's never been more urgent that you make a donation of $250 right now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/resultsFeb5
Just two weeks ago we were behind by double-digits in many of the states that voted yesterday, but Barack won 13 states to 8 states for Hillary Clinton, with one state (New Mexico) still counting votes.
This is an enormous victory, and it's all thanks to you.
We won yesterday because thousands upon thousands of individual supporters canvassed their neighborhoods, talked to their neighbors and friends, and made phone calls to remind their fellow supporters to get out the vote.
And we accomplished all of this with a campaign funded by ordinary people giving only what they can afford.
Yesterday was proof that America is ready for change -- and that you are the force to make that change happen.
But there's still a long way to go before Barack becomes the Democratic nominee. In the next week alone, six more states will hold their primaries and caucuses.
We need to match this $5 million personal contribution from the Clintons immediately and put these resources to work in the states that will vote next.
Please make a donation of $250 now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/resultsFeb5
Here are some details about yesterday's historic victory. According to official results and exit polls:
Barack won 2-to-1 in traditionally conservative states where Democrats are hungry for a nominee who can change the map and help Democrats up and down the ticket win in November
Our winning coalition included Americans of every race, background, and gender -- including 64% of women in Georgia
We scored wins in every region of the country -- New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, the Rocky Mountain states, and the West
Americans had a clear choice to make yesterday, and they chose Barack Obama.
Now let's match this $5 million and take this campaign into the next stage.
Thank you,
David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
This call to action has resulted in a new donation record of $6.2 million in one day, just beating the $5 milllion generated by Ron Paul supporters last year. It also says that, in contrast to the Clinton campaign, the Obama for America effort can litterally cause money to materialize from what seems to be a bottomless pit of a fiscal source: it's enormous base of over 600,000 donors.
Wow.
Zenophon --
I was writing a note to you about the state of the race after Super Tuesday when we got some startling news.
The Clinton campaign just announced that Hillary and Bill Clinton injected $5 million of their personal fortune into her campaign a few days ago.
This is a dramatic move, and a clear acknowledgement that our campaign has the momentum. We saw undeniable evidence of that last night as the results came in.
Barack Obama won the most states and the most delegates on February 5th.
We have gotten to this point thanks to an unprecedented outpouring of support from ordinary Americans.
To date, more than 650,000 people like you have taken ownership of this campaign, giving whatever they can afford.
The Clinton infusion of $5 million -- and there are reports it could end up being as much as $20 million -- will give them huge resources for the next set of primaries and caucuses.
Thanks to you, we have raised more than $3 million since the polls closed on February 5th. But we have no choice -- we must match their $5 million right now.
We're going to do it the right way, with small donations from people like you. It's never been more urgent that you make a donation of $250 right now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/resultsFeb5
Just two weeks ago we were behind by double-digits in many of the states that voted yesterday, but Barack won 13 states to 8 states for Hillary Clinton, with one state (New Mexico) still counting votes.
This is an enormous victory, and it's all thanks to you.
We won yesterday because thousands upon thousands of individual supporters canvassed their neighborhoods, talked to their neighbors and friends, and made phone calls to remind their fellow supporters to get out the vote.
And we accomplished all of this with a campaign funded by ordinary people giving only what they can afford.
Yesterday was proof that America is ready for change -- and that you are the force to make that change happen.
But there's still a long way to go before Barack becomes the Democratic nominee. In the next week alone, six more states will hold their primaries and caucuses.
We need to match this $5 million personal contribution from the Clintons immediately and put these resources to work in the states that will vote next.
Please make a donation of $250 now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/resultsFeb5
Here are some details about yesterday's historic victory. According to official results and exit polls:
Barack won 2-to-1 in traditionally conservative states where Democrats are hungry for a nominee who can change the map and help Democrats up and down the ticket win in November
Our winning coalition included Americans of every race, background, and gender -- including 64% of women in Georgia
We scored wins in every region of the country -- New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, the Rocky Mountain states, and the West
Americans had a clear choice to make yesterday, and they chose Barack Obama.
Now let's match this $5 million and take this campaign into the next stage.
Thank you,
David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
This call to action has resulted in a new donation record of $6.2 million in one day, just beating the $5 milllion generated by Ron Paul supporters last year. It also says that, in contrast to the Clinton campaign, the Obama for America effort can litterally cause money to materialize from what seems to be a bottomless pit of a fiscal source: it's enormous base of over 600,000 donors.
Wow.
Chelsea Clinton In Polling Place As It Opens - Big Mistake
Personally, I don't think it's a big deal but ABC News does as does the Drudge Report and WTNH in Connecticut. It seems that Senator Clinton and Bill Clinton's daughter Chelsea Clinton was delivering coffee and donuts to the poll workers in Connecticut just before polls opened, but remained until a few minutes after they were open, thus violating a law in that state prohibiting the apperance of a campaign worker or campaigner in or within 75 feet of a polling place.
I don't think she's going to jail for this, nor should she. Here's the video at ABC.
BUT...Why "butter up" polling place workers? What about all of the problems with vote tampering allegations? Now, I wonder. Could coffee and donuts buy a vote fix?
I don't think she's going to jail for this, nor should she. Here's the video at ABC.
BUT...Why "butter up" polling place workers? What about all of the problems with vote tampering allegations? Now, I wonder. Could coffee and donuts buy a vote fix?
NY Giants Super Bowl XLII: Video Of "The Drive" Goes Viral - Hits YouTube Page One
Ok, this is the first time this has ever happened for me, but the video I created that shows the full final drive of the NY Giants to victory against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII has went viral. It's on the first page of YouTube and is one of the top most viewed videos as of this writing, with over 63,000 views!
You can see the video that has generated over 600 comments here:
Subscribe to my YouTube channel!
You can see the video that has generated over 600 comments here:
Subscribe to my YouTube channel!
McCain Prevails; Barack Obama Wins 13 States; Clinton Slight Deligate Lead
In a dramatic, brusing, and by all accounts still Super Tuesday-into-Wednesday voting contest, Senator Barack Obama won the most states, Senator Clinton has a slight delegate edge, and Republican Senator John McCain's emerging as that party's front runner for the 2008 presidential nominee.
For the Democrats, Senator Obama, my favorite, was the top state winner, earning victories in 13 states, including some states that the campaign and many pundits didn't think he'd win, like Idaho. The bottom line is that in many races, race itself didn't matter; Obama won in states that barely have an African American population at all.
That's remarkable, considering the bad-rap the country (and CNN) has given it's collective self regarding race. Clinton - including pre-primary Super Delegates -- has 741 versus 659 for Senator Obama thus far, but with New Mexico not fully counted as of this writing, too close to call, and containing 38 more delegates. If Obama holds his slim lead there, it will cut Clinton's delegate lead to just 44. If we subtract the 100 or so Super-Deligates
McCain, on the other hand, is riding a clear path to the Republican nomination with 575 delegates, about half as many more as Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.
Looking forward the remaining state contests are in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. Obama goes into the stretch with $32 million in new money to spent. Remarkable.
For the Democrats, Senator Obama, my favorite, was the top state winner, earning victories in 13 states, including some states that the campaign and many pundits didn't think he'd win, like Idaho. The bottom line is that in many races, race itself didn't matter; Obama won in states that barely have an African American population at all.
That's remarkable, considering the bad-rap the country (and CNN) has given it's collective self regarding race. Clinton - including pre-primary Super Delegates -- has 741 versus 659 for Senator Obama thus far, but with New Mexico not fully counted as of this writing, too close to call, and containing 38 more delegates. If Obama holds his slim lead there, it will cut Clinton's delegate lead to just 44. If we subtract the 100 or so Super-Deligates
McCain, on the other hand, is riding a clear path to the Republican nomination with 575 delegates, about half as many more as Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.
Looking forward the remaining state contests are in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. Obama goes into the stretch with $32 million in new money to spent. Remarkable.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Bobby Kinght Resigns As Texas Tech Coach
The legendary and volitile coach of the Indiana Hoosiers and the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Bobby Knight has resigned, but for some reason I don't think he's going to stay away for long.
The only reason I have for writing that is my gut. I think the fire to win and to teach burns within him so hot that it will eventually prove uncontainable. He will be back.
The only reason I have for writing that is my gut. I think the fire to win and to teach burns within him so hot that it will eventually prove uncontainable. He will be back.
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