Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Prediction follow-up: Bass Ackwards in Texas

I was shocked watching the election returns last night. I took a nice long shower after taking a run with Dave and Hornsby to get me away from my compulsive poll-watching. As I refreshed my local news page once we returned from our outing, I gasped after I saw that Hillary was ahead by two percentage points in Texas after just being declared winner in Ohio. Earlier in the evening, MSNBC had called Vermont for Obama, which doesn't surprise me because Vermont is the literal left wing of America. But the last thing I expected was Hillary to pull off a miracle in Texas.

I knew that Obama would take Dallas County. He had way too much momentum here for Hillary to come out on top. Besides that, compared to Austin, San Antonio and Houston, Dallas' Hispanic population is proportionately smaller, and Latinos had been favoring Hillary's rhetoric. But I was surprised that Obama took Houston, Austin and Dallas, and rural Texas and San Antonio were outright wins for Hillary. To see a cool map of the county-by-county wins, click here. Here are the final numbers:

Democrats
Hillary Clinton: 51%
Barack Obama: 47%
John Edwards: 1%

Republicans
John McCain: 51%
Mike Huckabee: 38%
Ron Paul: 5%
Mitt Romney: 2%
Uncommitted (whoever the hell that is!): 1%
Fred "The Corpse" Thompson: 1%
Alan Keyes: 1%
Duncan Hunter: 1%
Rudy Giuliani: 0% (This is the candidate our good ol' Gov. Rick Perry endorsed!)

After last night McCain has clinched the Republican nomination. Yay. I'm not a big fan of McCain, mostly for his ultra-hawkish war rhetoric. I don't think America's really all that good with this military-industrial complex stuff, especially since year after year it make us look more and more like Rome: self-indulgent and imperial, worldly yet clueless.

But Clinton and Obama will fight 'til the end, very likely right up to the National Democratic Convention, which is a shame, really. Both candidates are working hard to unify the party, and I think that the best thing to do is for them to share the Democratic ticket with Hillary at top. In fact, Madame Clinton is already hinting at this possibility. According to the AP:

Asked on CBS's "The Early Show" whether she and Obama should be on the same ticket, Clinton said:

"That may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide who is on the top of ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me."


Well, I think you could say now, Hillary, that Texas has said it quite clearly, too. I think it would be a strategic victory for Hillary to name Obama her running mate. Think of it: Hillary wins this presidency, and probably the next, and then Obama, well seasoned from two terms as VP runs for the presidency and wins, bringing us into our golden age.

Gets me excited just thinking about it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I woke up this morning to see a fellow Highbrid Nation writer reporting that Hillary has won the Ohio and Texas primaries and how this is getting bad. And like him I feel like this battle between Obama and Hillary has went on too long and now they are in danger of hurting the party by allowing McCain to take shots at them while they are dealing with each other. Howard Dean should step in and say “Look, Obama is going to be the canidate and Hillary you can be his running mate if you choose”…I know I know that would never happen but a guy can dream right?

Olivia said...

I thought they should run on the same ticket if she wins, which would be good for Obama in "the long run".

His momentum has been amazing, hasn't it? It's an exciting time. I can't wait to vote in November.

Miss Dallas said...

That's right, Liv! Can you renew your voter registration abroad? I'd do that soon!

Olivia said...

I won't have to if I am coming back in September!

The Ex said...

I just can't reconcile Hillary actually being elected. I truly believe that if she's the DNC nominee that it spells failure and an inevitable McCain victory. While I find McCain relatively harmless - I don't want to waste any more precious time not improving the damn country.

I'm from Dallas. Yay. Do you write for the DMN?