RunInRed 16,487 Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 I hope they are right! http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/i....xml&coll=2 With its presidential primaries now on Feb. 5, Alabama is once again a player Sunday, February 03, 2008 They like us! They really like us! Or maybe just our 60 Democratic and 48 Republican delegates. At any rate, presidential candidates are flocking to Alabama like they haven't in two decades. John McCain. John Edwards. Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani. Christopher Dodd. Hillary Clinton. Mike Huckabee. Barack Obama. And former President Bill Clinton on his wife's behalf. It's been 20 years since the state was at all relevant in the party primary process; by the time Alabama voters had a chance to have their say in June, the nominees had long been decided. The Legislature's decision to move the primaries to Feb. 5 was a good one, diminished only slightly by a stampede of states, many of them larger, that followed. Still, Alabama again is a player. And what a historic presidential campaign in which state voters get to play on this Tsunami Tuesday, when voters from 24 states go to the polls. Forget, for a moment, candidates' political parties or positions on the issues. That a female and a minority are running - and both have a solid chance of winning - speaks well of traditional American ideals, but also of America in 2008, where voters are less likely to let gender or color determine their choice of candidate. Our recommendations: Democratic primary: Former first lady Hillary Clinton's ascendancy isn't a surprise. The senator from New York was deemed the early front-runner; in fact, many viewed her nomination as inevitable. But something happened along the way to her coronation. That something is the audacity of hope embodied by Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. He is not the man from Hope, but Obama sells hope like the Home Shopping Network peddles Esteban's guitars. With his cool charisma and soaring rhetoric, Obama mesmerizes crowds the way John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan did. He sells the hope of bridging America's ideological divide, of restoring our standing around the world, of improving the lives of our downtrodden, and many voters are buying. Except for details, there's not much difference in the two candidates' positions on major issues. Obama points out he always has been against the war in Iraq, while Clinton voted to authorize the war but now says she's against it. Clinton touts her experience and her ability to get things done. Unfortunately for Democrats, she carries enough baggage to fill an airport luggage carousel. And her husband's heavyhanded (and hardly presidential) treatment of Obama hasn't played well with many. In the general election, Republicans will remind voters of every problem, real and imagined, from the Clintons' eight years in the White House. For Democrats, Obama, with his ability to inspire and to mobilize young, African-American and independent voters, in particular, offers the best hope of victory in the general election. Barack Obama is the better choice for Democratic primary voters Tuesday. Republican primary: How many Republicans have been anointed the front-runner of the moment? John McCain. Rudy Giuliani. Fred Thompson. Mitt Romney. Mike Huckabee. And John McCain. Part of all that shuffling is the ebb and flow of a months-long campaign, where momentum matters and a primary or caucus victory can propel someone to the top. But the multiple front-runners also reflect a Republican Party that is having a hard time finding a candidate who fits the traditional Reagan coalition mold. Last summer, when McCain's campaign was broke, who would have imagined the senator from Arizona emerging as the candidate to beat heading into Super Tuesday? Despite the continued presence of Huckabee in the primaries, the Republican race seems to have come down to McCain and Romney. Romney, former Massachusetts governor, is a candidate from central casting. He's movie-star handsome, an ultrasuccessful businessman and family man. But Romney's recent convenient conversions on issues important to the Republican base, such as abortion and stem-cell research, have dogged his campaign from the get-go. McCain's perceived weaknesses - his staunch support for the Iraq war and his stand on immigration, to name a few - have actually become strengths. They show McCain's willingness to stand for what he believes in, no matter the political cost (even as he has pandered to the religious right on some issues). Throw in his status as a real war hero, his ability to work across the aisle and his longstanding aversion to big government, and you have the Grand Old Party's best candidate, not just for the primaries but for November. We recommend John McCain to Tuesday's Republican primary voters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsixfive 328 Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 This is something I've never understood. Why does the media tell me who I should vote for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinCrimson 61 Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 This is something I've never understood. Why does the media tell me who I should vote for? They tell you everything else. Why would you expect a situation such as this to be any different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsixfive 328 Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 They tell you everything else. Why would you expect a situation such as this to be any different? I don't. I still get disappointed about it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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