Morally Vacuous and Poisonously Dogmatic?
Radley Balko responds to the Weekly Standard’s attacks on libertarianism in this week’s issue. Matt Welch has already made a formal response.
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Moronski on Tsunami Tuesday’s fallout
After the smoke clears, the Democrat scrum is somewhat muddled.
Mrs. Clinton has a small delegate lead (about 100 out of over 2,000 total) on Obama, but he has the resources and enthusiasm to make this a long run. Democratic primaries are “proportional,” meaning that you get delegates if you received at least 15 percent of the vote. Perhaps to the Convention in Denver, where the 700+ “super delegates” (party and elected officials that are not committed to a candidate) may make the final judgment.
As for the GOP, McCain leads, but the pile is smoldering with hostility.
McCain has approximately half of the almost 1,200 delegates with Romney under 300 and Huckabee around 200. Last night, McCain did very well in the winner-take-all states (first place gets ALL delegates), winning six of the eight. Romney is the big loser of the night. He can’t get traction in the South and he lost California. Huckabee—a regional and sectarian candidate—cannot win the nomination but he can win delegates, mucking up the situation.
Where do we go from here?
This battle turns into a street fight. On Saturday, February 9, there are three contests:
—KS caucus (36 delegates): Social conservatives strong here. Mostly a winner-take-all event. Look for Huckabee to compete hard here.—LA primary (20 delegates): Weird race here. Less than half available delegates up for grabs here. Need 50 percent of vote to win all, otherwise delegates are “uncommitted.” Huckabee’s recent performance probably prevents anyone from reaching 50 percent.—WA caucus (18 delegates): Another weird one. Other 19 delegates chosen in Feb. 19 primary.
The next big battle is Tuesday, Feb. 12—the Beltway Primary:—DC primary (16 delegates): DCs 16 Republicans will meet in a phone booth to decide to vote for John McCain.—MD primary (37 delegates): Winner-takes-most. No polling here, but McCain probably has a good shot here.—VA primary (63 delegates): Winner-takes-all. Romney HAS to win here if he is serious. I think it’s a tough task. State GOP has three distinct groups: country clubbers in DC burbs, military folks in the southeast, and the true believers scattered everywhere else. McCain is solid with the military and country club, while Huck will do well among some of the true believers.
From there, it’s off to March 4:—Feb 16: Guam, 6 delegates, nobody cares.—Feb 19: WA primary (19 delegates, generally proportional) and WI primary (37 delegates, winner-takes-most)—Feb 23: American Samoa, 6 delegates. Road trip???—Feb 24: Puerto Rico, 20 delegates. Si se puede.—Mar 1: TN state GOP executive committee chooses 13 delegates.
The next big day:
Texas! It’s like a whole other country! So is their primary, with 137 proportional delegates.
Ohio and its GOP civil war. Why does it always come down to them? A winner-take-most primary with 85 delegates.
Vermont and the “Ben & Jerry’s” Primary with 17 winner-take-all delegates. McCain country.
Ditto for Rhode Island, with its 17 proportional delegates.
The GOP race should be close to conclusion by then… but then again, who would have figured John McCain would have been the nominee three months ago?
No commentsBlogging the cancer: side effects…
So far my only side affect of the chemo is from the antibodies that I am getting every week. Its a rather visual side affect that generally is just a nuisance and doesn’t really hurt except in the sensitive bits its ended up finding to occupy.
You can use this picture to scare children if they misbehave.
No commentsPolar bears
Not only are they not cute when they are big; they lie about things as well. Instead of decreasing in numbers they are doing their bit and expanding their population. No doubt their prey is well aware.
No commentsGalloway on Iran TV
His animal imitations alone could have earned him a regular slot on CBeebies, but George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green & Bow, has secured himself a far meatier television slot.The controversial Left-winger has, I hear, been given a weekly place on Press TV, an English 24-hour news channel set up last year by the Iranian government.
“It’s a current affairs programme,” I’m told, “called The Real Deal. He’ll be joining journalist Andrew Gilligan and author Michael Dobbs, who also have their own shows.”
No one can be shocked to see Galloway taking Iranian money or sucking up to yet another M.E. loon.
No commentsSuper Tuesday redux
First impressions are that the rubbish driver from Massachusetts with the family name did not help Obama win his state. Neither did any of the others in that clan who jumped on board with Obama. (No one actually thought Kerry would help did they?) And Oprah didn’t help in California. I have always been rather neutral on endorsements being of any use, no change in that opinion.
The other thing is that Huckaloon seems to have actually done a decent job of spoiling things for Romney. What the man is playing at is a bit of a mystery. Lets just hope the Republicans make sure he has no power at the convention. Keep the Christian authoritarian away from power please.
Yet again the much promised surge in young voters was a bit of a damp squib. They tell us they are “excited” every election cycle but it is always thus.
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