Reflections From a Murky Pond

Tuesday, February 5, 2008 is Super Tuesday - the day when 24 states with over half the delegates to the national conventions hold their primaries. While the Republican race is interesting this time around, it’s the Democrats who are generating the most interest.

Here’s my hope - unfounded and immaterial as it is - for Super Tuesday:

Hehe - Snatch!

Wouldn’t it be great if Obama snatched “the crown” from Hillary? Will Hillary learn the hard way that she isn’t entitled to be the Nominee?

From Funny And Jokes:

The Pope and Hillary Rodham Clinton are on the same stage, in front of a huge crowd. ‘Her Majesty’ and ‘His Holiness’, however, have seen it all before so to make it a little more interesting the senator says to the Pope, “Did you know that with just one little wave of my hand I can make every Democrat in this crowd go wild?”

He doubts this, so she shows him. Sure enough, the wave elicits rapture and cheering from every democrat in the crowd. Gradually, the cheering subsides.

The Pope, not wanting to be outdone by such arrogance, considers what he should do. “That was impressive. But did you know that with just one little wave of MY hand I can make EVERY person in the crowd go crazy with joy? This joy will not be a momentary display like that of your subjects, but will go deep into their hearts, and they will forever speak of this day and rejoice.”

The senator seriously and presidential candidate doubts this, and tells him this. So the Pope slaps her upside the head. The crowd goes wild.

Unless you’re a staunch supporter of Hillary or have a negative knee-jerk reaction to any mention of any form of violence towards any woman, I just bet you laughed at this one. Go ahead, admit it to yourself.

John Edwards suspended his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday, January 29, 2008. Edwards suspended his campaign as opposed to terminating it. His campaign staff claims that Edwards’ decision to suspend the campaign rather than terminate it was nothing more than legal terminology so that he can continue to receive federal matching funds for his campaign donations.

Given the debts that all the candidates accrue during their campaigns, this is quite plausible - but so is another, darker reason. Edwards may well desire to play Kingmaker (or Queenmaker) in 2008.

When Edwards resigned from the race he told reporters that he would meet again with Clinton and Obama before deciding whether to make an endorsement. He set no timetable for deciding whether to endorse either candidate. Unlike Giuliani’s endorsement of McCain, Edwards’ suspended campaign makes his endorsement a potentially very powerful bargaining chip.

In suspending his campaign - instead of terminating it - Edwards gets to keep all 26 delegates he won in: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. After he officially exits the race, 10 of those delegates will be dispersed to the other candidates, with Obama getting 6 and Clinton getting 4. Under Democratic National Party rules, Edwards will maintain a say in naming the other 16 delegates. Edwards had also collected endorsements from 30 of the 852 superdelegates.

If the Democratic race is too close, it could result in a Brokered Convention. Edward’s delegates would place him in a suddenly very powerful position within the DNP as whole and in regards to Hillary and Obama in particular.

Well, at least he has better hair than Cheney!