February 11, 2008
Almost March Madness
COLLEGE PARK, Md -- 18,000.
That’s how many, mostly students, turned out at the University of Maryland’s Comcast Center today – and they weren’t there for an ACC championship match between the Terrapins and Duke Blue Devils. They showed up on a cold school day to see Barack Obama on this eve of the Potomac Primary, when MD, VA and DC voters head to the polls.
“The last thing we need is to have the same old cast of characters, doing the same old things ...” Obama said today as the screams and applause of the audience drowned out his voice.
Already, the pundits are predicting a sweep tomorrow for Obama over Hillary Clinton. They cite Mason Dixon surveys released Sunday that indicate he leads by 18 points in Maryland and 16 points in Virginia. The chattering class also notes, probably not unerringly, that the black populations of MD (29.5%), VA (20%) and DC (56.5%) could give Obama a boost. Meanwhile, Obama does well with affluent, highly educated voters of the kind found in Montgomery County and Northern Virginia.
But a victory here on the banks of the Potomac River, where the business of politics is done, won’t be the story of the day. Nor will the demographic causalities of that win necessarily provide deeper insight into all that’s driving this seemingly unending two-person nomination contest.
What we will know anew, perhaps, is that Obama is on a streak. A serious one. The kind that must be forcing young Democratic up and comers, like MD Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is supporting HRC, to wonder if they’ve backed the wrong candidate.
“This is a place where he should win,” Maryland Attorney Gen. Douglas F. Gansler, Obama’s MD co-chairman, told On Call in a recent interview. “These are smart people. Where there are smart people, he should win. I don’t think there’s much that can stop the tide right now.”
If Obama does come out on top of all three contests tomorrow, he will have scored eight of the last eight primaries and caucuses. And what’s on the horizon couldn’t be better tailored to his strengths: Hawaii and Wisconsin. He grew up in the former. The latter abuts his home state of Illinois and is home to a large state university.
Wins there would give him 10 in a row – and Clinton would have gone two weeks without a victory. In the meantime, we have learned that she dumped her campaign manager and longtime friend, Patti Solis Doyle, and loaned $5M to her campaign.
Not a good show, by anyone’s estimation.
But whether Obama’s movement -- which columnist Paul Krugman wrote in today’s New York Times is “dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality” -- is more than that, still, strangely, remains to be seen. Today indeed felt, as Obama’s rallies often do, like a party.
Anwan Glover, a star of The Wire, a stellar HBO series about the streets of Baltimore that has a cult following of its own, spoke early in the program. As attendees waited for the candidate to show, they did the wave. And this classic 1970 song by Stan Vincent, filled the room: “Ooh child, things are gonna get easier, Ooh child, things will be brighter … ” After taking the stage, Obama even thanked the DJ for his music.
It all feels so good. It does, there’s no denying it. The students left pumped. But as their tuition costs rise and federal aid falls off, as they enter a work world with stagnant wages and fewer available jobs, is their optimism false? Or is it ok to hope at all cost, no matter the work that lies ahead?
Maybe hope, once stirred, is more vital to this contest than the hopelessly undemocratic courting and counting of superdelegates.
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
Posted at 09:09 PM
Comments
First: I would guess that some Candidates do not Like Caucusses because it is very hard to Cheat at a Caucus, as it is done in the light of day, and there are no Diebold machines with no paper trail which can be hacked into. That is why California got rid of their Diebold Machines because they have courageously admitted that they are susceptible to Hacking!
Second: Blue-collar workers, teachers, etc., do not work on Saturday or Sunday, so that is not an acceptable excuse for why the Clintons do not do good at caucusess.
Third: Blue-collar workers and teachers are Also for Obama, as are some Latinos, women, etc.!
BacaAngel | 02.12.08 09:24 AM
 |
Post a comment
The Watergate · 600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-739-8400 · fax 202-833-8069
NationalJournal.com is an Atlantic Media publication.
