Is pin the tail on the donkey over? What, no goodie bag?

His Royal Highness,

The King

What’s unfolding right now? The Clinton campaign is trying to lie and cheat their way to the nomination. Carville was on TV saying Indiana should be the tiebreaker that decides the nomination. That just makes me see red. What tie? How can there be a tiebreaker when there is no tie? Obama has a clearcut lead. Why does the Clinton campaign have the power to say which states matter in deciding the nomination and which don’t? Why does the outcome in Indiana mean more to the nomination than the outcome in North Carolina? Why single out one state and gloss over the aggregate results of all the other contests? Clearly, the Clintons aren’t playing by the rules and are trying to change them.

I absolutely can’t stand the Clintons (and the whole cast of characters they bring with them). If Hillary is the nominee, I will absolutely be on the warpath to deny her the White House.

So far, Ohio Republicans have been lethargic. I think I’ve slacked off, too, in recent months. I won’t be slacking off if Hillary is nominated. I’ll be on fire. Do you think I’ll be an anomaly? I think I’ll be joined by hundreds of thousands of Republicans who will also catch fire, and we will overturn every rock to find every vote we can against Clinton.

Dismiss my rantings out of hand if you want, but I truly think Hillary is TOAST!

For the record, McCain is enough like Bush and all the people with whom he’ll surround himself are enough like Bush that I could never vote for him – well – never say never, but it’s extremely unlikely.

I find Obama very likable, but I disagree with his political views. If I were to invite people over for a Super Bowl party at my place, and tell everyone to bring some munchies, of the three top presidential candidates, I’d most likely invite Obama. He seems like a person that would be fun to hang with.

I’m not going to vote for Obama, though, because, ideologically, there is more common ground between myself and McCain than there is between myself and Obama.

In 2006, I voted for Mike DeWine, not Sherrod Brown. Sherrod Brown is far more to the left than I am. Likewise, Barack Obama is far more to the left than I am. I only meant to say that it’s not unfathomable that someone on the left is capable of winning Ohio over a centrist candidate.

McCain’s problem in Ohio is Bush – as would be any Republican’s problem here. Ohio’s economic situation, as it relates to those things about which the government can take and has taken action on, has worsened. Why on earth would Ohioans want more of that?

Distinguish McCain all you want, but he will owe the GOP something HUGE if he were to win the White House and that reality overshadows any likelihood that he’ll be anything like he was in 2000 when he appeared to be more sentient (sorry, I couldn’t help myself – he has just appeared so out of it lately – it disturbs me enormously that people would vote for him, the way he is performing).

I have doubt’s about McCain’s ability to win Ohio against Obama. Despite Hillary’s win here, I think Clinton supporters, for the most part, will line up behind the Democrat nominee. McCain is not as organized and doesn’t have the campaign cash that George W. Bush had. Bush’s GOTV effort in Ohio was the most organized, most energetic, and most successful GOTV effort I’ve seen on the GOP side in Ohio. I doubt McCain will be able to match that, especially in light of how dispirited the base felt after the scandals and corruption hit them square in the face in 2006. Meanwhile, Obama has out-organized and out-fundraised the Clinton machine. Clinton thought Super Tuesday would end the contest in her favor, and didn’t have organizations on the ground in the states that immediately followed Super Tuesday. Obama had organizations in all the states. So, despite the fact that Obama is far to the left of mainstream America, I saw Sherrod Brown beat Mike DeWine in 2006, so I know it’s entirely possible, though by no means certain, for Obama to beat McCain in Ohio. I wonder how McCain would win the presidency without Ohio.

On the flip side, if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination after the superdelegates weigh in, I guarantee McCain beats her in Ohio. Remember those dispirited Republican voters who didn’t bother to vote in 2006 after scandals and corruption were unveiled among some prominent Republican officeholders in this state? Well, many in the Republican base feel (me, included) that the Clintons embody scandal and corruption. McCain looks squeaky clean by comparison. The Republican base will be energized like you wouldn’t believe, and McCain wouldn’t need the most organized GOTV effort in order to turn out Republicans. The young voters who haven’t yet established ingrained voting habits, who were energized by Obama will not be enthralled by Clinton, so there will be a drop-off in the youth vote. There will be some who perceive that superdelegates stole the nomination from Obama, and will have to be physically dragged to the polls to vote for Clinton, and perhaps, once they’re in the voting booth, some of them will opt for McCain. Clinton does not talk of unifying people of all persuasions as Obama does, and independent voters will be heavily courted by McCain, and will remember that, of the two, Hillary is the more partisan, while it is well known that McCain has worked both sides of the aisle, so McCain is the less polarizing of the two. Despite Clinton’s win in Ohio over Obama, I would be very surprised if she can beat McCain. I’m not sure how Hillary wins the presidency without Ohio.

So, from my Republican vantage point, I don’t see the Democrat race the way Lisa Renee does.

Seriously, Lisa Renee – what can individuals do to press for that?

If you look at the states where there has actually been a democratic process of one person, one vote as the November election will be then it’s a different picture.

When you look at how much money Obama spent in PA, the fact that Clinton has been declared the winner, no matter how large the percentage ends up being should say something. If people wanted this primary process to be over, if they truly had confidence that Barack Obama was “the one”, they would have voted for him. They didn’t, hence this continues and I agree with Bad American, Hillary will not drop out. This ones going to the Convention.

I’m not going to pretend I’m a hard core Hillary fan though I did vote for her and I do still believe she would have a better chance of beating McCain in the fall, which is supposed to be the main goal, electing a Democrat as president. I’d also like for what has happened to make states really take a look at their primary process and for the whole concept of caucuses and super delegates be looked at with the goal of creating something that is more democratic than what we have now.

She’s spent her entire adult life with one aim – to get here. And she will not slide gracefully off the stage. Will not.

By the time the bloodbath is over, McCain will be measuring for drapes in the Oval Office.

Yes, I’m a curmudgeon. Can I have Dick Feagler’s job now?