Obama swept up the Iowa Caucus, and is looking like he will continue his sweep through New Hampshire and South Carolina. This is a big blow to the Clinton organization, and shows that Obama is pulling in new voters and youth at a fast clip. This increase of voter turn-out surprised many pundits, and is a great sign of improvement of interest in the political process by the electorate. Obama greatly increased his likelihood of being the Democratic nominee. He may have more trouble than Clinton in the general election if faced up against someone like McCain who hast vast experience. Obama is certainly a fantastic motivational speaker, but did not draw as much confidence as Clinton with his response to tough questions in the New Hampshire debate like how to prevent and respond to a nuclear attack. Clinton remains ahead in early polling in super Tuesday states such as California, but the winners of early states have enormous power to sway.
One annoying fallout of Obama's Iowa victory is all the copy-cat and me-too campaigning going on. Obama nicely branded his campaign around two words: Hope and Change. Stump speeches by every single major candidate now have moved to the defensive with most candidates urging desperately that they are for change too. Romney said the word change perhaps 22 times in 30 seconds in a recent speech. Clinton is urging how she has delivered change over the past 35 years and doesn't just talk about it. Finally, Edwards talks about how Clinton is merely the status quo and that he and Obama are the only agents of change.
No comments:
Post a Comment