Over the HILLary

Seems a lot of folks are just that. According to Time magazine, she has every reason to be worried with how things are going. She hasn't fared well lately, assuming a lot of people were on her side that apparently are not. Her recent come back quotes always include the words "Texas" and "Ohio."

While she was in VA for the primary here last week, she was busy doing teleconferences and radio shows in TX and OH. She was on the ground in El Paso before the votes were even counted here and she wasn't the top pick here by far.

Time mag laid out why she has little reason to be so hopeful about Ohio. Apparently it has nearly identical demographics to Missouri. The populations of white, blacks, and Hispanics, as well as young college folk and urban blue collar workers are almost exactly the same and Obama won Missouri.

More importantly, Obama is doing much better among Hispanics than he initially did. He'd did very well in that demographic in Maryland and has been gaining steam. This spells trouble for her assumed victory in Texas.

The article pointed out that Obama has done several things to bring him to this point:
He has consistently gotten to each state before Hillary's people and hired the best locals He has never assumed a victory anywhere He has chosen experience and expertise as well as new ideas over former loyalty when choosing people to run the ground campaign

meanwhile...
Hillary has been tauting herself as the "incumbent" who has already been in the White House

Bill has been hurting her campaign as much as helping it in many ways. For every article on the good he does for her is one on the drag he creates. Besides encouraging the idea that no Dem is going to want to be her VP if Bill is the defacto to that office. It wasn't long ago that Obama pointed that out in a debate. "Sometimes i don't know which of you i am running against."

Eight years ago, many Democrats and non-partisans were quite excited about Hillary's chances. Then she got in the public spotlight and into real politics, out from behind the scenes. Democrats finally saw who they were dealing with and she is quickly becoming feared by as many Dems as Republicans.

Several months back, i learned that one of my good college buddies was working for Obama's campaign. He was pretty much a idealistic (in my point of view, naive) socialist in college, typical to UNC. i was curious why he was supporting Obama over Hillary. His answer was that Hillary even scared him and that he'd leave the country if she even ended up on the ticket WITH Obama.

Either way, my bet is that November 2008 will make more people happy than it did in 1996, 2000, or 2004. Democrats and moderates alike will be happy with either McCain or Obama. And poor Libertarians like me will be praying diligently that the person elected will maybe read the US Constitution...


PS: i'm not counting Hillary out just yet

The em-FAH-sis is on the wrong sih-LAB-bull

So i just took several interesting accent tests. i was curious because lately, Ashley has been pointing out how southern i talk on the phone with my parishioners in this little rural church i serve. Typically, i have almost no accent, but i do use y'all and many other vernacular phrases indicative of the south. However, much of what i say and how i pronounce things correctly pegs me as northern or mid-western. i've been told numerous times that i don't have an accent or have a "middle America" radio voice. So i took the following tests:

What American Accent do You Have?
With these results:

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Inland North

You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."

Not exactly. i've never used pop to refer to soft drink in my life. And i've only been to Chicago once.

The Other What American Accent do You Have?
These results:

Northern

You have a Northern accent. That could either be the Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent (easily recognizable) or the Western New England accent that news networks go for.

Also, not so much.


Slightly worried, i took the Yankee Test. This test is helpful because it tells you where each answer is common after you choose an answer. Mine seemed to be US broad-based with a few in the mid-west and Texas and a couple in the Southeast.
With this result:

68% Dixie.Well under the Mason-Dixon Line

So, i don't say the L in SALMON like folk down here, and i pronounce most things as the appear in the dictionary, but use "y'all." Not sure these tests with only 10-20 questions are very helpful. If you find a more comprehensive one, let me know.

Yes WE CAN!

Barack Obama was recently quoted as saying, "Change cannot take place in America, unless there is new leadership in Washington..."

He then posed for a photo-op with world-renowned Mister Anti-establishment... Ted Kennedy!

I know who to vote for now!

Recently, Bill Clinton, while stumping for Hillary said that we "may need to slow down the economy to reduce global warming."

There ya have it folks... your obvious choice...