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Just when you thought we might be whittling down the number of presidential candidates, there’s a new one about to jump in. According to a political website, Fitsnews.com, former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia is about to announce his candidacy with the Libertarian Party. The same site predicts tonight that GOP Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who has refused to endorse the presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain and continues his own vain campaign, will endorse Barr’s bid. That would indeed make for an unusual sight, an active candidate in one party endorsing a new one in another party. Paul actually ran as the Libertarian Party’s candidate for president in 1988, but has consistently rejected a third-party bid throughout this campaign. The 72-year-old Paul’s campaign — he’s the only survivor beyond McCain of 11 Republicans from last year — surprised many political observers with its financial potency. Some 800,000 eager and energetic voters, many of them new to politics, have given him in excess of $32 million in the last year, nearly $20 million of it in the last quarter of 2007, to make him the largest GOP fundraiser then. They developed a whole range of creative ideas to arouse political support, including a pinup calendar of nearly naked Hotties4Ron Paul. Barr, who represented Georgia’s 7th District for eight years until 2003, like Paul has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with current Republican Party leadership. He’s praised Paul for…. tapping into that same dissatisfaction with his strict constitutionalist approach and desire to drastically reduce the size of the federal government. You may also remember Barr as the activist House floor manager during the impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton. Paul has said he will continue to slog on as long as his supporters support him with their energy and donations. He reported about $5 million cash in hand at the end of February and zero campaign debt. As an ardent opponent of the Iraq war, Paul has declined to endorse McCain and don’t expect him to change his mind. In a recent interview with Newsweek, he said his supporters would like to work within the GOP but often find themselves unwelcome. He was asked if he would urge them to vote for Republican McCain come November. "I’m not going to tell them what to do," Paul replied. "But I honestly can’t imagine any of them supporting him. That would be a tough sale. The odds of him all of a sudden coming to one of our rallies and being cheered on are not very high." –Andrew Malcolm
I had forgotten what a 16- or 17-hour travel day can do to one’s system. But here’s to getting back on the blogging wagon (or is it falling off the blogging wagon?). As much as I believe there is credence to the argument that a protracted Democratic primary can have a deleterious effect upon the party’s ability to win back the White House this fall, particularly as the longer the battle draws out the shorter window of time the eventual nominee will have to unite the base, reports like these remind us that the seemingly never-ending battle to be the Democratic Party’s standard bearer this fall has some positive consequences as well.
While a final number may not be available for a few weeks, the Pennsylvania Department of State has released an update on the number of people registered to vote in the April 22 Democratic primary here. And it shows a massive registration effort on the final day of eligibility. There are a few things that stand out here. First, the Democrats now have more than a 900,000 advantage in voter registration in Pennsylvania, which tended to be a fairly evenly divided state in the past. In relative terms, nearly 30 percent more Pennsylvanians are registered as Democrats as are registered as Republicans. Perhaps even more amazing than the overall numbers is the recent trend, with the Democratic rolls growing by a net 188,000 (new Democratic registrants and party switchers minus new Republican registrants and party switchers) just since the beginning of the year. This margin makes up more than 20 percent of the party’s overall advantage in the state. What’s more, the Democrats have registered 72 percent more voters since the March 24 deadline (presumably applications that came in that day but are only now being processed) than the Republicans have since January 1. Taken as a whole, these numbers strongly suggest that there are some very real upsides to the ongoing Democratic nomination fight even if there are negatives arising in other areas. Tags: Pennsylvania Primary, Pennsylvania, Democratic Primaries, General Election (all tags)
David Shribman:
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