January 12, 2008

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Huckabee Leads by 1.6%
Huckabee
 21.3
McCain
 19.7
Giuliani
 16.7
Romney
 13.0
Thompson
 10.3
Paul
 3.7
See All Polls
Clinton Leads by 7.0%
Clinton
 37.7
Obama
 30.7
Edwards
 16.3
See All Polls
STATE PRIMARY LEADERS
(EARLY STATES)
Huckabee +7.8%
Obama +13.0%
McCain +2.5%
Clinton Running Unopposed
Huckabee +1.5%
Clinton +10.0%
Romney +3.5%
Clinton +17.5%
Clinton
 48.5
Giuliani
 45.5
Clinton
 47.0
Thompson
 42.0
Clinton
 45.0
McCain
 48.5
Clinton
 49.8
Romney
 44.3
Clinton
 51.3
Huckabee
 42.0
See All Head-to-Head Polls

Why the Ref's Poll Averages Are Superior

The Ref's Calls

Romney's Blunder

On Friday Romney said of Michigan, "If we can’t win here, we can’t win anywhere."  It seems that Romney listened to the pundits.  As I wrote in the last Ref's Call, Romney probably does not need to win Michigan to remain a serious contender for the Republican nomination. 

Michigan, like Iowa and New Hampshire, allows Independents to vote.  Although in Michigan Democrats are also allowed to vote.  Michigan sets up perfectly for McCain, a more middle of the road candidate on the issues.

Unless Romney has made some tortured calculation to the effect that he must make his supporters realize that this is the last stand to properly motivate them, it seems that he simply misunderstands where he is in the race.

Romney's real competition is Fred Thompson.  If he can outlast Fred Thompson in this race he stands to win quite a few states where only Republicans can vote.  Perhaps Romney knows this and, as mentioned before, is simply trying to convey the notion that this is an important election. 

Regardless of the reason, when pundits are foaming at the mouth for your scalp it is never a good idea to give them words to hang you with. The Ref - Jan. 11, 2008   

MEDIA NEEDS REALITY CHECK: Romney Not Out if He Loses Michigan Despite Media Predictions

The pundits declared Iowa and New Hampshire must win states for Romney. He won neither state yet he is the delegate leader. 

Delegate leader? Yes, delegate leader. In a race for delegates, delegates are what matter, not the number of wins a candidate amasses.  One would think many of the pundits do not know this basic fact.   

Romney has made it clear that he will not drop out of the race. He will run in all fifty states. He does not need the media to prop him up to raise money because he already has more money than any other candidate has or will have.

Why does the media continue to predict Romney's demise? Perhaps the fact that the conservative establishment supports him represents the reason. 

Regardless of the reason the predictions will be premature until February 5th at the earliest no matter what happens in Michigan. Bottom line, if Romney leads in delegates or is somewhere near the top after February 5th he is very much in the game.

Pundits that say candidates are finished after one, two, or even five states this year fail to account for the open nature of the Republican race. News channels' need to fill a great deal of time does not justify the incompetent political analysis we have seen lately. We have seen far too much of it this year.  The Ref - Jan. 9, 2008 

First Evidence of Faux Support for a Black Candidate in This Race

One of the consistent problems in polling on a black candidate are respondents who say they will vote for a black candidate but fail to when in the privacy of the voting booth. Some strange force seems to grasp some respondents that compels them to voice support for a black candidate when they do not intend to vote for him or her.

Certainly the polls have not been supremely accurate during this election cycle, but no polls have been so uniformly wrong than those that predicted a large Obama victory in New Hampshire. 

The force that compels the false response seems to rely on a lurking desire to please the pollster. Perhaps the high profile of polling in US politics is to blame. Even those who shun politics and only hear political conversations secondhand in bars or restaurants have heard the familiar refrain, "I don't know who they're polling. I've never been called." 

It is true. Very few potential voters actually receive calls from pollsters. So when one receives a call from a pollster who will report these results nationwide there might be a bit of nervousness that arises built on the desire not to look foolish or backward. 

Perhaps this is the reason that so many who said they would vote for Obama apparently did not. Maybe when they entered the voting booth without any desire to please another, but with only a sense of duty to do what they think is right, they voted for Hillary instead of Obama. 

These people are not racists but merely human. When so much attention is paid by the media to the wonder of a black man seriously contending for the presidential nomination, it is not surprising that some poll respondents respond in a way that they assume the pollster wants them to.  

Certainly other explanations may account for some of the disparity between the polls and the actual result, but some voters who told pollsters they would vote for Obama did not and probably never intended to.  The Ref - Jan. 8, 2008

Pundits Show Remarkable Shortsightedness

One cannot tune into a news channel or read a newspaper without finding predictions of Hillary's complete demise if she loses New Hampshire.  Unfortunately for Hillary haters, the conventional rules for the early primaries do not apply.

Pundits may very well be more concerned with ratings and circulation than reality, but their conclusion that Obama can finish Hillary off by winning the first three states ignores reality.  Here is reality.

The Clinton machine is massive and powerful.  In 1992 Bill Clinton did not win until Georgia and they have that built in narrative to fall back on.  Clinton leads in every state but the first three by sizable margins.  Finally, the first three primaries will have much less impact on the rest of the nation because they take place over a much shorter period of time than ever before.

While pundits rush to declare Obama the victor, Clinton waits for the day when they declare her back from the dead.  What better way to redefine yourself than by coming back from the dead?  Make no mistake about it, Hillary Clinton, even if she loses New Hampshire and South Carolina, will be very much alive.  If you doubt that simply refer to the Ref's National Poll Averages.     

Do not misread me.  I have no desire for Hillary or any other candidate to win.  But to declare her dead after three primaries simply ignores reality, this year at least.  The Ref - Jan. 6, 2008

The Ref's Daily Political Brief

Thompson Receives Endorsements as He Keeps Up Criticism of Huckabee

Obama and Bill Clinton, Fairy Tales Surrounding the Fairly Tale Comment?

Hillary Proposes Economic Stimulus Plan as Racial Tensions Arise

Huckabee, the Fair Tax and a Controversial Skit

Giuliani Rasises Spending While Asking Staffers to Take No Pay

Fox News Hatred Fueling Attacks?

Polls

 


Yahoo! News: Politics News

Catholic hospitals support health care bill (AP)

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., right, accompanied by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., gestures during a health care news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)AP - A group representing Catholic hospitals Saturday rallied behind President Barack Obama's health care bill ahead of a House vote in which anti-abortion lawmakers could play a decisive role.




Senate, Obama spar over health plan's pet projects (AP)

Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., left, looks on as Gina Owens hugs her grandson, Marcelas Owens from Seattle, Wash., whose mother, Tiffany Owens died after losing her job and health care, Thursday, March 11, 2010, during a health care news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)AP - President Barack Obama says he wants projects helping specific states yanked from the health care bill Congress is writing. Democratic senators, being senators, beg to differ.




Obama promise: Focus on getting kids to college (AP)

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan listens to students, teachers and former students about their educational experience as he visits Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery, Ala., during brief stops at schools in Montgomery and Selma, Ala., Monday, March 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, David Bundy)AP - President Barack Obama is promising parents and their kids that with his administration's help they will have better teachers in improved schools so U.S. students can make up for academic ground lost against youngsters in other countries.




Obama to unveil education plan (Politico)
Politico - The blueprint he is sending to Congress will flesh out details of his plan.

A POLITICO survey: The tea party's least favorite Republicans (Politico)
Politico - A survey of grass-roots tea party leaders cites John McCain as the largest GOP disappointment.

Pelosi: Confident House will pass health care bill (AP)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference Saturday March 13, 2010, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)AP - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Saturday she's confident the House will pass health care legislation and dismissed Republican criticism that she did not have enough votes for the measure.




US mom: Daughter held in Ireland 'lost her mind' (AP)

Christine Mott, 58, cries as she talks about her daughter Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, at her home in Leadville, Colo., on Saturday, March 13, 2010. Paulin-Ramirez was the second American arrested in a plot to kill the Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks over a 2007 sketch depicting the head of the Prophet Muhammad on a dog's body. (AP Photo/Chris Schneider)AP - Before her daughter disappeared last fall, Christina Mott recalls that the 31-year-old who had been held in connection with an alleged assassination plot announced she had converted to Islam and told them they'd go to hell if they didn't follow in her steps.




Despite brashness, Bunning a hero back home in Ky. (AP)
AP - Irascible Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning has been a pariah among his congressional colleagues. Back in the conservative swath of northern Kentucky he calls home, though, he's being heralded as a hero.

It's time to spring forward again (AP)
AP - Good evening sunshine, America says hello, you light up our evenings, we light charcoal below.

States scramble after high court election ruling (AP)

** FILE ** In this Feb. 6, 2007 file photo, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner talks in her office in Columbus, Ohio. When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down old limits on campaign spending in January, it left states facing an election year burden: brace for a flood of new money in elections, or find new ways to rein it in. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, file)AP - The U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of decades-old campaign spending limits gives states scant time to face an election-year dilemma: brace for a flood of new money in politics, or find new ways to rein it in.




US gov't knew about NJ man before Yemen arrest (AP)
AP - A law enforcement official says the U.S. government knew about the New Jersey man charged in Yemen with being a member of al-Qaida, even before Yemeni officials arrested him.

Serbian police detain 9 over alleged war crimes (AP)
AP - Serbian police have detained nine former paramilitary fighters suspected of killing civilians and looting homes during the Kosovo war, a war crimes prosecutor said Saturday.

Port Authority, developer continue WTC talks (AP)

James Nolan, a construction worker and 9/11 first responder, stands outside the construction site where he is currently working Friday, March 12, 2010, in New York. Nolan, one of thousands of ground zero workers who claim to have been sickened by dust and debris from the World Trade Center, will have 90 days to decide whether to accept a settlement worth up to $657.5 million. (AP Photo/David Goldman)AP - Both sides negotiating a new completion plan for the World Trade Center site say they're continuing to talk despite a deadline.




New Sen. Brown bashes Obama's 'bitter' health push (AP)

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee member Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., questions witnesses during a hearing on intelligence reform and the lessons of the Christmas Day attack - watch listing and pre-screening, Wednesday, March 10, 2010, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)AP - Newly arrived Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts accused President Barack Obama and Democrats on Saturday of a "bitter, destructive and endless" drive to pass health overhaul legislation that Brown warned would be disastrous.




Agency places shotgun order: FBI? No, Education Department (McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Schools may be gun-free zones, but the U.S. Department of Education is locked and loaded.

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