Centerfield

I am a woman and a few years older than Obama. To be fair, I also live in Illinois. But, Sen. Obama got alot of support from the white males in southern Illinois in 04. Southern Il. is like the deep south. And in the gop strong counties he got overwhelming support.
This was before Ryan's campaign fell apart.
Obama attracts people from a wide group.
What the pundits hate is that he is hard to pin down, catagorize or put him in the same lump with other dem candidates. he defies this. And they think it makes them look stupid.
What they don't understand is that even though an intellectual and bridge builder, Obama is a Chicago politician and you don't survive being "obambi' He can play it rough.
But, even a close friend in the State Senate said you could never put him in a catagory or predict what he'd vote for or against. He was his own person.
this is what the Inside the Beltway types do not get. They love Hillary as she is the ultimate insider and shill. But, Obama is in a universe to himself.

LOL... Obama may very well end up black and blue and still lose. Being a universse unto oneself may not be the best way to win votes. So far Obama's moves have been predictable and Hillary does have Bill in the home stretch. I was born in Cook County and I have hope for Obama. He needs less pandering and more fresh ideas. How about a bit more outrage over Darfur? I think the political climate is poor for someone like Obama right now. It seems its all about slogans that play to the damned bases.

Newsflash: Ironic tragedy in Gaza today that Hamas blames on the world. Straight out of South Park........

Obvously only time will tell whether Obama can bridge this gap between the wine track and the beer track. But he seems like a quick study, so it's a trend worth keeping an eye upon.

Long way to go of course. I expect at least one other person to emerge as the 3rd horse, and uually the 3rd horse takes more out of one frontrunner than the other. My guess is that a guy like Richardson or Edwards takes more from Hillary because they have the same establishment feel and experience hocking to the beer track.

The other thing to wonder about is what happens in the new 2008 primary dynamic. Will we get higher interest and higher participation with the new big early states? If people cross over to vote in the 2008 democratic primaries, I expect most crossovers will be casting Obama votes. And will a state like California give BIG MO to a more liberal candidate like Obama? Quite possibly yes.

I do give some credence to the notion of Hillary bringing Bill out of the bullpen as the closer. Yet how big an effect he can have is questionable. He'll have to come into the game very late to have a mostly positive effect. if he comes in too early, that leaves time for the anti-meme "well who's going to be running things" to sow doubts about Hillary as top dog.

I think if Hillary decides to let Bill play a big late role, she will wait until the general, and let him loose as late as the Friday before.

Hillary is currnetly running as if this is the general election. For example, she has went on record as saying she would keep a small number of American troops in Iraq after the war is over. This goes against everything Democrats are saying but it is picking up support among Independents and a few Republicans. When the primaries hit this will help her and hurt Obama. She is sounding like the responsible adult among Democrats, and let's face it, the Republican lineup is weak, very weak with big names. Each Republican candidate has as many skeltons in their closet as the junoior Senator from New York.

Danny L. McDaniel
Lafayette, Indiana