So much for respecting one’s elders. A Democratic strategist’s Web site youngerthanmccain.com kicks off its exploration of the GOP nominee’s seasoned status with a video noting he’s older than Velcro, Indonesia and plutonium, among other things.
Here’s an interesting Politico piece by Roger Simon looking at a largely unexamined but undeniable part of the primary demographic: the racist vote.
What percentage of voters are likely to vote against Barack Obama simply because he’s African-American?
In a recent AP-Yahoo poll, notes Simon, about 8 percent of white respondents said they’d be “uncomfortable” voting for a black candidate for president. But those are only the people willing to admit racism to a pollster. He cites a political analyst who guesses that the actual figure is closer to 15 percent.
That may or may not be a decisive swing vote, either in the primaries or general election, but it can’t be ignored, either.
As for Pennsylvania, Greg Mitchell of Editor and Publisher thinks the racist vote gave Hillary Clinton her comfortable margin. He cites a New York Times analysis of the exit polls: “Sixteen percent of white voters said race mattered in deciding who they voted for, and just 54 percent of those voters said they would support Mr. Obama in a general election; 27 percent of them said they would vote for Mr. McCain if Mr. Obama was the Democratic nominee, and 16 percent said they would not vote at all.”
A Missouri utility company has abandoned its plan to build a new coal-fired plant because of rising construction costs and an uncertain regulatory climate. But wait a second — supporters of the Holcomb power plant expansion claimed that Kansas Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby created regulatory uncertainty when he denied their permit. So how could there be regulatory uncertainty in Missouri, too? Simple — the regulatory uncertainty is the likelihood of federal carbon regulations, not anything Bremby did.
It was an weird week for political appearances on TV, Jay Leno noted on NBC’s “Tonight” show:
– “Well, earlier this week, all three presidential candidates made appearances on the WWE’s ‘Monday Night Raw.’ How many think having candidates for president appear on a wrestling show cheapens the political process? How many think the wrestling show was cheapened by having the candidates on?”
– “And Monday night, President Bush made a surprise appearance on the TV show ‘Deal or No Deal.’ Yesterday morning, first lady Laura Bush was a guest host on the ‘Today’ show. I understand tomorrow, Vice President Dick Cheney is set to play his own evil twin on ‘Days of Our Lives.’”
