Epic Brawls

In the most recent Russian Superleague game of the Ak Bars vs. Trakto, 378 penalty minutes were given out for this epic brawl.

Impressive.

And just to give some fair airplay to Rugby, some monumental punches are thrown in this brawl.

Obama closes in on Clinton as she loses touch with reality

Not to jinx it again, but new polling suggests that Sen. Barack Obama’s favorables have significantly grown. The Washington Post is reporting that Obama is making a serious challenge to Hillary Clinton as the most electable candidate for the Democrats.

This adds to the unraveling of Clinton’s all be assured win as Rep. Clyburn has hinted at removing his neutrality after what can be seen as a series of disastrous comments from both Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The final straw for many black voters was Hillary’s comments on Martin Luther King’s actual contribution to civil rights, saying that Lyndon Johnson did more.
However Hillary is fighting back, and it has me confused as to whether or not she listen to herself.

She said yesterday that,” This is an unfortunate story line that the Obama campaign has pushed very successfully.” Hillary went on to say that, “I don’t think this campaign is about gender, and I sure hope it’s not about race.”

What fairy tale world is Hillary Clinton living in (to steal from Bill’s gaffe of a few days ago)?

I’ve had enough of her talk of how people are out to get her, and I’ve certainly had enough of Hillary Clinton’s talk about “experience.” It’s a lie that needs to stop.

This is Hillary’s experience:

Dishwasher in Alaska

Children’s Defense Fund

Impeachment Inquiry Staff- Watergate

Intellectual Property Law- Rose Law Firm

First Lady of Arkansas

First Lady of the United States

United States Senator- two terms.

I mean, really?

A pilot’s wife isn’t a pilot because her husband is, and a first lady isn’t president because her husband is…enough is enough.

Hillary is not the candidate of change. She isn’t the candidate of experience. She is just another bland candidate lost amongst an uninspired set of the politicians spouting the same old corruption and lies.

Enough is enough Hillary.

Expectations: Obama wins South Carolina. Obama wins Nevada. Romney wins Michigan. Giuliani loses Florida and bows out of the race, leaving his staff to find paying jobs once again. Romney stays in a little longer, but McCain and Huckabee gather steam to become the serious contenders for the Republicans. Bye Mitt.

The race is going to begin to firm up again after the Democrat’s debacle in New Hampshire, and after Romney and Giuliani receive the primary wake-up calls in South Carolina and Florida.

Another slap in the face for Clinton

A former US Attorney under the Clintons and now prominent Governor, Janet Napolitano has decided to endorse Sen. Barack Obama.

What this means: Well a lot of things. First off, this is possible the most prominent female executive in the country, since she is the former Chair of the National Governor’s Association. Napolitano noted the changed and unification that Obama was capable of in her decision. This is also important because of a female executive not feeling beholden or trapped into endorsing Hillary Clinton. Napolitano was able to rationally say that the unification and new outlook that Barack Obama is what this country needs, not another year added onto the Dynasty decades of the Bush family and the Clinton family.

It’s also important because Napolitano could be a serious contender as a Vice-President should Barack Obama win the nomination. Napolitano would be able to deliver Arizona, a state often won by Republicans, and could give the appeal of a female executive breaking into the White House.

Apart from the slap in the face endorsement from Kerry, this is the most important endorsement in this election. Napolitano by endorsing him gave him serious credibility and allowed women to escape from the trap of having to vote for Clinton because she is the female candidate.

Recount in New Hampshire

Rep. Dennis Kucinich has requested a recount for the Democratic Primary in New Hampshire.

One might ask, didn’t he get obliterated in New Hampshire? The answer is of course yes, but he says it’s not for his gain, it’s for everybody.

Kucinich noted, “serious and credible reports, allegations and rumours” about the integrity of Tuesday’s results.”

David Scanlan, the Dept. Secretary of State for New Hampshire has accepted Kucinich’s recount, but due to election law, Kucinich must pay for the recount. The Kucinich campaign has already sent two thousand dollars into the Secretary of Stare for the purpose of a recount. Scanlan did say that he has received multiple calls from people questioning the integrity of the Democratic primary in New Hampshire

Kucinich specifically cited the enormous polling problems that plagued the Democrats race, with Democrat Barack Obama polling 13 points up before the primary and losing by 4 points in the primary. Kucinich also has credible sources that say that there were significant problems in the hand counting of ballots which were rumored to favor Obama significantly, while the machine counted ballots in the suburban areas of New Hampshire favored Clinton.

What this means: Well, I suppose Obama could win. 4 percent is a lot of ground to reclaim, but anything is possible I suppose. Possible election fraud by Clinton? Well don’t get the conspiracy theorists started on this one, they have far worse pinned on Clinton… The credible and actual affect this will have on the election this year is a closer look at the election procedures by all candidates with more election monitors. The nation can’t handle another 2000 and let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

I applaud Rep. Kucinich for his devotion to transparency and Democracy,as the rest of the candidates look to Michigan, South Carolina and Nevada for wins and momentum there.

Edwards and Clinton get slapped in the face

Former party nominee John Kerry announced today at the College of Charleston that he will throw his support behind Senator Barack Obama.

This is a huge hit for John Edwards, Kerry’s former running mate, and Hillary Clinton who is a colleague of Kerry’s in the Senate.

In his endorsement, Kerry noted the ability of Barack Obama to unify out country after years of party politics.

His endorsements echo many of the statements made by longtime Obama supporter Tom Daschle who said, “Because of his newness on the scene, he has not created the political opposition and enemies that come with extensive service in politics. He is a clean slate.”

Expectations: This is BIG! Kerry still has a formidable network and an e-mail list of over 3 mil. Expect the Kerry “machine” from 2004 to start to go to work against Clinton. Hopefully this time it can get a win. This, and the Kitchen Workers Union decision to endorse Obama strikes down much of Clinton’s momentum from the surprise win in New Hampshire. Obama is now able to go on the attack again, as Edwards is left crippled by a former ally publicly slapping him in the face. I don’t see Edwards winning South Carolina this time around.

What next: Look for a key endorsement from Al Gore, and see where the rest of the Senate Democrats put their endorsements. Gore will, however, be the big nomination for the Democrats and after how the Gores were treated by the Clintons, I don’t see it going to Hillary…

What happened to the concept of semi-accurate polling?

The experts and statisticians are starting to come out of the woodwork and say what the hell happened? The Republicans had it right, we saw John McCain going a few points up and he won a few points up. The same polling agencies however went a little crazy and were calling a 12 point blowout for Barack Obama.

What happened?

Granted, the fact that Clinton’s name was at the top of the ballot always lends to the same year and after year superficial excuses for loss, but this wasn’t just a little loss it was a big loss. Maybe not in numbers but in the crushing blow it gave to the spirit of Obama followers.

12 points! 12 points! What have to ask ourselves, what happened!

Gary Langer the chief poller for ABC, almost immediately after the election stood up and questioned what happened with polling potential Democratic voters. Or it just may be something else.

Langer said, “In the end there may be no smoking gun. Those polls may have been accurate, but done in by a superior get-out-the-vote effort, or by very late deciders whose motivations may or may not ever be known. They may have been inaccurate because of bad modeling, compromised sampling, or simply an overabundance of enthusiasm for Obama on the heels of his Iowa victory that led his would-be supporters to overstate their propensity to turn out. (A function, perhaps, of youth.)”

I suppose that makes sense. Who knows really.

A hearty congratulations to John McCain for the big win in New Hampshire. His campaign promises a fresh breath of frank discussion in the White House.

It’s up to Barack Obama to get momentum back and take the reigns of the Democratic machine back from Hillary Clinton.

And it’s up to the pollsters to try for accuracy next time…

Clinton surprises as McCain storms past Romney

The votes for the New Hampshire primary are in and they turned out to be disappointing for Obama supporters, who, after being hyped up by 8-12 percent leads saw their hopes of an Obama primary victory slowly wither away as the night progressed and votes were counted.

On the Republican side, it is predicted that Senator John McCain will win New Hampshire with 36 percent, beating Gov. Mitt Romney by 5 percent. The win is huge for McCain and propels him forward. McCain commented at his victory speech that, “Tonight we showed them what a comeback looks like.”

Fmr. Gov. Romney congratulated McCain on his victory and said that McCain ran a, “first class campaign”

As for the Democrats, Fmr. Senator Edwards is still in third place causing former Democratic Party chair Terry McAuliffe to say,”Now it’s a one-on-one race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.”

This is the truth, as it seems that the contest for the Democratic nomination will last until Super Tuesday if not until the convention.

Other campaign news, Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to hint at the possibility of a Presidential run, with sources saying that Bloomberg will most likely not confirm or deny until March. Most likely for the purpose of scoping out the race.

Thoughts: It seems that Obama’s gigantic jump in the polls were a bit hollow and inflated with the 12 percent promised just yesterday falling far short.

The Obama campaign will truck on, although losing some of the Big Mo it has captured after the Iowa Caucus. As for the Clinton campaign, they have been refueled in New Hampshire and one can only imagine what sort of holy terror the Clintons have in store for the country. John Edwards it seems is content with where he is.

For the Republicans, a HUGE win for McCain who needed it to keep going. Romney is another candidate who seems content with where he is. My question is, what is Rudy Giuliani thinking? He is a non-candidate at this point with no momentum and I suspect a quickly emptying campaign war chest. Mike Huckabee is still the candidate to keep your eye out for, he’s amiable and he has some novel ideas.

Which brings me to Ron Paul, who had an impressive performance in Iowa tonight. Is it enough? Nah, but it’s still fun to watch.

What to watch for:

Giuliani…will he stay in?

Obama…will the hotel workers still endorse him?

Clinton…more tears?

Goodbye Joe. We’ll miss you

The Washington Redskins announced today that legendary coach Joe Gibbs will be stepping down as head coach of the Washington Redskins.

Gibbs was the only active NFL coach in the hall of fame. He leaves the Redskins after a loss in the NFC Wild Card game and a 9-7 season.

Gibbs had an overall record of 154-94, and won three Super Bowls with the Redskins. Truly one of the greats.

First Votes Cast in New Hampshire Primary

Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location are infamous for their unusual voting practice. Voting at midnight before everyone else.

While this isn’t like the Hartsfield Landing featured in The West Wing, where the winner of Hartsfield Landing always wins the nomination, the early votes can understandably give some insight into the voting of New Hampshire residents.

Last Presidential election Hart’s Location and Dixville Notch voted for Wesley Clark, who both failed to get the Democratic Nomination and the Presidency.

A little history behind the two town’s tradition of early voting, the small town of Hart’s Location began voting at midnight in 1948 because the whole town had to work all day on the railroad. Although the practice was done away with in 1964, only to be revived in 1996 the practice is a center of media attention.

This year, Dixville Notch may have been accurate with their votes for the Republican and Democratic nominations by voting for John McCain for the Republicans and Barack Obama for the Democrats.

The voters in Dixville Notch were the first to vote this year in a primary.

Announced after Dixville Notch was the town of Hart’s Location. In Hart’s Location Obama and McCain were also the early winners, with Clinton receiving votes in this hamlet. However, for the Republicans Mike Huckabee had an interesting little victory placing second behind John McCain. An omen of events to come later in the day? Another fascinating event was the showing by sometimes Republican Ron Paul who beat Mitt Romney out 4-1.

The Results…

Dixville Notch:

Democrats:

Obama-7

Edwards-2

Richardson-1

Republicans:

McCain-4

Romney-2

Giuliani-1

Hart’s Location:

Democrats:

Obama-9

Clinton-3

Edwards-1

Republicans:

McCain-6

Huckabee-5

Paul-4

Romney-1

Crying? Running? Preaching? What in the world are: Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee thinking?

It would seem that the Clinton campaign is starting to have infighting over the future of the Senator’s campaign, and even more disturbing is Clinton breaking into tears over how hard it is.

Various news sources are beginning to report grumbling within the inner circle of the Clinton campaign who are urging her to drop out of the race after the expected double digit loss in New Hampshire to Senator Barack Obama.

Although, Matt Drudge is also reporting that one spokesman for the Clinton campaign said, “She did not work this hard to get out after one state.” It is rumored that the Ragin’ Cajun, James Carville has urged Clinton to stay in until after Super Tuesday in the hope that she gains momentum there.

Clinton also broke into tears as a campaign stop saying, Some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds and we do it, each one of us, because we care about our country.But some of us are right and some of us are wrong.Some of us are ready and some of us are not.

Enough is enough Mrs. Clinton, we understand that you want to be President very much, but crying to get it?

Barack Obama spoke with Diane Sawyer, and responded to Clinton’s tactics for the first time since the Iowa Caucus saying, “I find the manner in which they’ve been running their campaign sort of depressing, lately. It was interesting in the debate, Sen. Clinton saying ‘don’t feed the American people false hopes. Get a reality check, you know?’ I mean, you can picture JFK saying, ‘we can’t go to the moon, it’s a false hope. Let’s get a reality check.’ It’s not, sort of, I think, what our tradition has been.”

All the while third place contender John Edwards seems to be trying to get a position as Barack Obama’s attack dog, or maybe just his Vice President. It was reported that Edwards said that the Clinton campaigns fund of money was going to dry up. After Saturday nights performance attacking Clinton, and his low polling numbers it can easily be surmised what he is going after.

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee scares America as the Washington Post reports that Huckabee gave a sermon at NH church saying, “When we become believers, it’s as if we have signed up to be part of God’s Army, to be soldiers for Christ.” One really wonders how Huckabee is going to respect the boundary between Church and State and how a non-Christian would ever be able to vote for him.

Expectations for tomorrow’s primary: A 5 point Obama win with Clinton in second and Edwards in third. On the Republican side McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Giuliani, Paul.

I don’t see any of the big three Democrats dropping out right away, but it is possible if Hillary loses by enough. On the Republican side, I could see Mitt Romney dropping out by Friday but everyone else staying in. My question for Ron Paul still is, why are you running as a Republican? I don’t think he has a realistic conception of what he can do for the Republican Party or a realistic conception of who actually likes him and what his chances are.