A President like my Father

I found Caroline Kennedy's op-ed in New York Times summing up some of the thoughts I had for Obama. Many endorsement followed - Ted Kennedy, and the beloved Toni Morrison , the same author called Bill Clinton as 'First Black President' and of course John Kerry did it well before the South Carolina primary.

This was clearly an embarrassing moment for Clintons ..may be because Bill Clintons clumsy political tactics and distortion of facts. The most promising female Whitehouse contender now appears less appealing after all these dirty politics. Obama's victory speech was so inspiring . You could definitely tell this guys is class apart from the other people on the race. Most of the young people , white or black , voted for him in South Carolina. And that's definitely an indicator of his ability to unite the people divided on the race or gender for a common cause. Also the turnout of voters was another record and i could see the only thing changed this time is a man with a sensible but inspiring message.

Its a bad year for pollsters. None of the outcome so far is matching with predictions in case of Democrats. The margins are sometime way off from what actually predicted. May be we don't have to take the national polls seriously this time as the dynamics are so different with the presence of Obama. And that the confidence I gained on Obama as a candidate.

So its another momentum for Obama. He is getting endorsement from Senior democrats and all of a sudden 'experience' seems to be not a big deal in this race. If it was a big deal, he may not have got so many experienced people like Ted Kennedy and John Kerry at his side . From the endorsements, Obama is looked up as an inspirational leader who could really introduce some change that is long pending.

I am not sure how popular Obama is among other Democrats across the states. I am sure the recent victories and endorsements will provide him a lot of visibility among the primary goers. Same time, Clintos are the best recognised name in the US and whether its going to work for her positively is a different questions. I am pretty sure it might work good for Republicans in the general election.

Transcending race and gender

Intellectuals always denied the existence of race and the laymen laughed at that thought all the time. Ability to "transcend" race was the most attractive selling point on Obama. But things seems to be going back to the old times. Recent polls say only 10% whites would vote to him and most of the blacks are on his side . This is disturbing and I am not sure with this kind of divided support Obama would really struggle to become a National choice . Hillary is also a promising candidate to 'transcend' beyond gender. But prospects of she making into the Whitehouse also looks dull.

Recent brawl between Clintons and Obama made the Democratic race look more silly. Everyone felt the need for more mature politicians like Richardson or Al Gore in this race. Many of them are disgusted the way Bill Clinton ditorts the facts conviniently. John Edwards claims that he is the most experienced in the pack but he definitely looks less appealing to the Democrats. New York Times endorsement was good for Hillary but even they said "Mrs. Clinton is more qualified, right now, to be president"

Nevada, South Carolina - Is the Race Turning Republican?

Nevada proved to be another frustration for Obama supporters like me . I thought he had an edge because he wont the endorsement from culinary workers union. But Clintons did everything they could , a strong groundwork proved to be an ultimate winner. CNN showed Mr Clinton going around and shaking hands with everyone in the strip casinos(strip is where all the major Casinos are located in Las Vegas). Clintons were very critical about setting up the caucus locations in the Casinos as they thought it might intimidate the voters in front of the Union officials who endorsed Obama formally. But results show Clinton was in a tight race with Obama in caucus location that are set-up on the strip. Let us give the credit to Clintons for their ground work rather than their negative campaigning for this victory.

Another disturbing thing to notice was Clintons and Obama bring up the race issue into the campaigning and subsequently blowing it out of proportions by the media. Race is a reality but its so uncomfortable to watch that being discussed while evaluating a candidate. Not sure how that is going to impact their respective campaigns in South Carolina. I feel both Obama and Clintons should have been more sensitive about it.

Finishing fourth in South Carolina might be disappointing for for Romney after his victory in Michigan and Nevada. He is definitely capable like with lots of his business and political experience and MC Cain gives me an impression of another war-loving Republican. May be i should look closely at his profile and what he had done while in politics.

May be Democratic race appears less interesting with their race and other direct attacks of candidates on each other. With Republican race getting more interesting , this situation underscores the analysts suspicion that whether Democratic front runners could make it to the White house.

Finally Iowa Caucus Today

Finally Iowa Caucus is here . Iowa is really cold but its totally warmed up by rallies, campaigns - almost $25 Million is what candidates pumped into Iowa as advertisement and orgranization set-up.

When i was returning after my vacation in Cincinnati on 1st Jan i had to take the connection flight from Atlanta to Des Moines and the flight was jam packed with reporters and spectators . The guy who was sitting next to me was a fund raiser for Mike Huckabee and he did have some important observations on the presidential campaigns.

I think I like the increased popularity of Obama in Iowa. Today there were young guys campaigning for him all over the city , skywalk and everywhere . I could not see that much of enthusiasm among Hillary supporters. After reading all news, and seeing things here in Iowa here is my prediction for Democrats.

1. Barack Obama
2. John Edwards
3. Hillary

Yes - I know Hillary enlisted 5000 drivers to move people to caucus places and the weather is cold out there. I am betting this because of the second choice game the complex caucus system has.

Oprah, Obama and Hope

HyVee Auditorium was packed on Saturday with lot of women flocking in to see Oprah Winfrey in Obama's rally. When i reached an hour earlier than the event start time the hall was pretty much packed. It was -10 degree Celsius here in Des Monies with freezing rain and snow all over but I guess nothing stopped people from showing-up.

Also, this was the most diverse event of any Presidential candidates I have so far attended in Iowa. Thanks to Oprah's popularity.

Oprah is one of the most influential persons esp among women. So this endorsement means taking away a lot women voters from Clinton. Also she is helping Obama to raise funds using her celebrity connections. But as analysts point out, fundraiser is a tip of the iceberg. Her endorsement might give him the boost that he need to catch up with Clinton , nationally.

His speech during the rally was same as JJ dinner. He showed lot of energy and thanked Iowans for paying attention( in other words, helping him to lead the polls in Iowa).

Also Oprah and Obama sell the same central theme. Hope . I guess its an un-resistible one for ordinary people. Something that religions sell for centuries. Probably the caucusing turned more interesting from this Saturday.

Here is a nice article on the rally.

Republicans are taking diversity seriously ?

The recent news in Washington Times suggested that Republican presidential candidates reversing their course and participating in Spanish language debate next month (UNIVISION)aimed at Hispanic voters. Spanish people look at Republicans as a threat as most of them have the agenda of securing the boarder and stopping the illegal immigration. Its not just Hispanic; Blacks and GLBT also in general don't seem to favor republicans this time.

This month's Diversity Inc magazine carry some interesting statistics on Presidential candidate participation on the events/conferences by the organizations that advocate for people of color and GLBT . None of the top Republican candidates attended NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) conference but all top democratic candidates did. Republicans also missed NCLR conference and LOGO debate.

The June 07 issue of the Diversityinc magazine had another report that listed the diversity of the campaign supporting staff of Presidential candidates. Giuliani has 100% white staff, Romney and McCain have only 10% colored staff. However, among democrats , Clinton has 63% colored staff and Obama has 43%. Typically the candidates will have 50+ main staff promoting the campaign and they could be compared with the management in a corporation. A big company with no diversity at management level is a concern and the same is true for voters.

So the republicans accepting to participate in Univision debate is a welcome change especially when their competition(Democrats) are far ahead with matters related to Diversity. Surely they don't want to miss this opportunity but we will have to wait and see how committed they are going to be throughout the campaign.

Obama and J-J Dinner

Barack Obama’s performance yesterday (11th Nov 2007) at J-J Dinner campaign here in Des Moines was on of the excellent he had so far. Probably he could keep this momentum to win the caucus and eventually to win the primary. Des Moines Register’s political analyst Yespen gave the candidate a thumps-up among all democrats spoke at J-J Dinner. Washington Post thought Obama was the most focused and powerful.

It seems the J-J dinner was a turning point for John Kerry and so this successful one could be a game changer for Obama. I loved his speech and the energy with which he delivered it. To quote Yespen “Should he win the Iowa caucuses, Saturday's dinner will be remembered as one of the turning points in his campaign, a point where he laid down the marker and began closing on Clinton, the national frontrunner”.