How does the President feel about Carol Moseley Braun?

[Keystone Phil]

I didn't know where to put this but I guess this board is the most appropriate.

Does anyone know how Obama and Moseley Braun get along? The reason why I ask is because the man seems to owe a good deal to her, politically speaking. I like to bring up how a lot of people could have stopped Obama in his lead up to the Senate race or could have at least made it more difficult but Moseley Braun has to be the one person he should thank everyday for the rest of his political career.

When Fitzgerald retired, almost everyone thought Moseley Braun was going to run - and win - her old Senate seat. Then she shocked everyone and decided to run for President. If she hadn't done this, she would have won the Democratic nomination for Senate with ease. I think there's a good chance that she would have been unopposed (not counting minor, nobody candidates). We all know this would have stopped Obama from moving forward.

Just think about it - the man would have been running for re-election to the State Senate in 2008 instead of winning the most powerful office in the world and it would have never happened if some crazy former Senator ran for her old job instead of running a joke Presidential campaign.

[© tweed]

is this an accurate rendition of history?

[Keystone Phil]

is this an accurate rendition of history?

How is it not?

[© tweed]

I don't seem to remember any speculation about her running for US Senate again and I certainly don't think her victory would have been any sort of a given.  she wasn't popular when she lost (she lost, remember) in 1998 and had issues with corruption.  the presidential campaign was a favor to DNC insiders who didn't want any chance of having to face the spectacle of Sharpton winning delegates and making some sort of embarrassing scene.

[Keystone Phil]

I don't seem to remember any speculation about her running for US Senate again

There definitely was.

 

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She was clearly to frontrunner for the nomination. Even if she didn't win, there was no way Obama would have won the nomination with another major black candidate in the race.


 

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Ok, right, but a) that has never been proven as far as I know and b) that's not the point here at all. I didn't ask why she ran. It's not relevant to this discussion.

[© tweed]

I suppose the only problem here is I just don't remember anything about her running for Senate again back in the '02-'03 period and you do, so, one of us has to be wrong and it's probably me

[pogo stick]

No. Obama own because the so called "GOP Of Illinois" refused to support one of Illinois' greatest senators for re-election. Fitgerald admitted he didn't run because he knew the GOP Of Illinois would not back him.


But Braun did kinda have some role in this, I guess

[Landslide Lyndon]

I highly doubt that Braun would have won the nomination, even is she decided to run (far from a given at any point). She was too controversial to go anywhere. The black voters aren't dumb. They aren't going to support a corrupt loser just because he/she is black. Otherwise we'd see Roland Burris running for a full term.
  
And even with her in the mix Obama would still have won since almost all of his opponents imploded spectacularly. It just wouldn't have been a landslide as in real life.

[Keystone Phil]

I suppose the only problem here is I just don't remember anything about her running for Senate again back in the '02-'03 period and you do, so, one of us has to be wrong and it's probably me

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-119238330.html


http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2003-02-12-moseley-braun_x.htm  (last paragraph)

I highly doubt that Braun would have won the nomination, even is she decided to run (far from a given at any point). She was too controversial to go anywhere. The black voters aren't dumb. They aren't going to support a corrupt loser just because he/she is black. Otherwise we'd see Roland Burris running for a full term.

It's not like she was a total electoral disaster. She still won 47% of the vote in 1998 after numerous scandals.

Even if she didn't win the nomination, she would have stolen Obama's thunder in the black community and it would have, at the very least, led to a split in the black vote.
  

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But he had blacks solidly behind him in that primary. Take Chicago away from him and we know how this story goes...

No. Obama own because the so called "GOP Of Illinois" refused to support one of Illinois' greatest senators for re-election. Fitgerald admitted he didn't run because he knew the GOP Of Illinois would not back him.

That's not relevant here.

[Meeker]

Braun's really a pretty impressive and important person from a historical perspective: First female to defeat an incumbent senator, first African-American Democratic senator, and of course the first African-American female senator.

It's a shame she's, you know, her.

[Landslide Lyndon]

I suppose the only problem here is I just don't remember anything about her running for Senate again back in the '02-'03 period and you do, so, one of us has to be wrong and it's probably me

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-119238330.html


http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2003-02-12-moseley-braun_x.htm  (last paragraph)

I highly doubt that Braun would have won the nomination, even is she decided to run (far from a given at any point). She was too controversial to go anywhere. The black voters aren't dumb. They aren't going to support a corrupt loser just because he/she is black. Otherwise we'd see Roland Burris running for a full term.

It's not like she was a total electoral disaster. She still won 47% of the vote in 1998 after numerous scandals.

Even if she didn't win the nomination, she would have stolen Obama's thunder in the black community and it would have, at the very least, led to a split in the black vote.
  

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But he had blacks solidly behind him in that primary. Take Chicago away from him and we know how this story goes...

No. Obama own because the so called "GOP Of Illinois" refused to support one of Illinois' greatest senators for re-election. Fitgerald admitted he didn't run because he knew the GOP Of Illinois would not back him.

That's not relevant here.

There are just too many ifs and buts in your proposition. Braun might have taken a chunk of the black vote.
But who can tell me that she wouldn't have also taken a big number of white female voters from the other candidates, as the only viable woman contender?

And let's not forget that Obama wasn't exactly a shoo-in for this election. He defeated a statewide official and a multimillionaire businesman.
The man has political talent to spare.
A deeply flawed retread like Braun just wouldn't have been able to compete with a charismatic and clean new face, like Obama.

[Mechaman]

You wanna know why Obama won a landslide victory in his Senate race?

Two words:


Alan Motherf***ing Keyes

[Keystone Phil]

You wanna know why Obama won a landslide victory in his Senate race?

Again, no, because that wasn't the question.

There are just too many ifs and buts in your proposition. Braun might have taken a chunk of the black vote.
But who can tell me that she wouldn't have also taken a big number of white female voters from the other candidates, as the only viable woman contender?

...ok...isn't the just proving my point? 

She takes a chunk of the black vote plus the female vote. She's looking nearly unstoppable from then on out. Obama isn't making up the difference.

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But we need to get realistic for a minute. Moseley Braun was far better known than Hynes and Hull. Obama beating out Hull wasn't really because Obama was so great. Hull was in the middle of a nasty sex scandal/divorce. Moseley Braun had institutional and black support. Obama wouldn't have had the latter wrapped up if she ran which probably would have cost him the race.

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Again, the deeply flawed retard still enjoyed considerable support - 47% in 1998 even with the scandals fresh in the memory of the voters.

You also need to realize that with a heavyhitter like Moseley Braun in the race, Obama might not have even run. Sure, he was an underdog about Hynes and Hull when he decided to run but Moseley Braun is a whole different kind of beast to take on. I think there's a good chance that taking on a fellow black politician in a primary might have reminded Obama of his primary against Bobby Rush. I think he wanted to avoid another situation like that.