I was really hoping that the map would change this election, and early on it looked as though it would. Obama or Clinton looked like they'd carry a few unusual states.
Democratic primary voters can be dumb as nails. It almost makes me ashamed to belong to this party.
In 2004, the number 1 reason given by Kerry primary voters was that he was more electable. It's clear that those people were looking at his military resume, the fact that he won Iowa with a narrow plurality, and thought he seemed reasonable compared to Dean. They never even considered his home state or residence or possible voting record. Meanwhile there were many here who were pulling for Edwards (who was a very different candidate back then), but he essentially had no chance after coming in second in Iowa.
In 2008, the Dem voters allowed themselves to be convinced by the media prior to February 5 that the only important demographic was independents, and that Obama could compete among independents whereas Hillary could not. The fact that he was black and thus might have a problem with residual racism apparently slipped the media's mind. Their coverage of Obama was similar to their coverage of Bush in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war: the god who could do no wrong. And many of the same people who were most skeptical of the media's cheerleading for the war in 2002 and 2003 were the first to jump onto the Obama bandwagon.
But let's not run into post mortems yet. I'm barely scratching the surface of the things I have to say (as is former President Clinton), but I am reserving my judgment.
