Consider George W. Bush's uncontested presidential primary in 2004. In the handful of states that actually held primary elections that year, Bush's worst performance came in New Hampshire, where he still managed to get 80% of the vote. And Bill Clinton's worst primary performance in the largely uncontested 1996 Democratic primary was the 76% he obtained in the Oklahoma Primary. So I love listening to folks spin this poll as "well Obama was never going to win in Arkansas anyway." Yeah, but we're talking about his OWN Democratic primary, not a race against a Republican...And we're talking about a primary where he has been essentially running unchallenged...and he's the incumbent President...and don't forget, he's also "The One."
Make no mistake about it: if Obama loses in Arkansas, or wins by just a few points, then David Axelrod, Jim Messina, Ben Labolt and the whole crew will be in full-on damage control mode. The incumbent President should not be struggling with Democrats in any state (as 1996 and 2004 showed us).
I'm sorry... this is Arkansas!! Where McCain got 20% of the 'liberal' vote and Obama got only 77% of Democrats in the general in a very Democratic year.
Consider this is an uncontested year where there are no consequences and it's only the hardcore who are bothering to turn out.
This is such a storm in a tea cup...
