It’s not the fact that Mitt took Ohio. It’s not the fact that Dennis Kucinich finally lost his seat. It’s that in a Democratic primary with no serious challengers, Oklahoma Democrats made clear that they are not too fond of the President right now.
President Barack Obama collected the most votes in the Oklahoma Democratic primary, but lost in 15 counties.
With more than 90 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday, Obama won 55 percent of the vote. Four other candidates combined for 45 percent of the vote… (emphasis added)
In fact, this will result in the first non-Obama delegate to the Democratic convention awarded this year.
Let’s look at that again. These are Democrats. Nearly half of them wanted to vote for random dudes who got on the ballot for kicks than wanted to vote for the incumbent Democratic president. I love my home state. Even Sebastian said, “Yay Oklahoma!”
Ultimately, Obama’s team will ignore this since he will never have a shot at winning Oklahoma in the general. It’s the only state that went more red in 2008 because they didn’t like the guy with no real record back then, either. But, it does say something about the trouble a 50-state strategy could be for Obama this year.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the swing states this year. In 2008, the “excitement” had a damper put on it when Democratic canvassers from New York ripped out and tore up signs for any GOP candidates they recognized in our neighborhood. Considering 2010 drove people who never previously had signs out for elections to post really big signs for Republicans, our neighborhood could require a lot more time to “walk” for those folks.
Well, it’s about 3 AM in Ohio when I write this. Interesting Stats out though. Looks like <20% of the Eligible Voters came out, but those who did Vote seemed about 60% Republican to 35% Democrat, with the usual 5% who still think they can order a Large Pepperoni Pizza when they walk into McDonalds. And despite the usual Media Hoopla, it's pretty much a 50/50 split between Romney and Santorum. Ohio is NOT a "Winner Takes All" State. So if Newt got out, it looks like Santorum would probably get those Votes.
What's funny is how many Dems voted, but did NOT vote for Obama. My County (Lake) shows about 12,000 votes for Obama out of 15,000 cast. Now, Ohio is NOT an "Open" Primary State, so 3,000 Dems left the little oval empty and moved on down the Ballot. That's about 20%.
And most of the other counties seem to be following that trend.
20% of the Dems have Abandoned Ship in the Primary. Don't think for a minute that the Obama Campaign doesn't keep track of stuff like that.
In fact, if the Republicans could get Newt out of the way (Paul's not going anywhere, he'll be fighting to bring back the Articles of Confederation until he goes into the Nursing Home), and did the logical thing, they might just win the White House. What's the Logical thing? Pull a Reagan. The Repubs were Duking it out between Bush and Reagan back in the '80 Campaign, until somebody said to just Merge. Bush became Veep, Reagan became Prez, and Carter became a piece of History.
Romney for Prez, Santorum for Veep, both Wings of the Party get a piece of the pie, and Obama is in for the fight of his life. Because even the Dems are well aware that Obama is no longer the Golden Boy. Especially since Barry just told the Dems in the Congress that they are getting ZERO dollars from the DNC for their Individual Campaigns. Barry's keeping all the Money for Himself. And for some of those Congress Critters they need every penny they can get.
Stay Tuned.
Remember, this is Oklahoma. We’re not exactly a swing state, having only gone Democrat for President once since WWII. Here, our Democrats are more conservative than anyone in the national Republican primary. I should also point out that Obama didn’t win a single county in the general in ’08.
Bubblehead Les’s strategy is interesting. Not that I like either Romney or Santorum but really want to see Obama out. I have already resigned myself to voting for whomever is the Republican nominee as I live in a battleground state.
For me, it is the Supreme Court and the need to preserve the Heller/McDonald majority. As Sebastian said the other day, remember it was a GHWB nominated judge who decided the Woollard case in our favor.