http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/america/the-lost-election-year Comments for "The lost election year, Godfrey Hodgson " en http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/america/the-lost-election-year#comment-462122 <p> Didn&#39;t after all Obama gain from this battle? </p> <p> I would say yes. Don&#39;t forget, he was virtually unknown to a lot of people when the campaign started. This intense fight during the nomination process not only increased his profile but also vetted him in any thinkable way and pushed him on issues he probably hadn&#39;t made up his mind about before. </p> <p> It may be that the Democrats appear by now somehow exhausted but don&#39;t forget that also the Republicans are far from being strongly united behind their candidate. McCain is far behind in fundraising, even behind Hillary!! And he still has problems in addressing the evangelicals and the conservative wing. </p> <p> After this primary season I really don&#39;t see a weak Democratic party but a candidate (who can now only be Obama) who has risen from a nice but unknown guy to a strong potential President. What he makes out of all this in the campaign starting in fall remains to be seen. But hopefully he doesn&#39;t lose his good spirits and his message of change. Although we all know that in a presidential race even this turbulent primary season might appear as a rehearsal for school theater. </p> Sat, 24 May 2008 19:44:38 +0100 Luna comment 462122 at http://www.opendemocracy.net http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/america/the-lost-election-year <p> Hillary Clinton won a handsome victory on 13 May 2008 in the Democratic primary election in West Virginia, whose people are among the poorest, most racially homogeneous, and least educated in the United States. But her <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#WV">success</a> there will not erase Barack Obama&#39;s lead in delegates secured for the Democratic Party&#39;s convention in Denver in August 2008, nor arrest the glacial slide towards her rival&#39;s selection as the party&#39;s candidate to challenge Senator John McCain in the United States presidential <a href="http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2008/dates.html">election</a> of 4 November. The series of endorsements Obama has been receiving from the Democrats&#39; &quot;superdelegates&quot;, as well as from the former presidential aspirant John Edwards, only reinforces the sense of inevitability about his - eventual - candidature. </p>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/america/the-lost-election-year" class="read-more" title="Read the rest of this posting.">Read the rest of this post...</a><p><a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/america/the-lost-election-year">read more</a></p> http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/democracy_power/america/the-lost-election-year#comment north america democracy &amp; power american power &amp; the world Creative Commons normal Godfrey Hodgson USA Thu, 15 May 2008 07:47:34 +0100 44622 at http://www.opendemocracy.net