Patchwork Nation blog
Obama sees a sunny day ahead in Oregon
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.15.2008 / 8:24 AM EDT
After a tough night in West Virginia on Tuesday and a difficult upcoming contest in Kentucky, Sen. Barack Obama believes he sees a ray of light coming from the cloudy Pacific Northwest in Oregon.
Senator Obama hopes next Tuesday’s Oregon primary (held the same day as Kentucky’s) will blunt whatever momentum Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has […]
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A Clinton landslide in West Virginia that she hopes echoes elsewhere
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.14.2008 / 8:12 AM EDT
Her win was big. The 41-point victory she racked up was not only decisive, it was enormous. And even though there wasn’t a big swing in delegates for her, she did pick up at least a few.
Overall, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had much to feel good about Tuesday night. And no, she’s not giving up. […]
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Obama signed, sealed, and delivered to an inbox near you
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.13.2008 / 8:11 AM EDT
Whatever happens in today’s primary in West Virginia, Sen. Barack Obama looks to be headed for the top of the Democratic ticket in November. And when the book about Senator Obama’s improbable drive to the presidential nomination is written, a chapter or two is likely to include his campaign’s organizational skills.
While Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton […]
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Why Obama is avoiding West Virginia, Kentucky
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.12.2008 / 10:59 AM EDT
Last Tuesday’s Democratic primary results in Indiana and North Carolina did not give Sen. Barack Obama the nomination, but he definitely has been acting a lot more like the party’s nominee since then.
His speeches now focus more intently on presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. He has demurred on requests to debate his Democratic […]
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What about John, you know, McCain?
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.09.2008 / 5:51 AM EDT
As America has had its eye on the Democratic nomination battle, another story has been unfolding more quietly on the Republican side of the ledger.
Since Sen. John McCain wrapped up the GOP presidential nomination on March 4, he has had some trouble bringing all of the party’s voters into the fold. He hasn’t broken 80 […]
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A big win on a still narrow base
Posted by James Gimpel | 05.08.2008 / 6:04 AM EDT
Results tabulated from Tuesday’s election returns suggest that the principal differences between North Carolina and Indiana occurred in the two states’ “Monied ’Burbs” locations.
Barack Obama won a solid 66 percent of the vote in the counties classified as “Monied ’Burbs” in North Carolina, compared with a more modest 44 percent of similar counties in Indiana.
The […]
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Cities, new voters push Obama forward in Indiana
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.07.2008 / 6:03 AM EDT
There was a certain feel to Sen. Barack Obama’s speech last night in Raleigh, N.C. He didn’t win both Indiana and North Carolina last night, but he sure sounded like he did.
More than in past speeches Senator Obama talked like a presidential nominee. He thanked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for putting up a good fight, […]
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Indiana and North Carolina: a Clinton/Obama fundraising scorecard
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.06.2008 / 8:29 AM EDT
As people go to the polls for the Democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina today, many have voted already with their checkbooks and credit cards.
Donors have been pledging money to Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton for months. And the latest tally of political contributions in the two states reveals the differences in their […]
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Who has the edge with Indiana’s new voters: Obama or Clinton?
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.05.2008 / 10:40 AM EDT
As the Democratic primary battle has moved from state to state, one thing has stayed constant: Voter registration has climbed in the weeks before election day. And Indiana follows the pattern.
Since Jan. 1, the number of voters in the Hoosier State has increased by 138,000. Is that enough to change the results of the vote […]
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The politics of a gas tax holiday
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.02.2008 / 8:16 AM EDT
Rising gasoline prices, and ways of handling them, created a small stir on the campaign trail this week.
Sen. John McCain has proposed a suspension of the federal gasoline tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day this year to give people a break. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has one-upped Senator McCain: She not only supports a […]
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Wright’s words hurt Obama’s image
Posted by Dante Chinni | 05.01.2008 / 8:12 AM EDT
When Sen. Barack Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., first appeared in the 2008 campaign – the YouTube clips, the swearing, the shouting – the reaction from many Patchwork Nation communities was a shrug of the shoulders.
Yes, Mr. Wright was loud and bombastic, but he was not Senator Obama and nothing indicated that the […]
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Who’s getting crunched by foreclosures and what it may mean for ’08 race
Posted by Dante Chinni | 04.30.2008 / 8:29 AM EDT
In an election where the economy figures to be the No. 1 issue, the struggling housing market is the key reason why. Tuesday’s headlines brought news of falling home values and a rising number of home foreclosures as consumer confidence shrank.
The latest foreclosure numbers reveal just how large the crisis is.
None of Patchwork Nation’s 11 […]
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Nary a candidate in Tractor Country
Posted by James Gimpel | 04.29.2008 / 8:03 AM EDT
Daron Shaw’s excellent recent book on campaign travel, “The Race to 270,” notes that one of the most precious resources a campaign possesses is a candidate’s time.
Accordingly, where each campaign schedules its candidate teaches us a lot about the people and places that count as political priorities.
At Patchwork Nation, our accounting of candidate stops from […]
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Three cities pivotal to Indiana’s primary
Posted by Dante Chinni | 04.28.2008 / 1:33 PM EDT
As the Democratic Party looks ahead to its next Super Tuesday, this one on May 6, the battle lines are being drawn around Indiana.
The Hoosier State isn’t the only primary battleground that day; North Carolina will also hold its contest. But Sen. Barack Obama has a solid lead in North Carolina’s polls, so the new […]
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Pennsylvania fallout: Don’t forget the base
Posted by Dante Chinni | 04.25.2008 / 8:01 AM EDT
Coming out of the Pennsylvania primary, the biggest topic may be “electability” – as in who’s more likely to be able to win in November.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign has pressed that her big wins in key states like Ohio and Pennsylvania show why she should be the nominee. Winning at least one of those […]
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