It's Valentine's Day. Smile. Hugs. Kisses.
I don't intend to take up too much of your time tonight, but, if you've got one second I do have two very simple points to make regarding Barack Obama's campaign for President...
Point One: As we saw tonight with Congressman John Lewis (pending) endorsement of Senator Barack Obama:
Barack Obama is the +1/-1 candidate par excellence.
What does that mean? It means that Barack Obama can get people who were voting the other way to switch sides. He can flip votes. He can flip Super Delegates. He can flip GOP legislators. He can flip Republican voters. He can flip folks and bring new folks in.
In some respects, Hillary Clinton has run an amazing campaign for the nomination of our party. If it were any other year with any other opponent, she would likely have been unstoppable. After all, she won 35,000 or so more votes in New Hampshire than Al Gore did in 2000. Her totals in state after state are would be solid for any Democratic candidate.
But I think we can safely say after the Potomac Primary where Barack Obama crushed Clinton in the Commonwealth of Virginia with 64% of the primary vote...that Senator Clinton cannot compete with a candidate who draws new people and converts to the polls. Barack Obama may be that rare bird in politics...the +2/-1 candidate....someone who draws new people and converts to our side.
Point two: You cannot pass Health Care or improve the lives of working people and the middle class if you think there are "less significant" states.
I hate to have to say this, but Senator Clinton and Mark Penn just gave the best argument to vote AGAINST her campaign you could imagine. If you want to get things done in Washington D.C. there are no unimportant states. In fact, the opposite is true.
If you want to pass significant legislation, the congresspeople from Minnesota and Virginia and Iowa, the Senators from Nebraska and Delaware and Nevada aren't just significant, they are crucial.
That's just so frickin' obvious I don't know what to say.
For supporters of Clinton, for her campaign, for folks on the blogs, to suggest otherwise is the most preposterous, ludicrous, and self-defeating argument I've ever heard.
Paul Hodes? Unimportant. Tim Johnson? Insignificant. Ben Nelson? Irrelevant. Ken Salazar? Besides-the-point. Nancy Boyda? Insufficient. Jon Tester? An afterthought. Gabrielle Giffords? How could she help? Betty McCollom? Worthless. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin? Who?
Like 'em or not, you get my point.
How are you going to pass Health Care when you throw away 2/3rds of the states in the nation? We won't, and we shouldn't reward a candidate who doesn't get that. The Clinton campaign had $100 million to spend and couldn't even open a field office in some states much less be bothered to take them seriously. What a waste.
::
That's it! Have a Happy Valentine's Day and a wonderful night!