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Race for President
 Tonight, it ends.Kind of. That is to say, there are no more primaries or caucuses after tonight. While Obama is expected to safely win Montana, there are rumors abounding that Clinton may make a surprise showing in South Dakota. Either way, the focus tonight is not on the results of either of these states, as they largely don't matter. The AP is already reporting that Obama has enough delegates to clinch the nomination, and most other media sources will have made the same claim by the end of tonight. Tonight, what matters are the speeches that Obama, Clinton and McCain will give. Most specifically, the tenor of Clinton's speech will tell the tale of just how aggressive a posture she'll look to take in the period of time between tonight and the Democrat's convention. Previews of tonight's contests are here: Five things to watch in South Dakota - Politico ...and five things to watch in Montana - Politico Results will be here: Montana South Dakota Updates tonight as events warrant... UPDATE: 8:00pm Clinton has won in South Dakota UPDATE: 8:15pm McCain has finished speaking and reconfirmed that he's underwhelming as a orator. It probably reads better than it sounded, and it's obvious he's not completely comfortable with a teleprompter. Negotiation sessions between the Obama and McCain camps over the debates later this season should be interesting. McCain is a good debater, if he can't adjust to a teleprompter. And, Obama has shown he's not nearly as pithy and soaring when he speaks impromptu. Also, McCain's new slogan on the banner behind him, "A Leader You Can Believe In" reads as derivatively cliche. It also is representative of the generally attacking nature of the speech, in which he turned Obama's slogan into "that's not change you can believe in." Finally, whoever organized this event for McCain's campaign should be dispatched. Knowing how well Obama performs with a teleprompter and how large the audience will be, McCain needed to either overwhelm with the delivery of his speech of the general magnitude of the event. He failed in both aspects. Obama has lifted the media embargo on this upcoming speech in the wake of the attacks from McCain's speech. Drudge has it here. UPDATE: 8:33pm Here we go with Hillary... Thoughts when she's done... UPDATE: 9:00pm While Hillary certainly was full of praise for Obama, you'll notice that she stopped short of using one critical word: nominee. She doesn't seen to have given any clues to exactly her play, other than saying she's committed to uniting the Democrats. Again, she doesn't say behind whom she plans to unite them. Clinton did a good job of emphasizing the large number of votes that have been cast for her, and her claim that she's won the popular vote. Beyond that, it sounded like a typical Clinton rally or post-primary speech. Disappointing that when Hillary rattled off the long list of states she had won, she didn't round it off with a good old "YEARGH!". I was hoping that would become a tradition. UPDATE: 9:10am And were off with Obama... Thoughts when he's done... UPDATE: 9:50 Obama's speech highlight why the campaign staffer who planned McCain's speech should be fired. He went hard at John McCain and it'll be interesting to see how the two fare when they meet to debate later in the game. Obama's speech was his typical soaring rhetoric coupled with a very well staged piece of political theater. Filed Under: Race for President E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format |
Countdown to Election Day
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