Clinton Scores Victory, Vows to Press On:
As predicted, Hillary Clinton picked up a sizable victory over rival Barack Obama in the West Virginia Democratic Primary on Tuesday, capitalizing on the state's large population of blue collar, socially conservative voters in doing so. Her campaign has already begun making the case that Tuesday's win raises further questions about Obama's ability to appeal to working class voters, whose support will be critical in swing states like West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania come November. Clinton aides maintain that their candidate's victories in those states' primary contests makes her a stronger candidate than Obama to take on GOP nominee John McCain.
Obama Keeps Up Momentum:Meanwhile, Senator Obama spent Tuesday campaigning in key electoral states and ushered in Clinton's win by speaking to voters in the critical Midwest state of Missouri, in which he scored an unexpected and late-breaking victory on Super Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the Illinois Senator continued his march toward the 2,025 delegates necessary to capture the nomination, picking up the support of three new superdelegates, including former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Colorado Governor Roy Romer, as well as New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
With these pick-ups, as well as the surge of superdelegates into his column since impressive showings last Tuesday in North Carolina and Indiana made his nomination appear all but in the bag, Obama stands poised to gain enough delegate support to reach the necessary minimum to claim victory before primary voting wraps up on 03 June. In the latest count, Obama has 1875.5 delegates to 1,1712 for Clinton and needs a mere 149.5 to win the nomination. Since last Tuesday, moreover, Obama has picked up at least new supporters, a pace that, if continued, would seal the deal for the Illinois Senator by the end of May.
Next week, the Democratic contest casts a spotlight on Kentucky and Oregon, which are seen by some as potential battleground states in the November election. Though Oregon went solidly for Senator John Kerry in 2004, President Bush came within a few thousand votes of winning it in his initial bid for the White House, and McCain has already spent significant time and money in the state looking to lay a framework for upset.
Kentucky, on the other hand, is a state that has gone red in the last couple of cycles but that former Democratic President Bill Clinton picked up in 1992 on his way to Pennsylvania Avenue and won again in his reelection campaign in 1996. Now, his wife claims that she has the populist appeal and support amongst socially conservative and moderate voters to place it back in the blue column in a race against McCain. Obama counters that his 'trans-partisan' approach to political gaming will make possible victories in states like North Carolina, South Carolina, and even rural places like South Dakota and Kansas, wherein voters seem to look more into a candidate's personal qualities and capabilities as a decision maker than party allegiance. Whatever the case, next Tuesday's results will have implications that reverberate well after the Democratic nomination is decided.
Congress Moves on Oil Prices:
With oil prices setting record highs on an almost daily basis, Congress took steps today to inject more product into the market, in hopes of bringing consumer costs under control. In one-sided votes, the House and Senate passed measures that would halt increases to the country's strategic oil reserves until at least the end of this year. The strategic oil reserve is a vast holding of oil that the U.S. keeps in order to guard against price shocks in the time of disaster, whether environmental, political, or otherwise, in oil producing states. The oil is held in large, underground salt domes in the Gulf Coast and receives a daily boost of nearly 80,000 barrels per day.
Still, with petrol prices approaching $4/gallon and global oil prices showing no signs of slowing their ascent, many lawmakers made the argument that price shocks were already well underway. It made no sense, they said, to continue stashing oil away when consumers are already feeling the pinch when they try to summon adequate funds to fill their gas tanks, often having to cut food, medicine, and other key items from their family budget in order to get from point 'A' to point 'B'. By releasing that nearly 80,000 gallons of oil into the market, Congressional members hoped to increase supply enough to create a significant reduction in petrol costs.
Still, critics counter that adding this amount to daily supply would do next to nothing to stop rising oil costs. 77,000 gallons, they argue, constitutes a mere 1/10 of one percent of daily global oil production, and making it available for purchase stands little chance of benefiting the average American consumer. However, it does, they maintain, prevent the U.S. from contributing to its national security in the form of increased oil reserves.
In the final analysis, both proponents and critiques are right. In terms of the former, Congress does need to take the limited steps within its power to halt rising oil and gas prices. With strategic oil reserves by no means at alarmingly low levels, it seems reasonable to release some of their inflow into the market for consumer use. Still, the numbers don't lie, and this measure will most likely not help gas buyers all that much.
The real answer, and the dirty business that Congress and the Bush Administration have failed to do, is creating a comprehensive energy policy that weans the U.S. off its dependency of nonrenewable resources, like oil, which are produced, to a significant degree, in politically unstable locations. Indeed, until lawmakers, business leaders, and the public, more generally, uncover the discomforting truth that a vast change in lifestyle may be the only real way to halt our current energy crisis, change on the level it is needed may be far off- unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn't pause for such indecision.
Join us tomorrow for version 'Wednesday'. We'll do our best to bring you the news fresh, hard-hitting, and with a side of personality. Thanks for stopping in, and come on back soon.
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