[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by Jamroll

Look all us brits really want to know is, is homeboy gonna be in the White House?

i cant say for sure. but he sure has a very good shot at the white house. historically super tuesday is the coronation for the nomination (party election win) but because the democratic race has been so close, its still going on and no one has gotten anywhere near the 2,025 party delegates needed to win the party nomination. check back in a month, and maybe then we may know, but the politcal pandits on tv are claiming that this may go all the way to the convention and we may see the old time back room politics again with a brokered convention.

the good news is that there is a split in the repugs, with many of the fanatics in the repugs upset over mccain, and planning on revolting. the best thing that would happen is if they stick up a third party candidate, then a democrat is all but assured a win in november.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by sak01

The fact is that unfortunately, American Foreign, Economic and even Domestic Policies have a huge impact across the globe. Couple that with the fact that when your President says jump our PM says how high, it's pretty important for me as Brit to have a basic understanding of the political game in your country.

That's not to say that I know more than you or any other American, however an outside observer can sometime see trends and patterns that people caught up in the election fever can't.

I have spoken to many Americans since 2004 and read much literature, and in light of the impression I get from them, my observation in the previous post still stands:

Bush had a core group of conservative supporters who Karl Rove recognised and structured the campaign to appeal to and get them out voting. Kerry hardly enjoyed anything like the same kind of loyal support and most of those that voted for him were only united in their desire to oust Bush. We have a reversal in attitudes as mentioned before.

What you misunderstand is that I'm not talking about the how the road to the White House unravelled in detail. I'm talking about the attitudes of the 2 sets of voters then and now and what this shows about the American election process. Your post neither addresses nor refutes what I wrote.

One thing; when I said Dems or Repubs I mean those that voted as such which includes independents. I'm not talking about how they're registered.

bush won because of a number of factors. first off he painted kerry as a 'flip flopper', then he made terrorism the main issue. when that bin laden video came out days before the election, it sacred the public like insane. on top of that, kerry, being a north-easterner, could not make inroads into the south, which is heavily regionally biased, which includes southern ohio. if anything the election is very close in 04', that's why bush won, but he barely won. which is why bush's approval rating is at the lowest for any president leaving office.

bush only won, barely, because of the terrorism factor, had wesley clark been the nominee for the democrats, he would have lost to him.

[PhDGirl]

Doesn't McCain's wife look like Political Wife Barbie?

[GOTFIVEONIT]

now for the numbers...

out of 15 million votes casted last night on super tuesday, hillary only beat obama, by 45,000 votes!

so far in the democratic primary, 17,562,858 voted in the democratic party.

the total number of people voting in both the repugs and dem primaries: 24,318,833

and ron paul, only managed to get 288,166 total votes, nationwide.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by PhDGirl

Doesn't McCain's wife look like Political Wife Barbie?

yup, he has his trophy wife, even if she is his third wife.



Photo: Steeve Iuncker Gomez | More than 600 Democrats turned out for the primary vote in Geneva, according to one estimate.

Democrats vote in Geneva

Hundreds of expat Democratic party members cast ballots at the Hotel Warwick as part of the Super Tuesday primary vote to select a US presidential candidate.

A record turnout of American Democrats voted last night in Geneva as part of the Super Tuesday round of voting for party members to choose their presidential candidate. Early results from voting in 22 states and around the world show Hilary Clinton leading with slightly higher delegate support over rival Barack Obama. The New York senator strung together victories in her home state, New Jersey, Massachusetts and California while Obama, the Illinois senator, scored wins in a dozen states, including his home state. On the Republican side, Senator John McCain emerged at the head of the pack, as former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee revived his campaign with a strong showing in the southern US and Mitt Romney’s fortunes appeared to fade.

Interest in the American presidential race has never been higher, said Julie Schindall, spokeswoman for Democrats Abroad, which held its primary in Geneva from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday at the Hotel Warwick, 14 rue de Lausanne. “The turnout last night was really incredible,” Schindall said, noting that people lined up to cast ballots. In 2004, just 200 people participated in the presidential primary held in Geneva. “This year we ran out of ballots,” said Schindall. A final tally of the number of people voting was not available this morning and the local results were not expected to be known until later next week.

This year marked the first time that Democrats living outside the US could vote Online in a primary. In addition to voting at the Hotel Warwick, party members were encouraged to stand up and speak about the issues they felt were important for their party to address. Calls for change were high on the list along with such issues as repeal of the Patriot Act and ensuring the US adheres to the Geneva Convention. “People are truly ready for change and are really excited about our two candidates,” said Schindall. “What a relief and what excitement after eight years of George Bush.”

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Thursday, February 07, 2008

New Delhi

Super Tuesday in City

New Delhi, February 06, 2008
First Published: 01:24 IST(6/2/2008)
Last Updated: 01:26 IST(6/2/2008)

The ongoing battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to claim the ticket to run for the Oval Office reached Delhi on Tuesday when the Democratic Party turned a small restaurant in Lodhi Colony into a polling booth.

For four hours in the evening, the restaurant remained a hotbed of American politics, with walls, doors, etc., decorated with the customary blue-and-white balloons, festoons and a host of other merchandise featuring the Democrats’ political symbol — a donkey — causing Delhiites passing by to look with curiosity.

Over pitchers of beer and seafood, voters bustled about debating “return of our boys from Iraq”, “healthcare expenditure”, “law on immigrants”, etc.

Looking at the jam-packed restaurant and the long queue before the ballot box, it would have been hard to believe that in the last Presidential election in 2004, only 43 per cent Americans had come out to vote.

“Being abroad, we have a better understanding of the impacts of our foreign policies. Plus, it was also fun to feel as if we were back home again,” said Elise Tosun, originally from Illinois, now working in Delhi.

This was the first time the Presidential primaries were held like this for expatriates. “Earlier, we used to vote through absentee ballots by post. There was a need to garner the support of Democrats settled outside America all over the world,” said Carolyn Sauvage-Mar, chairperson of Democrats Abroad-India, the international wing of the party.

Voters had their priorities cut out for the next US President. “The president must do something about America’s image abroad, which I think has taken a hit,” said Joe Amick from Seattle, working at the Delhi office of an economic research firm.

“America needs change,” said Jennifer. Her husband works for a private firm in Delhi.

Like it would have been in any polling booth in America, this one too had a huge share of Indian Americans. “Obama has promised to relax laws on immigrants. That’s one of the reasons why I am voting for him,” said Reva Gupta, born and raised in the US but with roots in Rajasthan. “In many ways, Obama is like what Bill Clinton was during his first presidential term,” said Tejal Shah, originally from Gujarat, raised in the US. “The president must look after domestic priorities,” Robin Bose from New Jersey added.

Some famous names like dancer Sharon Lowen also turned up to vote.

Voting will be open on February 6, 9 and 12 from 4 pm to 8 pm.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

the great thing about the democrats, is that they are against h1b visas, and want to stop outsourcing of american jobs overseas to countries like china and india. for anyone in info tech, this is great and fantastic news to put a stop to these cheap lower wage foreigners who steal our jobs in I.T.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Indian Americans split between Hillary, Obama

Monday, 04 February , 2008, 22:42

New York: Indian American voters are split between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the two Democrats in the Presidential nomination race, as 22 American States prepare for crucial primary elections on Tuesday.

The dilemma is best expressed by Nazish Agha, a 34-year-old New York corporate lawyer who wants to see a woman become the US president but is also attracted to a black American.

"Being a woman I will like to see a woman in the White House. But coming from a minority Asian community, Obama, who does not have a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) name, also appeals to me," Agha told IANS.

The US-born Agha, whose family is from Lucknow, said younger and liberal Indian Americans are supporting Obama while the older ones are with Clinton.

She pointed out that ethnic Indians traditionally may support the Democratic party because of its social policies such as on immigration but even Republicans see the value of professionals coming in on H1B visas, a category that interests Indians.

Unlike Agha, Madhu Mittal, 36, has decided to vote for Obama although she admires Clinton too.

"Obama has a vision and also the daring to make a change — doing something good for the US and the world," says Mittal, who runs a garment sourcing company with her father in Long Island.

For many Indian Americans, she concedes, it is a tough call choosing between Clinton and Obama.

"The Clintons have had close ties with India and the Indian community here, particularly Punjabis. The fact is, many may admire Obama more but they will vote for Hillary because they have invested in her campaign.

"Most of them in any case are older people, who will benefit from her policies on healthcare and social security," Mittal argues.

Mittal has high regard for Bill Clinton. She argues that the Monica Lewinsky scandal was blown up to tarnish the then President's image by the tobacco lobby after his many steps that hurt tobacco manufacturers.

She, however, is worried whether a woman or a black candidate will eventually be voted president. "Lots of Americans want their president to be not only a WASP but also a male and a six-footer to boot."

Going by these criteria, only Republican Mitt Romney comes close from those left in the field. And even he is not a Protestant — he is a Mormon.

A. Rizvi, a 42-year-old entrepreneur of New Jersey, will vote for Obama because "you think he knows you. He has seen poverty and he knows the Third World".

He admires Obama's stand against outsourcing as an example of his honesty and forthrightness. "A President has to first think of his own country."

Rizvi rejects Hillary because, according to him, people already have seen the Clintons. "Bill Clinton was not that sharp a President," he says.

He also does not like Hillary's entry into the presidential race after saying for years that she was not interested.

On the west coast, in California, Sanjay Jayaswal, 39, finds both Obama and Clinton fit for his vote. But he is saved the trouble of choosing because he did not register in time as a voter.

"I never voted in the last four elections but felt like doing so this time because of the catastrophic direction the country has taken under President George Bush," says Jayaswal, an engineer with the Marriott hotel group.

But he is undecided in which party he should enrol.

"Had John Edwards, a super wealthy attorney showing concern for the poor, won the Democrat ticket, I would have liked to support John McCain," he said. Edwards has withdrawn from the race while McCain is the Republican frontrunner.

In Silicon Valley, Indian American outsourcing companies are looking for a business friendly candidate.

Ravi Thummarukudy, vice-president of GDA Technologies, says on a blog: "I think the subject of outsourcing is of great relevance for this election and as an entrepreneur and a manager of an outsourcing company, I'll be looking carefully at the candidates."

McCain and Hillary have spoken in favour of letting the global economy dictate the flow of jobs and business. Obama, however, has suggested taxing companies that ship American jobs overseas.

Traditionally, Indian Americans tend to be more liberal and vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.

Polls before the last Presidential election in 2004 showed them favouring Democratic candidate John Kerry over Republican Bush by a 53-14 per cent margin with 30 per cent undecided then.

But as the community becomes more established and prosperous, the Republican party, which favours lower taxes, is making inroads in the community.

Various groups like the Indian American Centre for Political Awareness have been trying to get the community more actively involved in the political process. Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal's election as Louisiana governor has left people wondering if an Indian American can one day become the US President.

[Macaca]

Dang,that was really intense last night..I don't like anyone -_-

[GOTFIVEONIT]

WNYC - News - South Asians lean to Clinton... or Obama



South Asians lean to Clinton... or Obama

by Arun Venugopal

NEW YORK, NY February 04, 2008 — South Asian immigrants in New York City are a small part of the city's population..but they are expected to play an outsized role in tomorrow's Super Tuesday primaries...especially for Democrats. WNYC's Arun Venugopal asked some South Asian Americans whether they were leaning toward Hillary...or Obama.

REPORTER: About 2 dozen people settle into a bar on the Upper West Side. They're mostly 20 and 30-somethings, of Indian or Pakistani ancestry. Tonight, they're enlisting with South Asians for Obama. The suggested entrance fee is 20 dollars, but there's also a brisk sale of Obama buttons, at 2 dollars a pop. Everything is decidedly grassroots. And that's how one of the organizers, Hrishi Karthikeyan likes it.

KARTHIKEYAN: It's not about who can write the biggest check. It's about inspiring a broad swath of our community to get involved with this campaign.

REPORTER: The event is part of a flurry of fundraisers and outreaches by South Asians for Obama in the days before Super Duper Tuesday. At the other end of the scale was a series of fundraisers last year, organized by Indian Americans for Hillary. The most lavish one was in New York. About 12 hundred people showed up, including Deepak Chopra, and by the end of the night about 2 million dollars was raised.

CLINTON: It is important in this new era in which we live, that the relationship and partnership between India and the United States deepen and strengthen....

REPORTER: The event was organized by Sant Singh Chatwal, a hotel owner who has been aligned with the Clintons since 1991. His son, Vikram Chatwal, is also a Clinton bundler - and when he got married 2 years ago, in Rajasthan, the guest of honor was Bill Clinton. Sant Chatwal says the community is already closing in on his goal of raising 5 million dollars for the Clinton campaign.

CHATWAL: Indian-Americans community over here, is really not an ordinary community. It's one of the richest community. Our per capita is highest, better than Israeli's, Japanese, Korean, Chinese. And we want to also send a message.

REPORTER: There are about 3 and a half million South Asian-Americans -- a little over 1 percent of the U-S population. But because of their wealth, especially among Indian-Americans, their influence is disproportionate to their size. According to exit polls from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, South Asians overwhelmingly vote for Democrats. In the 2006 Congressional elections, 80 to 85 percent of South Asians voted for Democratic candidates, and in Virginia, where Senator George Allen made his infamous macaca remark, it was 95 percent. That was enough for even a small minority to hand the election to the Democratic candidate, Jim Webb, and in turn, hand Senate control to the Democratic party.

Those voting numbers appear to be borne out by fundraising figures. Recently, Little India magazine found 21 Indian-American bundlers - or bigtime political contributors who gather donations from others. Sixteen of those bundlers - and the most ambitious ones - were for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, and were committed to raising 50 thousand dollars or more.

All of this is adding up to influence on certain issues. Take outsourcing. In 2004, John Kerry made it central to his platform. And then, suddenly, it became a non-issue. Rajen Anand is a supporter of Hillary Clinton.

ANAND: It was Indian-American influence that made Kerry to tone down his outsourcing rhetoric. No doubt about it.

REPORTER: This time, outsourcing has not become an election issue. But last summer, an aide to Obama caused an uproar by circulating a memo highlighting Clinton's ties to Indian outsourcing groups. The document referred to Clinton as the Democrat from Punjab. Preeta Bansal is the former solicitor general of New York and serves as an advisor to Obama.

BANSAL: What he says is he was madder than he's ever been in his political life at his own operation. He said this could be the end of our campaign. He realized right away how bad it was, how hurtful it was. I mean, he got it.

REPORTER: The issue was smoothed over when Obama quickly reached out to the Indian community, and for most prominent Clinton supporters the memo is no longer an issue. But older, and wealthier members of the community maintain strong support for Hillary Clinton. They say she is a far more seasoned politician who has deep ties to South Asia and understands issues like security.

But both sides say Obama is drawing young South Asians. Many of them say they're not interested in what he can do for the community, and that he represents a break from traditional politics.

One well-known South Asian supporter of Obama is, somewhat improbably, one of the stars of the stoner comedy Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, and the TV show House.

Kal Penn's been actively campaigning for Obama on college campuses. He's committed to this campaign because it makes him feel like he's part of something big. Just as his grandparents felt, fighting alongside Mahatma Gandhi.

PENN: My grandfather being thrown in jail, my grandmother marching with her friends. I didn't realize until very late in high school, probably really early in college, the real significance of those stories, [CUT: I sort of always just happened in my mind as the stories your grandparents tell you.] Realizing what those struggles and sacrifices meant to me really resonates in a lot of things Senator Obama has said: Had nobody stood up for anybody in the past he wouldn't have the chance to do what he does now.

REPORTER: The tight primary race may be dividing voters so far. But activists say as the general election approaches, South Asians will put their forces, and money, behind the Democratic candidate, whoever that is. For WNYC, I'm Arun Venugopal.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Actor Kal Penn roots for Obama

Monika Joshi | February 04, 2008 13:38 IST

Many people, particularly South Asians, have noted the fact that presidential hopeful Barack Obama pronounces 'Pakistan' correctly.

Actor Kal Penn, who has canvassed for presidential hopeful Barack Obama across United States, referred to it at a phone conference in Iowa on Saturday. The conference was organised by a group of South Asians supporting Obama.

"It seems something so simple, but knowing that a world leader can actually go over and negotiate with certain countries, discuss things with them, the fact is he should pronounce the name of the country properly," Penn said.

As an example of the Illinois senator's foreign policy experience and insight, he cited an essay Obama wrote in Foreign Affairs last summer about the need to refocus efforts on Pakistan after Benazir Bhutto's [Images] assassination.

Penn, who is recognised for his role in the comedy series Harold and Kumar as well Mira Nair's The Namesake, also explained why he signed up to volunteer for Obama.

Since he turned 18, Penn has not been aligned to a particular party and has voted for both Democrats and Republicans, as well as independents. His grandparents had been imprisoned for marching with Mahatma Gandhi [Images] in the struggle for Indian independence.

When Penn was old enough to understand the sacrifices people made to ensure a better life for the coming generations, it made him skeptical of politics. "I didn't see any candidates � whether it was for governor or for the school board, and certainly not for president � that I could get really excited about and believe in," he said.

Four years ago, Penn was living in Texas where a friend was making minimum wage working for a trucking company, while trying to save for college. One day, the friend got a call from Halliburton and was offered a $90,000 a year job driving a truck for the private sector in Iraq.

"I thought that it was a really sad situation where the world's richest country could only offer two options to a buddy of ours who wants to go to college, and that's minimum wage or 90 grand in a war zone," Penn said. "That made me even more cynical."

A few weeks later, Penn was working on his computer while the television played in the background. The Democratic National Convention was on. Something made him look up.

"It was Senator Obama's keynote, and he said: Especially after 9/11, we should not be divided between blue states and red states. We should be focused on being the United States," Penn said. "I'm sure we all remember that not just in the days and weeks but the months and years after 9/11, different folks around the country felt, for one reason or another, that they were not part of the American society." After the address was over, Penn wondered, like many others, when Obama would run for president.

When the opportunity came four years later, Penn said he researched Obama's stand on various issues � his co-sponsorship of the End Racial Profiling Act, support to reforming the H1B programme so that legal immigrants aren't dependent on shady employers just to stay in the country, and support to family reunification.

"Barack is a huge family guy," informed Penn. "He talks to his wife Michelle several times a day, and when they were in Iowa, Michelle was notorious for flying home at night just to talk to the girls."

While the traditional approach in a campaign is to view a minority community as a voting bloc, Penn said he could say as an insider that the Obama campaign doesn't use those terms. "What you hear constantly is how folks can be included," he said.

Penn cited Iowa, where during outreach at a rural high school with a sizable number of Latino students, they found that the parents had never participated in the political process. Instead of asking for their votes, the campaign decided to find out more about the community's needs that were not being addressed by politicians and the government.

"It means that these communities aren't being ghettoized or targeted specifically because folks think we are different or we have some money to donate or because we're a bloc of voters," Penn said. "But Barack truly wants to include people in the process of what it means to be an American."

For example, while other campaigns may appoint one or two South Asians to reach out to the South Asian community, Obama goes beyond token gestures, the actor said. One of his senior policy staff is a South Asian, who has taken time off Yale Law School to work with him. His environmental outreach director in Iowa is Rohan Patel, a Northwestern University graduate.

"What you're seeing happen on the ground you're certainly not seeing as a news story, because there is no need to publicise diversity for the sake of publicity," Penn said.

People of all backgrounds and from all walks of life are joining hands with Obama. "That's something that we haven't seen as a South Asian community. Particularly after 9/11, I think too many politicians are willing to tokenise us but not enough are willing to include us," said Penn.

[GOTFIVEONIT]

and the latest delegate count.............


823 - HILLARY

741- OBAMA

2,025 Delegates needed to win party nomination for President of the U.S.

[jinnzaman]

Originally Posted by Jamroll

Look all us brits really want to know is, is homeboy gonna be in the White House?

The real pertinent question is: will the next American screw over the West part of the Ummah of the Eastern part? Is it going to be the Palestinians or the Iranians that are going to get killed?

American foreign policy, unfortunately, is in complete conflict with the interests of the Muslim people. Its also the area of government that has the least interference from the other branches of government.

[Jamroll]

Originally Posted