Saturday, March 08, 2008

Hispanics and electability

By Libby

I've read what feels like a million arguments over who is the more electable Democratic candidate in the general. It's no secret that I've been concerned since before day one about Clinton Derangement Syndrome and I think it makes Hillary just as much a "roll of the dice" as Obama in the general. Having now been living in a red state for three years and having befriended many conservative bloggers over a stretch of five years and having made many Republican friends over a lifetime, I have seen CDS in action. It's not pretty. Even politically disengaged people go into inexplicable rages when they so much as hear the Clinton name. That scares me.

Meanwhile Nick Beaudrot posts some pretty maps and puts forward a rather compelling argument for Obama.
At the moment, Barack Obama is the better general election nominee. Period. Full stop. He will have to spend less time defending blue states. He's competitive in a larger number of red states. And he's more competitive in states that have Senate elections. Barack Obama: because this is the year to bust the map wide open.
Read it and decide for yourself if you think he's right. I'm sure I don't know. I'm no wonk myself and frankly, stats and demographic analysis bores me. I believe in people, not numbers, and I think no mathematical model can fully account for the quirks of human nature. It's always a crap shoot, and no one can predict what stupid 11th hour meme will swing an election.

However, I'm pretty sure of one thing. Even if Hispanics prefer Clinton now, I find it difficult to believe they would vote for McCain over Obama, when McCain is going to be preaching the GOP party line on immigration. I see no reason why they would.

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