Politics and Culture

Zogby, only about twenty points off in both the Democratic and Republican primaries, and talk radio looked bad today. Talk radio was, for this primary, what liberals say they've always been: fringy demagogues.

McCain will be the Republican nominee. If he makes a gesture like, say, a promise of a border wall within the first year, to skeptical (not the fevercons who invested heavily in his defeat) conservatives, McCain can start building a coalition. In McCain, we have a candidate we can respect, not just agree with.

Romney and Huckabee are both relatively young. They should stop burning through their money and start planning for a future race.

Hillary was strong with Latinos probably for the reasons I explained. This is interesting because McCain can be effective with Latinos as well. If Obama is the nominee, his disadvantage vis a vis McCain with Latinos may counteract his charisma advantage.

If I were McCain against Obama, I would turn Obama's magnetic podium presence against him as Romney's good looks worked against Romney. I would get it into the voters' heads that Obama is all flash and no substance, an attack that's actually true.

Hillary is a no-brainer. She wouldn't have the Latino antipathy towards blacks working for her and McCain can exploit the huge credibility gap, in his favor, between him and Hillary. Plus, do people really want to pay extra taxes for something they already have, health care?