McCain is the GOP Nominee, Now What?

From CNN.com:

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain will win Texas and become the Republican presidential nominee, CNN projects.

His Tuesday wins in Texas, Ohio and Vermont are enough to give him the 1,191 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination.

McCain will travel to the White House to be endorsed by President Bush as early as Wednesday, sources tell CNN.

This is one of those things that everyone knew would happen, but due to some technicalities we just had to wait a bit for it to be finalized.

However, now that the Republican Party has a nominee, we have to start asking ourselves what has to be done next to propel the campaign to where they need to be, so that they can be in a position to successfully defeat whoever the Democrats nominate.

First and foremost, John McCain has to start fundraising as soon as possible. This is going to be an extremely expensive race, far more expensive than anything we have seen in previous elections. If McCain is going to win, the first victory he has to capture (now that the nomination is imminent) is taking the lead in fundraising.

Now that he will be receiving the endorsement of George Bush, he should put him out to do fundraising right away. Due to the perception of the Bush administration amongst many, it wouldn’t make much sense for McCain to wait until September to use President Bush’s fundraising talents. Instead, I think that between now and August, McCain should work with the President to get as many fundraising events scheduled as possible. After that, let the President raise money for the RNC and other candidates, so that it isn’t a direct McCain activity.

Second, if McCain is going to be successful in this race, he is going to have to find a way to reach out further to the young voters, who up until this point, have been experiencing one long “obamagasm”. If McCain can dig into even a small percentage of the base of young voters that Obama has amassed, those young people will be the foot soldiers the Republican Party desperately needs.

I think that one way McCain can attract youth voters, is by putting his daughter, Meghan, on the campaign trail. Not only is she extremely attractive (just like her mother), but she is also extremely energetic and understands what it is that young people are looking for in a Presidential candidate. She is also a huge campaign resource in that she has used her blog to give everyone the opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at her father when he isn’t at a podium. If she can use her blog to generate even more McCain buzz in the blogosphere, I think that even more people will start to lean towards McCain over whoever the Democrat is. More importantly, Meghan McCain hasn’t come off as a polarizing, partisan figure, but instead has just spoke about her father as she knows him . . . which is exactly what needs to be done.

Third, in line with my previous point, Senator McCain also has to reach out more to the online community. In my opinion, aside from online advertising, the campaign hasn’t done the best job of reaching out to those of us in the blogosphere. I would like to see the McCain campaign expand their resources for bloggers, and have more frequent blogger conference calls so that we have some ownership in making news and buzz for the campaign. This is something that is extremely simple and effective.

However, I think that as politics continues to progress into the digital age, these online efforts are elements of the campaign that can be generated and controlled by non-campaign forces. I’m looking forward to see what the great minds of many of McCain’s supporters will come up with in terms of independent online strategies.

As Huckabee exits, all I can say is: “let the games begin”

The Undiscussed, Seemingly Forgotten Factor in Texas?

As the polls start to close across Texas, many people have already begun to speculate on who the winner will be. To many, they have already decided that Barack Obama is the victor.

This isn’t based on some having the ability to see into the future, or even someone knowing someone who works at the polls. No, this conclusion has been made by many simply because of what polling data has shown in the days and weeks leading up to the Texas Primary.

While polls do have their place in politics, as New Hampshire has shown, these are not always the most accurate, especially in such a diverse election.

Regardless, it seems that people have taken the polling data that was conducted in Texas to heart, and based on what they are seeing, Barack Obama is coming ahead.

However, the majority of the polls that are taken are done by using disproportionate samples. In a state like Texas, do you think that it is going to be proportionate when most of the polls taken have been conducted solely in English?

In a CNN article today, there was finally mentioning of one poll of likely Democratic Hispanic voters in Texas.

From CNN.com:

A recent Gallup poll of eligible Hispanic voters nationwide showed Obama not only erasing a 31-point gap against Clinton in just a week, but taking the lead by 4 percentage points.

Clinton led Obama 63 percent to 32 percent in the poll’s results from February 5-9. But by February 13-17, Obama had taken the lead 50 percent to 46 percent.

The tracking poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, surveyed about 2,000 eligible Democratic voters.

While that poll might be telling, the fact that there isn’t another, more recent poll to compare this data with, leads me to believe that this is probably one of a very small number of datasets available.

If you look at any polling site, you will see that various polling firms will take polls on the same day, with the same sample size, but in many instances get extremely different results. However, they are able to come up with a more concise explanation for what is happening by averaging the data sets together.

When there is a limited number of sets, in what seem to be all conducted by one polling firm, you’re results aren’t going to be proportional.

Furthermore, by not polling Hispanics more frequently, this also throws off any other polls that have been conducted solely in English. There are a lot of Hispanic voters in the State of Texas, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that many of them don’t speak English.

So while Barack Obama is said to have the lead in a poll that was taken over two weeks ago, I wouldn’t be surprised if it shows to be way off and Hillary Clinton gets at least 55% of the Hispanic vote, regardless of any previous data provided.

But, just like the polls, I can always be proven wrong.

Will the Republicans Have an Impact on the Democratic Primaries?

As this election has become more and more cutthroat, as has the development of strategies by many on the right to ensure that the Republican Party has a candidate on the other side that they can beat.

Even before Obama surged to popularity, it was no secret that the Republican Party has had their eyes on going head to head with the Clinton’s once again.

Now, as the Democratic Primary still remains a mystery, with both candidates having a viable chance if they can pick up a few “must win” states, the role that Republicans can play in who the Democrat that will face John McCain will be.

Taking note of this, Rush Limbaugh has been urging his listeners in Texas and other radio hosts in Ohio have followed, to cast their votes for Hillary Clinton, to give her the boost she needs to beat Barack Obama.

From CNN.com:

(CNN) – As Hillary Clinton battles to keep her presidential bid alive, she may be getting help from an unlikely source: conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh has been actively urging his Texas listeners to cross over and vote for Clinton in that state’s open primary Tuesday, arguing it helps the Republicans if the Democratic race remains unsettled for weeks to come.

“I want Hillary to stay in this…this is too good a soap opera,” Limbaugh told fellow conservative talk-show host Laura Ingraham on Fox News Friday. He reiterated the comments on his Monday show and replayed the exchange with Ingram.

Will this be effective?

I think that in Texas, with a race so close, that it could have a huge effect if even 5% of the Republican base came out and cast their vote for Hillary Clinton. If this ploy is successful, this will definitely be the “hottest” story of the political season thus far.

However, I can’t say that I’m the biggest fan of other parties playing a role in politics of the opposing sides. But, this is a problem that could easily be resolved by each state, by implementing closed primaries. Texas doesn’t seem like a state that has a large independent base, so I don’t see how this would warrant disenfranchisement by any means.

I somehow have a feeling that if this is successful, there will be a quick lobby to change the voting laws for future primaries