Romney, Clinton win Nevada (and Michigan)

Yuck. I was hoping for a repeat of Iowa, but it wasn't meant to be. Hillary adequately beat Obama, and Romney destroyed his opponents (Ron Paul came in second)! But I don't think this means too much -- there have been now three different GOP winners in four contested primaries (Iowa, NH, Michigan, and now Nevada), so there is no clear front-runner. And Hillary has only beat Obama twice in the three contested Democratic primaries (Obama and Edwards were not on the MI ballot). In addition, both Obama and Edwards beat Clinton in Iowa. So basically, all this means is that nothing is for sure. South Carolina only added to the utter confusion for the GOP and the SC Democrat primary is not until next week, so there is still some time for Clinton, Obama, and Edwards to recoup.

So here's the story on Nevada...

VOA News...

Hillary Clinton has won the Nevada Democratic Party caucuses, after a hard-fought campaign against Senator Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards...Mitt Romney easily won the Republican race in the state.

This is New York Senator Clinton's second win in Democratic Party preference contests, after a victory in the New Hampshire primary January 8.

Senator Obama, who was backed by a strong local labor union, came in second and former senator Edwards came in a distant third.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney campaigned heavily in Nevada and gained an easy win in Republican caucuses over Arizona senator John McCain and Texas congressman Ron Paul. Romney said the people of Nevada had cast their vote for change, and this victory is important. "It's huge for us, and we're very, very pleased," he said.

Michelle Romero, a bellhop at the Las Vegas Hilton, took part in a Democratic caucus held in a casino, and spoke of the issues that concern her. "The economy, our jobs, schools and our family," she said.

Both winning candidates say the economy will be an important issue in the national campaign. Democrats will hold their next primary Saturday in South Carolina, and Republicans are focusing on the Florida primary three days later. Both parties are looking ahead to Super Tuesday, when more than 20 states will hold primaries and caucuses.

LINK: Romney, Clinton Projected to Win Nevada Caucuses

And here's the scoop on Michigan from FOXNews...

... With 100 percent of the voting in, Romney earned 39 percent of the vote over McCain with 30 percent. Mike Huckabee had 16 percent while Ron Paul polled at 6 percent. Fred Thompson had 4 percent and Rudy Giuliani was at 3 percent.

“Tonight proves you can’t tell an American there’s something they just can’t do because Americans can do whatever they set their hearts on, and tonight is a victory of optimism over Washington-style pessimism,” Romney said to a raucous crowd of supporters in Southfield, Mich. “The lobbyists and the politicians realize that America now understands that Washington is broken and we’re going to do something about it.”

Democratic delegates are not being seated at the national convention and most of the party’s candidates withdrew from the Michigan race, leaving Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel the only active contenders on that ballot.

With 100 percent of precincts in, Clinton had won 55 percent compared to 40 percent for “uncommitted,” 4 percent for Kucinich and less than 1 percent for Gravel.

The win put Romney in a strong position heading into Saturday’s South Carolina primary, Florida’s primary on Jan. 29 and Super Tuesday on Feb. 5.

More...

LINK: Romney, Clinton Win Michigan Presidential Primary

To quote John Edwards -- "...what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...".

-Mr. Joseph

Ron Paul’s Old Newsletters Filled With Bigotry And Conspiracy Theories

This is why I don't like Ron Paul and I think he is so overrated...

Think Progress...

Beginning in 1978, Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) name graced newsletters that were released on a seemingly monthly basis: Ron Paul’s Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report, The Ron Paul Survival Report. “The Freedom Report’s online archives only go back to 1999,” but The New Republic’s Jamie Kirchick recently tracked down physical copies of many of the pre-1999 reports.

According to Kirchick, they’re peppered with a “decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays.” Here are a few examples:

On David Duke: “Our priority should be to take the anti-government, anti-tax, anti-crime, anti-welfare loafers, anti-race privilege, anti-foreign meddling message of Duke, and enclose it in a more consistent package of freedom.”

On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “[A] comsymp, if not an actual party member, and the man who replaced the evil of forced segregation with the evil of forced integration.”

On African-Americans: “I’ve urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self defense. For the animals are coming.”

On Gays: “Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities.”

In his article, Kirchick writes that “with few bylines, it is difficult to know whether any particular article was written by Paul himself” and that “the vast majority of the editions” that he “saw contain no bylines at all.” Paul emphasized this point in his response to the article:

The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts. […]

Several writers contributed to the product. For over a decade, I have publically taken moral responsibility for not paying closer attention to what went out under my name.

But as Kirchick — who has been criticizing Paul for months — notes, “[I]t is difficult to imagine how Paul could allow material consistently saturated in racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and conspiracy-mongering to be printed under his name for so long if he did not share these views.”

Some of Paul’s supporters in the blogosphere give him more of the benefit of the doubt, but still admit that the “truly odious material” released under his name is “really stunning.” Andrew Sullivan writes that “it’s up to Ron Paul now to clearly explain and disown these ugly, vile, despicable tracts from the past.”

PDFs of some of the old newsletters can be found here.

UPDATE: A 1992 Ron Paul Political Report said: “I think we can safely assume that 95% of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.”

LINK: Ron Paul’s Old Newsletters Filled With Bigotry And Conspiracy Theories

I also don't like why he is crossing the picket lines to go on Jay Leno's show: "He doesn't care about the unions or the pickets."

-Mr. Joseph

Obama, Huckabee win in Iowa!

Congratulations to Sen. Obama and Sen. Edwards for defeating the so called "inevitable" Sen. Clinton. It was fantastic to see both of them win. Also, congratulations to Gov. Huckabee for coming from 1% to the Iowa caucus winner!

What a great night!

Here's the story on Sen. Obama's win...

A victorious Barack Obama portrayed his decisive first-place finish in the Iowa Democratic caucuses as a "defining moment" that he said would lead the way to change in Washington and an end to the war in Iraq.

The first-term senator from Illinois promised "a nation less divided and more united" and told those at a victory rally they could some day "look back and say this is the moment where it all began."

Obama, 46, is bidding to become the first black president. He garnered about 38 percent of the vote, comfortably ahead of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady.

"They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. ... But on this January night, on this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do. You did what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days," Obama said.

If elected, Obama vowed, "I'll be a president that ends this war in Iraq and finally brings our troops home, who restores our moral standing, who understands that 9-11 is not a way a way to scare up votes but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st Century."

"Hope is the bedrock of this nation, the belief that our destiny will not be written for us but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is but who have the courage to remake the world as it should be," he said. "That is what we started here in Iowa and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond."

More...

LINK: Obama Says His Victory Will Bring Change

And on Gov. Huckabee's win...

Long-shot Republican candidate Mike Huckabee declared "a new day in American politics" Thursday after riding strong support from evangelical Christians into a decisive victory in the Iowa caucuses.

Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister and, like Bill Clinton, a native of Hope, Ark., managed to win despite trailing badly in national polls for most of the year. He out-hustled runner-up Mitt Romney and better-known candidates John McCain, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani with a coalition of pastors, home schooling adherents, gun rights advocates and supporters of a new national tax system.

"This election is not about me. It's about we," the former Arkansas governor told supporters here. He said the victory would ignite "a prairie fire of new hope and zeal."

The victory makes Huckabee a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. That was confirmed instantly Thursday night when the Democratic National Committee's website headlined, "Mike's Win Means More of the Same … Huckabee Promises Third Bush Term."

Now, he moves on to New Hampshire, where Romney and McCain are battling for the lead in the nation's first primary Tuesday. He was scheduled to appear there today with actor Chuck Norris and to play his bass with a local band, Mama Kicks.

More...

LINK: Huckabee: 'A new day in American politics'

RELATED READING...

LINK: Clinton Unbowed by Third-Place Finish

LINK: Romney falls to Huckabee in Iowa

LINK: A Second-Place "Victory" for Edwards?

LINK: Thompson Says Campaign Will Continue

LINK: Ron Paul gets some revenge

LINK: Richardson Stays in Democratic Contest

LINK: Hunter keeps on, despite lacking funds, attention

LINK: Giuliani Praises Huckabee's Iowa Win

LINK: Gravel fights on

I was happy to see Gov. Huckabee defeat Romney, and I was very happy to see both Sen. Obama and Sen. Edwards defeat Sen. Clinton. I had hoped Sen. Edwards would beat Sen. Obama, but alas, one cannot have everything.

It is my prediction that Guiliani's gig is up and he's done. I also predict that if Sen. Clinton comes in third in New Hampshire, she will be out of it.

Now things get interesting...

-Mr. Joseph

UPDATE (1/07/08):
Think Progress presents Live Iowa Caucus Updates.