Monday, March 14, 2016

Super Tuesday Deux

I'll just say that this election is the strangest one in my lifetime.  All conventional wisdom has gone out the window, especially when it comes to confronting the success of the Donald.  The GOP "Establishment" appears to be at a loss:



I have to say, if all you have to say is "all he has is a lot of votes" that says quite a bit about what the GOP "Establishment" is thinking these days.  They simply were not ready for the political shrewdness of the Donald.  They were not ready for a candidate who could effectively channel a notable size of the electorate's anger at the federal government, the politicians and the status quo and state that he can be their bully against them.  They were not ready for a candidate who knows how to connect with the angst of blue collar Americans regarding their own future and the future of the country.  They were not ready for a candidate who knows how to define the debate and his opponents as deftly as the Donald.   So now we have hit this point of the campaign, where rhetoric is getting heated and GOP candidates who earnestly stated 6 months ago that the Donald should support the GOP nominee at all costs through signing a pledge of allegiance now say they have to reconsider supporting the Donald if he is the GOP nominee.  Where folks are quick to state the Donald has the support of the Ku Klux Klan, when ironically it's the Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, who got the endorsement of the KKK's Grand Dragon .   These are simply interesting times.

So what to make of tomorrow.  It will be a defining day indeed.  Here's my predictions:

Florida - the Donald wins by around 10 points.  It's lights out for Marco Rubio and the most interesting part of this race is what Marco will say in suspending his campaign. Make that 2 vanquished Establishment candidates.

Ohio - I'm torn on this one.  Every conventional indication is that Ohio Governor John Kasich should win here.  However, these are not conventional times.  Connections to the establishment are deleterious in this campaign and Gov. Kasich not only has many connections to the establishment, but also flaunting those connections, including Mitt Romney.  I still think Kasich wins here, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Donald has a late surge to pull it out, especially if he can energize blue collar types to get to the polls, which he has been very effective in doing.

Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina -   Unlike Florida and Ohio, where the winner gets all the delegates, these states award them proportionally.  I think this will split in the following way:

the Donald 90
Cruz 77
Kasich 20
Rubio 6

At the end of the evening, the Donald will have a commanding lead, but not enough of one for inevitability to universally kick in that he'll be the GOP nominee. Buckle your belts, it'll be a bumpy ride.

Democrats

Something that's intriguing to me for all those who say that Hillary would crush the Donald is that Hillary can't really even crush socialist Bernie Sanders.  If one takes away the superdelegates, whom will give Hillary the win eventually, she's only beating Sanders by a score of 750 to 540,  that gap is largely due to her crushing Sanders in TX, GA, LA and MS. I see tomorrow being more of the same:  Hillary struggles to put Bernie away.   

Hillary wins FL, MO, NC

Bernie wins IL, OH

As Paul Harvey would say: Good Day!








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