Buckwheat's Whoop-Ass CRUSHES the Foul Smelling Hitlary

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_mccain_wisconsin/2008/02/19/73944.html

Obama's Big Mo Stomps Hillary

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama cruised past a fading Hillary Rodham Clinton in

the Wisconsin primary Tuesday night, gaining the upper hand in a Democratic

presidential race for the ages. It was Obama's ninth straight victory over

the past three weeks, and left the former first lady in desperate need of a

comeback in a race she long commanded as front-runner.

"The change we seek is still months and miles away," Obama told a boisterous

crowd in Houston.

He cut deeply into Clinton's political bedrock in Wisconsin, splitting the

support of white women in Wisconsin almost evenly with the former first lady

and running well among working class voters in the blue collar battleground,

according to polling place interviews.

The economy and trade were key issues in the race, and seven in 10 voters

said international trade has resulted in lost jobs in Wisconsin. Fewer than

one in five said trade has created more jobs than it has lost.

Clinton made no mention of her defeat, and showed no sign of surrender in an

appearance in Youngstown, Ohio.

"Both Senator Obama and I would make history," the former first lady said.

"But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to

manage our economy, and ready to defeat the Republicans. Only one of us has

spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter and a champion for those who need a

voice."

In a clear sign of their standing in the race, most cable television

networks abruptly cut away from coverage of Clinton's rally when Obama began

to speak in Texas.

Sen. John McCain won the Republican primary with ease, dispatching former

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and edging closer to the 1,191 delegates he

needs to clinch the GOP nomination at the party convention in St. Paul,

Minn. next summer.

In scarcely veiled criticism of Obama, the Republican nominee-in-waiting

said, "I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure

that Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change."

McCain's nomination has been assured since Super Tuesday three weeks ago, as

first one, then another of his former rivals has dropped out and the party

establishment has closed ranks behind him.

Not so in the Democratic race, where Obama and Clinton campaign seven days a

week, he the strongest black presidential candidate in history, she bidding

to become the first woman to sit in the White House.

Ohio and Texas vote next on March 4 - 370 convention delegates in all - and

even some of Clinton's supporters concede she must win one, and possibly

both, to remain competitive.

Wisconsin independents cast about one-quarter of the ballots in the race

between Obama and Clinton, and roughly 15 percent of the electorate were

first-time voters, the survey at polling places said. Obama has run strongly

among independents in earlier primaries, and among younger voters, and cited

their support as evidence that he would make a stronger general election

candidate in the fall.

With the votes counted in nearly one-quarter of the state's precincts, Obama

was winning 56 percent of the vote, to 43 percent for Clinton.

Wisconsin offered 74 national convention delegates. There were 20 delegates

at stake in caucuses in Hawaii, where Obama spent part of his youth.

Obama's victory allowed him to expand his delegate edge over Clinton.

He had 1,294, and Clinton had 1,218 in The Associated Press count, with most

of Wisconsin's delegates still to be allocated. It takes 2,025 to win the

nomination at the party's national convention in Denver.

Obama began the evening with eight straight primary and caucus victories, a

remarkable run that has propelled him past Clinton in the overall delegate

race and enabled him to chip away at her advantage among elected officials

within the party who will have convention votes as superdelegates.

The Democrats' focus on trade was certain to intensify, with primaries in

Ohio in two weeks and in Pennsylvania on April 22.

Obama's campaign has already distributed mass mailings critical of Clinton

on the issue in Ohio. "Bad trade deals like NAFTA hit Ohio harder than most

states. Only Barack Obama consistently opposed NAFTA," it said.

Obama was in Texas, which has primaries and caucuses on March 4, and Clinton

was in Ohio as the votes were counted in Wisconsin.

Clinton's aides initially signaled she would virtually concede Wisconsin,

and the former first lady spent less time in the state than Obama.

Even so, she ran a television ad that accused her rival of ducking a debate

in the state and added that she had the only health care plan that would

cover all Americans and the only economic plan to stop home foreclosures.

"Maybe he'd prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions" the

commercial said.

Obama countered with an ad of his own, saying his health care plan would

cover more people.

The campaign grew increasingly testy over the weekend, when Clinton's aides

accused Obama of plagiarism for delivering a speech that included words that

had first been uttered by Deval Patrick, the Massachusetts governor and a

friend of Obama.

"I really don't think this is too big of a deal," Obama said, eager to lay

the issue to rest quickly. He said Clinton had used his slogans, too.

Even before the votes were tallied in one state, the campaigners were

looking ahead.

Unlike the Democratic race, McCain was assured of the Republican nomination

and concentrated on turning his primary campaign into a general election

candidacy.

Huckabee parried occasional suggestions - none of them by McCain - that he

quit the race. In a move that was unorthodox if not unprecedented for a

presidential contender, he left the country in recent days to make a paid

speech in the Grand Cayman Islands.

McCain picked up endorsements in the days before the primary from former

President George H.W. Bush and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a

campaign dropout who urged his 280 delegates to swing behind the party's

nominee-to-be.