We are continuing our campaign coverage here at Politics, Culture and Wastes of Time with a look at how Barack Obama defeated in-party rival Hillary Clinton by a 58-42 percent margin in the Wyoming Democratic Caucus on Saturday.
The Republican Caucus was held back in January, and it went to Mitt Romney who has since dropped out of the race.
While my coverage can not match C-Span, CNN or MSNBC, I will continue to look at how local newspapers in each state with a heated contest covered the race.
Laramie, Wyo., is home to Wyoming University, and the local newspaper there is (gotta love this) "The Laramie Boomerang."
According to Aaron LeClair of "The Boomerang," Obama beat Clinton even more decisively in Albany County, which is the county where Laramie is. The Illinois senator got 969 votes (74 percent) to Clinton's 328 votes (25 percent) at county caucus which was held at the Laramie Plains Civic Center.
There was a huge turnout for the event as 1,300 Democratic voters came out.
"This is probably one of the more exciting things that's happened to Albany County politically for a very long time for the Democratic Party," said Grant Showacre, the county's party chair (to the "Boomerang").
Impressively enough Laramie is represented by a Democratic state senator, Mike Massie (Wyoming is the home of Dick Cheney, after all, and Republicans outnumber Democrats two-to-one in the Cowboy State).
Massie told "The Boomerang" that Obama's win was the result of an extremely, well-organized state-wide campaign. Massie said he was also amazed to see 1,300 people show up for an event that would have normally seen 100 people in attendance.
Gary Trauner, who is running as a Democrat for a congressional seat in Wyoming, also came to the caucus. In 2006, he narrowly lost to Cong. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) by less than 1,000 votes.
One thing Republicans have to fear is that more enthusiasm for a Democratic presidential could mean more Congressional and U.S. Senate seats, not to mention gubernatorial seats, could go to Democrats as well.
Wyoming has a Democratic governor who has so far refused to endorse either Obama or Clinton.
Useful Links:
http://www.laramieboomerang.com
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Coming Attractions to This Blog
A majority of the entries on this blog are spur of the moment things, such as the last entry on Chris Knight's campaign to have people boycott the upcoming presidential election, but there are always long-term things that I am looking out for.
As is the case when you see a trailer before a film is about to begin, I can not guarantee that all these will show up on this blog, but it is my intent to get them on here within the next 2-3 months (a lot of things tend to come up).
Here are a dozen things you can look for in the next few weeks:
Politics
1. Continuing campaign coverage_ Wyoming today. Mississippi next week. Pennsylvania and my state of North Carolina_ as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to go at it, I will try cover as much terrain as possible. My emphasis is not on the big stories, but how voters are making their choices, and the factors that determine each person's decision.
2. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)_ I am opposed to her reelection bid this November, and it goes beyond mere partisan politics. Expect to see more on this here.
Other possibilities include an entry on how John McCain allegedly came close to becoming a Democrat early into George W. Bush's first term.
Culture
1. I saw a fascinating documentary on the Sundance Channel last week entitled "638 Ways to Kill Castro"- The English film gave an amazing insight into both the radical elements of the Cuban-American community in Miami as well as our government's sometimes over-the-top ways of trying to deal with Fidel. It definitely merits a blog entry.
2. One of my favorite playwrights is the recently deceased African-American playwright August Wilson. The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, is currently holding a retrospective on his plays. Other theatrical entries I intend to post include plays in my hometown of Roanoke,Va., as well as Greensboro, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia.
All Things Turkey
As many of you know, I like to cover things that are going on in Turkey or the Turkish community in America. This is one area which I feel I often neglect, as I am a bit out of the loop due to the fact that I live in a small area which has fewer Turkish-Americans than a place like Passaic, NJ, or Fairfax, Va.
Recently, these issues have become more contested as an Armenian Genocide Bill came up in Congress. Like most Turkish-Americans, as much as I respect the Armenian community, I fear the measure would do catastrophic damage to US-Turkish relations.
And, there is also the matter of Turkey's incursion into northern Iraq to stop PKK terrorists.
1. A Turkish studies program at Yerevan State University in Armenia_of all places.
2. A Turkish-American female wrestler????_ Yes, there is such a person!
Sports
1. I shall be blogging about the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It will be interesting to see how ACC teams fare this year.
2. Women's gymnastics-I am looking to post entries about the University of Rhode Island and a gymnast from Roanoke who competes for Illinois State University.
Other Wastes of Time
1. This could have gone under politics, but there is speculation that many famous cartoon characters actually resemble candidates running for office.
2. A strange anti-Hillary letter that was published in The Roanoke Times, which essentially says that she is not God's choice (I guess some endorsements matter!)
3.Fundies say the darndest things- A religious fundamentalists posted one of the most over-the-top homophobic statements I've ever heard....now, if I can only find that site on the net again! This one talks about the need to slaughter all 'gay animals.'
4. A poem I wrote should be posted here in the coming days. I am not exactly Langston Hughes!
I also intend to add videos, comic strips and perhaps even a recipe or two.
If you have any interesting ideas for this blog, please email them to me at tango74@aol.com
As is the case when you see a trailer before a film is about to begin, I can not guarantee that all these will show up on this blog, but it is my intent to get them on here within the next 2-3 months (a lot of things tend to come up).
Here are a dozen things you can look for in the next few weeks:
Politics
1. Continuing campaign coverage_ Wyoming today. Mississippi next week. Pennsylvania and my state of North Carolina_ as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to go at it, I will try cover as much terrain as possible. My emphasis is not on the big stories, but how voters are making their choices, and the factors that determine each person's decision.
2. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)_ I am opposed to her reelection bid this November, and it goes beyond mere partisan politics. Expect to see more on this here.
Other possibilities include an entry on how John McCain allegedly came close to becoming a Democrat early into George W. Bush's first term.
Culture
1. I saw a fascinating documentary on the Sundance Channel last week entitled "638 Ways to Kill Castro"- The English film gave an amazing insight into both the radical elements of the Cuban-American community in Miami as well as our government's sometimes over-the-top ways of trying to deal with Fidel. It definitely merits a blog entry.
2. One of my favorite playwrights is the recently deceased African-American playwright August Wilson. The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, is currently holding a retrospective on his plays. Other theatrical entries I intend to post include plays in my hometown of Roanoke,Va., as well as Greensboro, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia.
All Things Turkey
As many of you know, I like to cover things that are going on in Turkey or the Turkish community in America. This is one area which I feel I often neglect, as I am a bit out of the loop due to the fact that I live in a small area which has fewer Turkish-Americans than a place like Passaic, NJ, or Fairfax, Va.
Recently, these issues have become more contested as an Armenian Genocide Bill came up in Congress. Like most Turkish-Americans, as much as I respect the Armenian community, I fear the measure would do catastrophic damage to US-Turkish relations.
And, there is also the matter of Turkey's incursion into northern Iraq to stop PKK terrorists.
1. A Turkish studies program at Yerevan State University in Armenia_of all places.
2. A Turkish-American female wrestler????_ Yes, there is such a person!
Sports
1. I shall be blogging about the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It will be interesting to see how ACC teams fare this year.
2. Women's gymnastics-I am looking to post entries about the University of Rhode Island and a gymnast from Roanoke who competes for Illinois State University.
Other Wastes of Time
1. This could have gone under politics, but there is speculation that many famous cartoon characters actually resemble candidates running for office.
2. A strange anti-Hillary letter that was published in The Roanoke Times, which essentially says that she is not God's choice (I guess some endorsements matter!)
3.Fundies say the darndest things- A religious fundamentalists posted one of the most over-the-top homophobic statements I've ever heard....now, if I can only find that site on the net again! This one talks about the need to slaughter all 'gay animals.'
4. A poem I wrote should be posted here in the coming days. I am not exactly Langston Hughes!
I also intend to add videos, comic strips and perhaps even a recipe or two.
If you have any interesting ideas for this blog, please email them to me at tango74@aol.com
Friday, March 7, 2008
Chris Knight: "Just Say No"- 600th entry
It seems like my good friend Chris Knight is becoming Nancy Reagan as he is telling people to "Just Say No." But, he is not referring to meth, coke or pot, but rather the presidential election.
Knight, who is known nationally for his impressive Star Wars-themed tv ad which ran while he was trying to get on the Rockingham County School Board, made a post on his blog which features a video of his phone call to Reidsville, NC tv station Star 39 in which declared that neither Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John McCain was worth a person's vote.
Knight remains an ardent Ron Paul supporter even though Sen. McCain is now the GOP nominee.
In his phone call, Knight declared that the combined presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have produced 16 years of chaos, corruption and lies.
"I'm so frustrated right now with the choices..........I'm just going to sit this one out," Knight said in his phone call to Star 39.
He also added on his blog that:
"Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil."
Knight said no one could ever accuse him of apathy or not caring about politics as he registered to vote the day after he turned 18, but he did not want to see America ruined by inept leadership anymore.
On the other side of the political spectrum, Cenk Uygur, a fellow Turkish-American Democrat (who used to be a Republican) is vocally endorsing Obama, which puts us at odds because I moved to the Hillary corner (after initially supporting Bill Richardson and John Edwards), ironically because the Armenian lobby is more supportive of Obama (my apologies to Armenian activist Appo Jabarian. Then again, ethnic politics being what it is- I take that back- LOL!).
Uygur openly went after Hillary Clinton's 3 a.m. phone ad in a recent broadcast saying that the ad was effectively a Karl Rove scare tactic in a recent broadcast.
Uygur, who is among the leading liberal talk show hosts in America, also says that Obama has a better vision for America's future than the New York senator.
This week, Uygur's show "The Young Turks" put together a hilarious mock tribute to fallen Republican candidates. The best footage in the video was Mitt Romney posing and later hugging African American children. Hillary would have probably looked more comfortable at a gun show.
Tomorrow should be interesting because Dick Cheney's home state could actually help determine the Democratic nominee as the race heads to Wyoming. My only visit to that state was to a rodeo in Cheyenne some ten years ago where I feltabout as comfortable as Hillary would at a gun show! (though there were some attractive women wearing boots and cowboy hats there. Alas, they were probably all Republicans).
I also ate Rocky Mountain oysters while I was in Cheyenne, Wyo. I don't recommend that either Hillary or Obama try that...............but, if they do the food poisoning they get could help determine a Democratic candidate well before the convention.
Links:
http://theknightshift.blogspot.com
http://www.theyoungturks.com
Knight, who is known nationally for his impressive Star Wars-themed tv ad which ran while he was trying to get on the Rockingham County School Board, made a post on his blog which features a video of his phone call to Reidsville, NC tv station Star 39 in which declared that neither Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John McCain was worth a person's vote.
Knight remains an ardent Ron Paul supporter even though Sen. McCain is now the GOP nominee.
In his phone call, Knight declared that the combined presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have produced 16 years of chaos, corruption and lies.
"I'm so frustrated right now with the choices..........I'm just going to sit this one out," Knight said in his phone call to Star 39.
He also added on his blog that:
"Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil."
Knight said no one could ever accuse him of apathy or not caring about politics as he registered to vote the day after he turned 18, but he did not want to see America ruined by inept leadership anymore.
On the other side of the political spectrum, Cenk Uygur, a fellow Turkish-American Democrat (who used to be a Republican) is vocally endorsing Obama, which puts us at odds because I moved to the Hillary corner (after initially supporting Bill Richardson and John Edwards), ironically because the Armenian lobby is more supportive of Obama (my apologies to Armenian activist Appo Jabarian. Then again, ethnic politics being what it is- I take that back- LOL!).
Uygur openly went after Hillary Clinton's 3 a.m. phone ad in a recent broadcast saying that the ad was effectively a Karl Rove scare tactic in a recent broadcast.
Uygur, who is among the leading liberal talk show hosts in America, also says that Obama has a better vision for America's future than the New York senator.
This week, Uygur's show "The Young Turks" put together a hilarious mock tribute to fallen Republican candidates. The best footage in the video was Mitt Romney posing and later hugging African American children. Hillary would have probably looked more comfortable at a gun show.
Tomorrow should be interesting because Dick Cheney's home state could actually help determine the Democratic nominee as the race heads to Wyoming. My only visit to that state was to a rodeo in Cheyenne some ten years ago where I feltabout as comfortable as Hillary would at a gun show! (though there were some attractive women wearing boots and cowboy hats there. Alas, they were probably all Republicans).
I also ate Rocky Mountain oysters while I was in Cheyenne, Wyo. I don't recommend that either Hillary or Obama try that...............but, if they do the food poisoning they get could help determine a Democratic candidate well before the convention.
Links:
http://theknightshift.blogspot.com
http://www.theyoungturks.com
A Rave Review for Miss Pettigrew
"Mrs. Pettigrew Lives for a Day" is opening nationally today. It will be one of two new movies opening at the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., along with the action flick "The Bank Job."
Ann Hornaday of "The Washington Post" calls 'Mrs. Pettigrew' a delightful film.
It stars Amy Adams, who was in "Enchanted" and "Charlie Wilson's War" last year. Adams became a star after her brilliant performance in the independent film "Junebug," which was filmed in Winston-Salem, NC.
Hornaday calls Adams' performance breath-taking:
"In Mrs. Pettigrew, Adams confirms that with a performance that exploits her dewy innocence and instinctive comedic gift."
My friend and movie blogger Moviezzz is also a huge fan of Amy Adams, and as I fully expected he said he will definitely see this film_ in fact, he might be in a movie theatre watching it right now!
Today is also the day that the Eden Drive-In in Eden, NC, is opening back up for the season with a double-bill that includes "The Spiderwick Chronicles," which is a surprisingly good film and "The Bucket List," which is a star vehicle for Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman that is directed by Rob Reiner.
"The Bucket List" will also screen at the Rockingham Theatre in Reidsville, NC, which is managed by my good friend Gary Doss. He's been trying to get this movie since it opened in January, and I hope it does well for him. The Rockingham Theatre is one of the oldest operating cinemas in the Greensboro area.
Useful Links:
http://www.grandintheatre.com
http://www.edendrivein.com
http://www.rockinghamtheatre.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com
http://talkingmoviezzz.blogspot.com
Ann Hornaday of "The Washington Post" calls 'Mrs. Pettigrew' a delightful film.
It stars Amy Adams, who was in "Enchanted" and "Charlie Wilson's War" last year. Adams became a star after her brilliant performance in the independent film "Junebug," which was filmed in Winston-Salem, NC.
Hornaday calls Adams' performance breath-taking:
"In Mrs. Pettigrew, Adams confirms that with a performance that exploits her dewy innocence and instinctive comedic gift."
My friend and movie blogger Moviezzz is also a huge fan of Amy Adams, and as I fully expected he said he will definitely see this film_ in fact, he might be in a movie theatre watching it right now!
Today is also the day that the Eden Drive-In in Eden, NC, is opening back up for the season with a double-bill that includes "The Spiderwick Chronicles," which is a surprisingly good film and "The Bucket List," which is a star vehicle for Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman that is directed by Rob Reiner.
"The Bucket List" will also screen at the Rockingham Theatre in Reidsville, NC, which is managed by my good friend Gary Doss. He's been trying to get this movie since it opened in January, and I hope it does well for him. The Rockingham Theatre is one of the oldest operating cinemas in the Greensboro area.
Useful Links:
http://www.grandintheatre.com
http://www.edendrivein.com
http://www.rockinghamtheatre.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com
http://talkingmoviezzz.blogspot.com
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Remembering My Late Father Mehmet Gokbudak
My father, or 'baba' as I referred to him, Mehmet Tolun Gokbudak (1921-1983) came to America in 1957.
It was not some kind of poor immigrant comes to America story as my late grandfather Fuat Gokbuak (1892-1957) had been a distinguished member of the Turkish parliament when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was president in the 1930s, but Fuat bey had alas succumbed to a gambling addiction and thus gambled away the family fortune in the casinos of Istanbul.
The financial void from that situation perhaps ultimately allowed my father to contemplate leaving Turkey which was going through economic turmoil at the time.
It has always been challenging to come to the terms with my father's sudden death from a heart attack because it happened on March 4, 1983_ which was also my 13th birthday.
But, now that the 25th anniversary of that very painful day has come and gone, I feel comfortable talking about my father and what he meant to me.
We didn't always get along. In fact, he was often upset with me when he found out that I watched tv shows like "Happy Days" because they showed in his word 'children talking back to their parents.'
Nor did I tell him that I saw "Tootsie" at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke, Va., back in 1982 because most assuredly a Turkish man would not approve of a man pretending to be a woman, though in recent years the Turkish pop singer Bulent Ersoy did in fact undergo a gender-changing operation to become a genuine diva!
I found this quote from the late, great American playwright Lillian Hellman of "The Little Foxes" fame which perhaps most articulates not only my own relationship with my father, but any such parent-child relationship that faces either a cultural or a generational gap:
"My father was often angry when I was most like him."
In our case, we faced both, but more often than not, we found a way to overcome such differences.
I still think of him whenever I see or hear a Turkish man playing a 'saz,' a string instrument which is often heard in music from the region, which is perhaps why I find the music of the late Turkish musician Asik Veysel, a saz master, so appealing.
Veysel, who was popular in Turkey some 50 years ago, was also among my father's favorite musicians.
Even though Asik grew up as a poor boy in a rural village near Sivas in eastern Turkey and my father grew up in a wealthy Istanbul family, his songs always remind me of my father.
One of Veysel's classic songs is "Dostlar Beni Hatirlasin" which literally means "I Hope My Friends Remember Me." I guess very few people think of their fathers as friends, but as the years go by in a surreal way that seems to be how we see them regardless if they happen to be living, or even, as it is in my case, if they are no longer with us.
It was not some kind of poor immigrant comes to America story as my late grandfather Fuat Gokbuak (1892-1957) had been a distinguished member of the Turkish parliament when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was president in the 1930s, but Fuat bey had alas succumbed to a gambling addiction and thus gambled away the family fortune in the casinos of Istanbul.
The financial void from that situation perhaps ultimately allowed my father to contemplate leaving Turkey which was going through economic turmoil at the time.
It has always been challenging to come to the terms with my father's sudden death from a heart attack because it happened on March 4, 1983_ which was also my 13th birthday.
But, now that the 25th anniversary of that very painful day has come and gone, I feel comfortable talking about my father and what he meant to me.
We didn't always get along. In fact, he was often upset with me when he found out that I watched tv shows like "Happy Days" because they showed in his word 'children talking back to their parents.'
Nor did I tell him that I saw "Tootsie" at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke, Va., back in 1982 because most assuredly a Turkish man would not approve of a man pretending to be a woman, though in recent years the Turkish pop singer Bulent Ersoy did in fact undergo a gender-changing operation to become a genuine diva!
I found this quote from the late, great American playwright Lillian Hellman of "The Little Foxes" fame which perhaps most articulates not only my own relationship with my father, but any such parent-child relationship that faces either a cultural or a generational gap:
"My father was often angry when I was most like him."
In our case, we faced both, but more often than not, we found a way to overcome such differences.
I still think of him whenever I see or hear a Turkish man playing a 'saz,' a string instrument which is often heard in music from the region, which is perhaps why I find the music of the late Turkish musician Asik Veysel, a saz master, so appealing.
Veysel, who was popular in Turkey some 50 years ago, was also among my father's favorite musicians.
Even though Asik grew up as a poor boy in a rural village near Sivas in eastern Turkey and my father grew up in a wealthy Istanbul family, his songs always remind me of my father.
One of Veysel's classic songs is "Dostlar Beni Hatirlasin" which literally means "I Hope My Friends Remember Me." I guess very few people think of their fathers as friends, but as the years go by in a surreal way that seems to be how we see them regardless if they happen to be living, or even, as it is in my case, if they are no longer with us.
"There Will Be Blood" Opens at the Lyric in Blacksburg, Va.
P.T. Anderson's epic film "There Will Be Blood" which features an Academy-Award winning performance from Daniel Day Lewis has been gradually moving from the art house to the multiplex, but on Friday it will be showing at the historic Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, Va.
Showtimes are 7 p.m. nightly with matinees on Sun. (3p.m.) and Mon. (10 a.m.-hmm, this is not one for the kids?!).
I missed the first ten minutes of the film when I saw it at the Carousel Grande in Greensboro, NC. But, the film does last two hours and forty minutes...........!
Lewis is exceptional in the film. It is a real towering performance which almost feels as if you are watching perform live theatre, which is perhaps fitting because his father is the late, great Arthur Miller as Lewis is married to film director/author Rebbecca Miller ("Personal Velocity").
In case you haven't heard, this is a bit a dark movie!:)
Useful Links:
http://www.thelyric.com
Showtimes are 7 p.m. nightly with matinees on Sun. (3p.m.) and Mon. (10 a.m.-hmm, this is not one for the kids?!).
I missed the first ten minutes of the film when I saw it at the Carousel Grande in Greensboro, NC. But, the film does last two hours and forty minutes...........!
Lewis is exceptional in the film. It is a real towering performance which almost feels as if you are watching perform live theatre, which is perhaps fitting because his father is the late, great Arthur Miller as Lewis is married to film director/author Rebbecca Miller ("Personal Velocity").
In case you haven't heard, this is a bit a dark movie!:)
Useful Links:
http://www.thelyric.com
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Hillary Wins Swing Town in Swing State
As I was pumping gas today at a Chevron station in the Roanoke, Va., area, I decided to go inside to pay so I could get a bottled beverage. And, whose voice did I hear on the store radio? None other than Rush Limbaugh!
Like other Democrats who've grown up in red states, I am a bit more vocal about my views than I might be if I had grown up in Worchester, Mass. So, I told the clerk that people like Limbaugh were the main reason why I was a Democrat (well, actually it's the late Jerry Falwell), and that I was glad to see Hillary win last night (she won primaries in Texas, Rhode Island and Ohio over Barack Obama, for those of you who don't follow politics or live in Uzbekistan).
He responded by calling her a socialist. I responded: "She's not a socialist!" I then ignored what else he had to say, which was probably a good thing.
Of course, one has to respect a gas station clerk even if this particular one was a bit on the fringe side. I would certainly not want to be one in Danville, Va. (the city had some 70 armed gas station robberies last year!).
But, whether right wing gas station clerks or Obama supporters disdain her or not, the truth is momentum is clearly on Hillary's side right now.
I checked the web site of "The Akron Beacon-Journal" web site to see how voters there saw the race. Akron, Ohio, is an interesting city as it is both industrial and intellectual in nature as it is known for a tire plant (someone from Akron can tell me if it's indeed still running) and The University of Akron.
The city which is some 40 miles south of Cleveland also has a AA minor league baseball team in the Akron Aeros, and a respectable art museum. I visited there in 2000, and I was especially impressed with Canal Park where the Aeros play. Along with a smaller stadium in Frederick, Md., I think it's the best minor league baseball park I've ever been to.
Carol Biliczky and Jim Carney of "The Akron Beacon-Journal" reported that Clinton fans in Akron were happy while Obama supporters still feel optimistic.
Clinton supporter Nancy Ulrich said she felt 'superfantastic,' while Geri Ashby, 59, of Akron said she has been waiting for a woman to become president since she was a teenager.
The Washington Post ran an interesting feature story today on rural Ohio politics in which one elderly lady said that a woman should not be president since 'it is a man's job.' The article said that Clinton carried the rural parts of Ohio by a 55-37 percent margin over Obama yesterday.
But, as "The Post" pointed out that George W. Bush carried small towns like West Alexandria, Ohio (near Dayton) by winning as much as 70 percent of the vote in such places so there will still be challenges ahead for the Democratic candidate in the Buckeye State come November.
However, there also seem to be several Ohio voters who are ready for a 'change.' Anthony Konecny voted for Bush twice, but he is now a vocal supporter of Obama. Konecny was among the Obama supporters at the Highland Theatre in West Akron, according to "The Journal." He has been spending 15-20 hours per week volunteering for the Illinois senator and has made about 300 phone calls for Obama in the process.
Some supporters of both Democratic candidates traveled quite far to be in Ohio.
They included Soppo Ngalle, 46, who came all the way from the central African nation of Cameroon to campaign for Clinton in Akron. Ngalle met the New York senator when she was first lady at a conference for women in China in 1995.
Clinton won Summit County, which includes Akron en route to a convincing victory over Obama in Ohio.
All this means the North Carolina Democratic Primary, which is not until May 6, may actually mean something! Indiana votes on that same day.
One has to wonder given both states' obsession with hoops if the arrangements were made so there was no interference with college basketball season.....though Obama has held at least one rally in a Carolina college basketball town as he stumped at North Carolina Central University in Durham back in November.
Useful Links:
http://www.ohio.com (Akron Beacon-Journal's web site)
http://www.washingtonpost.com
Like other Democrats who've grown up in red states, I am a bit more vocal about my views than I might be if I had grown up in Worchester, Mass. So, I told the clerk that people like Limbaugh were the main reason why I was a Democrat (well, actually it's the late Jerry Falwell), and that I was glad to see Hillary win last night (she won primaries in Texas, Rhode Island and Ohio over Barack Obama, for those of you who don't follow politics or live in Uzbekistan).
He responded by calling her a socialist. I responded: "She's not a socialist!" I then ignored what else he had to say, which was probably a good thing.
Of course, one has to respect a gas station clerk even if this particular one was a bit on the fringe side. I would certainly not want to be one in Danville, Va. (the city had some 70 armed gas station robberies last year!).
But, whether right wing gas station clerks or Obama supporters disdain her or not, the truth is momentum is clearly on Hillary's side right now.
I checked the web site of "The Akron Beacon-Journal" web site to see how voters there saw the race. Akron, Ohio, is an interesting city as it is both industrial and intellectual in nature as it is known for a tire plant (someone from Akron can tell me if it's indeed still running) and The University of Akron.
The city which is some 40 miles south of Cleveland also has a AA minor league baseball team in the Akron Aeros, and a respectable art museum. I visited there in 2000, and I was especially impressed with Canal Park where the Aeros play. Along with a smaller stadium in Frederick, Md., I think it's the best minor league baseball park I've ever been to.
Carol Biliczky and Jim Carney of "The Akron Beacon-Journal" reported that Clinton fans in Akron were happy while Obama supporters still feel optimistic.
Clinton supporter Nancy Ulrich said she felt 'superfantastic,' while Geri Ashby, 59, of Akron said she has been waiting for a woman to become president since she was a teenager.
The Washington Post ran an interesting feature story today on rural Ohio politics in which one elderly lady said that a woman should not be president since 'it is a man's job.' The article said that Clinton carried the rural parts of Ohio by a 55-37 percent margin over Obama yesterday.
But, as "The Post" pointed out that George W. Bush carried small towns like West Alexandria, Ohio (near Dayton) by winning as much as 70 percent of the vote in such places so there will still be challenges ahead for the Democratic candidate in the Buckeye State come November.
However, there also seem to be several Ohio voters who are ready for a 'change.' Anthony Konecny voted for Bush twice, but he is now a vocal supporter of Obama. Konecny was among the Obama supporters at the Highland Theatre in West Akron, according to "The Journal." He has been spending 15-20 hours per week volunteering for the Illinois senator and has made about 300 phone calls for Obama in the process.
Some supporters of both Democratic candidates traveled quite far to be in Ohio.
They included Soppo Ngalle, 46, who came all the way from the central African nation of Cameroon to campaign for Clinton in Akron. Ngalle met the New York senator when she was first lady at a conference for women in China in 1995.
Clinton won Summit County, which includes Akron en route to a convincing victory over Obama in Ohio.
All this means the North Carolina Democratic Primary, which is not until May 6, may actually mean something! Indiana votes on that same day.
One has to wonder given both states' obsession with hoops if the arrangements were made so there was no interference with college basketball season.....though Obama has held at least one rally in a Carolina college basketball town as he stumped at North Carolina Central University in Durham back in November.
Useful Links:
http://www.ohio.com (Akron Beacon-Journal's web site)
http://www.washingtonpost.com
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