Bwog’s coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign continues with Jim Downie’s Political Weekly, now back to its regularly scheduled Monday broadcast. 

This week in politics is like the eye of a hurricane (or at least a tropical depression): stuck in between two supposedly significant weeks. Life on the campaign trail continues incessantly: campaign strategists will scheme for votes, blogs will comb ever deeper for “news,” newspapers will ignore their impending doom as a mass media, and America will eagerly await the coming summer vacation for the next semi-attractive white girl to be kidnapped so they finally get some enjoyable news again. Political Weekly also soldiers on, bringing you the news you might have already found while procrastinating.

(Also, in honor of the Ron Paul fans who did not realize I was not comparing him to “former mayor” Rudy, but rather “Samwise Gamgee” Rudy, all introductory taglines will reference Lord of the Rings. Whether I’m proud that I can do this is something I’d rather not confront.)

And now, the news:



The Road Goes Ever On and On: At this time of year, Democratic presidential candidates and Columbia students both need energy to keep going, as the race moves/drags forward. The Hillary Clinton victory in Pennsylvania was just large enough to support her claim that she should keep going. Thankfully, the end is in sight within about a month (the last primaries are June 3), but for Barack Obama and his supporters, the euphoria and momentum of moving into the overall lead has almost completely worn off. Hillary Clinton shows no signs of giving up soon, though a loss in Indiana next Tuesday (along with an almost certain loss in North Carolina) would give Obama some much-needed momentum in finally closing the deal.

Ruling Them All: John McCain, his nomination secured sometime back in the Stone Age, continued to keep a relatively low-profile while touring the country. The Washington Post‘s blog offers some suggestions on what he should do.

Strength In Numbers: As always, polls for Indiana, North Carolina, and national head-to-head are here, here, and/or here. Particularly notable is that Clinton now does better than Obama nationally against McCain.

Welcome, My Lords, To Sarcasm: Jon Stewart dissects the post-primary responses of Obama and Clinton (okay, mostly Clinton’s).

Men? Men Are Weak: As in Ohio, when voters were asked in exit polls whether gender affected their vote, Clinton and Obama split 50-50 those who said “no,” while Clinton won those who answered “yes.”

He’s Old, And He Looks It: If he wins, John McCain will be the first president born in the 1930s. Cue generational generalizing.

It’s His Precious Too: Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker suggests that there may be a policy side to Bill Clinton’s dislike of Obama.

What Does Your Heart Tell You?: Harvard University polls young people, finds opinions are split on Stewart vs. Colbert

There Are Fouler Things In The Deep: Think Hillary Clinton has survived the worst Republican attacks? Hendrik Hertzberg says not so fast.