Obama Favored Over Clinton in Mississippi

[DeepModem Mom]

WSJ: Obama Favored Over Clinton in Mississippi
By NICK TIMIRAOS
March 10, 2008; Page A2

Sen. Barack Obama won the unusually robust Wyoming caucuses Saturday and heads to Mississippi today looking to regain some of the momentum he lost last week when Sen. Hillary Clinton claimed victories in the Texas and Ohio primaries. The Illinois senator is favored to win tomorrow's Mississippi primary, where more than one third of the state's electorate is African-American. The primary is also open to Republicans and independents, who have favored Sen. Obama but who polls show may favor Sen. Clinton in the state.

Sen. Obama leads his rival 58% to 34% in Mississippi, according to a poll Friday by American Research Group. He holds an even stronger advantage, 66%-31%, among registered Democrats in the state, while Sen. Clinton leads by 13 points among independents and Republicans. While Sen. Clinton has traditionally drawn more support from women than men, the poll found that men in the state favor Sen. Obama by seven points, and women favor him by a 37-point margin. And while 12% of the 600 likely Democratic voters surveyed said they would never vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary, nearly 21% said they would never vote for Sen. Obama.

Sen. Clinton made two stops in Mississippi last week, and her husband traversed the state Friday. But the New York senator will focus today and tomorrow on Pennsylvania, which doesn't vote until April 22. Sen. Obama makes stops today in Columbus and Jackson, Miss....

***

Both campaigns are running ads in the state. Sen. Clinton has a radio ad in which the announcer reminds voters of her "18 years as our neighbor in Arkansas" while Sen. Obama has a radio ad that touts his "Christian faith."

The same Obama ad takes aim at Sen. Clinton for comments she made last fall while campaigning in Iowa, where she said it reflected poorly on Iowa that the state hadn't elected a woman to Congress or as governor. She said she would have expected such behavior of Mississippi, but not Iowa. (NOTE: See original quotation below.) She later apologized for the comments. In the Obama ad, former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus, who is backing Obama but served as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in the Clinton administration, says, "I'm tired of people putting us down."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120510570508923093.html

NOTE: Here is Senator Clinton's original quotation, in Iowa, re. Mississippi's electing women: "How can Iowa be ranked with Mississippi? That's not what I see. That's not the quality. That's not the communitarianism; that's not the openness I see in Iowa."

[joeybee12]

1. I saw one poll that was closer...

...but I still think Obama will win Mississippi.

[Benhurst]

4. More than likely.

[panader0]

2. "expected such behavior of Mississippi"?

What a montrous comment.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. I don't think that was the actual quote. I'll try to find it. nt

[Benhurst]

5. Only a moran would make such a montrous statement.

:rofl:

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Here's an AP story about the controversy --

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to backpedal Friday from comments she made in October suggesting Mississippi was a backward place for women's progress. Speaking to radio station WJZD-FM in Gulfport, Miss., the former first lady said the comments she made about the state in the run up to the Iowa caucuses "were not exactly what I said," even though they came directly from an interview she gave to the Des Moines Register in October....

The newspaper quoted the New York senator discussing Iowa and Mississippi being the only states that have never elected a woman governor or sent a woman to Congress. "How can Iowa be ranked with Mississippi? That's not what I see. That's not the quality. That's not the communitarianism; that's not the openness I see in Iowa," Hillary Clinton told the newspaper then - a remark that prompted immediate criticism from Mississippi Republicans.

Rival Barack Obama has been running radio ads in Mississippi calling Clinton's comments insulting to the state.

Friday, Clinton tried to downplay the remarks. "What I said is what I learned is that neither Iowa or Mississippi had ever elected a woman statewide and I referenced the fact that I was the first woman elected statewide in New York and I told the Iowans that they had a chance to try to change that and now in Mississippi giving Mississippi voters a chance to change that," Clinton said in the radio interview.

Clinton said she was surprised that "neither Iowa nor Mississippi has broken through to being able to elect a woman statewide." "You know there's a lot of strong women from both those states, and it's time that women had a chance to have full equality in the political process. It didn't happen in Iowa, it hasn't happened in Mississippi. and it's time that it be changed," she said.

Mississippi voters have elected several women to statewide office including two lieutenant governors, but no governor or member of Congress.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080308/D8V98FO00.html

[bluestateguy]

7. Hillary won't be singing "Mississippi Queen" tomorrow!

All of the state polls with large black populations have understated Obama's performance in the voting.

[Buzz Clik]

8. From pollster.com

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Thanks, Buzz! nt

[Buzz Clik]

10. I like pollster's visual representations.

Mississippi has not been polled much, so there's only one point in time. However, for states like Pennsylvania, we can see how it's trending. That's far more useful than a single data point from one polling organization.

Here's pollster's Texas data:



I'd say they nailed it.

[DeepModem Mom]

11. You're right -- fascinating! nt