Finally...

Mitt's gone. But with a very good speech that modeled Reagan's goodbye in 1976. McCain wins the nomination. For the Dems, Clinton and Obama are locked into a deathspiral that will last under April, maybe May and June.

Great for me. Because there will be more opportunities for speeches.

Starting with Mitt. I'll talk about that and the parallels with Reagan in the next podcast (hopefully) sometime this weekend.

Meanwhile, Time's Joe Klein has an article that talks a little about the inspiration vs. substance debate on the Democratic side.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for," Barack Obama said in yet another memorable election-night speech on Super-Confusing Tuesday. "We are the change that we seek." Waiting to hear what Obama has to say — win, lose or tie — has become the most anticipated event of any given primary night. The man's use of pronouns (never I), of inspirational language and of poetic meter — "WE are the CHANGE that we SEEK" — is unprecedented in recent memory. Yes, Ronald Reagan could give great set-piece speeches on grand occasions, and so could John F. Kennedy, but Obama's ability to toss one off, different each week, is simply breathtaking. His New Hampshire concession speech, with the refrain "Yes, We Can," was turned into a brilliant music video featuring an array of young, hip, talented and beautiful celebrities. The video, stark in black-and-white, raised an existential question for Democrats: How can you not be moved by this? How can you vote against the future?

Quick posting

Very busy and missed a lot of news. Mitt is back. Hillary wins Nevada. Things getting nasty everywhere. It's election time in the USA.

Chris Cillizza of The Fix at WashingtonPost.com basically did my job for me with the MLK day speeches. He has video of the Hillary Clinton speech in Harlem and the Obama speech in Atlanta, urging his readers to determine who did the best job. Hopefully, I can make a quick podcast from this question while predicting the South Carolina Primary and Super Tuesday. Maybe I can do it between teaching class, American Idol, sleeping, and traveling to Missouri for a speaking engagement.

Here is the link. More later.

Clinton Accepts New Hampshire Democratric Presidential Nod

A Whole New Ballgame

PSP - Ep. 4 Show Notes

What a night. Predications were accurate: McCain and Clinton wins New Hampshire and the 2008 election has become as unpredictable.

With Nevada and South Carolina coming up. It's pretty much turning into a five-person race. Clinton and Obama are now tied in the national polls for the Dems. McCain, Romney, and Huckabee with the GOP.

Of course, the big winner was John McCain. If he lost, he was done. Hillary Clinton is a winner, but now is probably an even-money pick to win the nomination.

The big loser: John Edwards. A distant third. Two viable campaigns and he's out of money. He wants to stay in, but it's time to face facts. He became toast. Also, Mitt Romney. Michigan has become his Waterloo. He has to win it to remain viable. Obama also to a lesser extent by losing by about 8,000 votes in New Hampshire. But Hillary Clinton wasn't going to pull out if she lost in New Hampshire. But Obama could have made it so that Clinton would have to take the nomination from in in a long process.

So in this podcast we have clips and discussion about the victory speeches for John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

Look for the next podcast this weekend (maybe) before a hiatus next week.