Continuing Election Coverage

There aren't any elections or caucuses for more than a month, so not much should be going on. But the bizarre nature of our nominating process means things are always happening. Over the weekend, Obama picked up a net 10 delegates in Iowa. This is mostly due to Edwards delegates switching to Obama, but Hillary actually lost a delegate. Because the caucuses are multi-layered, the delegate count can shift like this. Regardless, Obama picked up more delegates over the weekend than Clinton did in her Super Awesome Ultra Critical Blowout Win in Ohio. But, of course, Iowa doesn't count. But superdelegates do, and Obama picked up a few dozen of those in the past two weeks. Hillary lost a few. They are roughly tied now on superdelegates.

Obama is taking some heat for his pastor, Jeremiah wright. It's probably a good thing this came out now rather than later. In the long run, I think it'll blow over. The American electorate's capacity to forget knows few bounds. Obama has responded pretty well to the controversy and, unlike McCain, has actually rejected the offensive statements. Granted, it would probably take McCain months to reject all of Hagee's offensive statements, but he could start with some of the more egregious ones. I'd like to hear him just say that trying to bring about Armageddon might not be such a great idea. Is that really so hard to do? Apparently so.

And then there's Florida in Michigan. It doesn't look like there will be a revote in Florida. Obama would be smart to just concede the original Florida results and move on. Hillary won't get enough delegates to make a real difference, but resolving the issue would get her to shut up about it. Michigan is another story because Obama wasn't even on the ballot. But they look like they will schedule another election, which will be so close that it will only amount to a delegate or two either way. But, again, it will get Hillary to shut up about it. Obama will still be ahead by a solid margin even if Hillary were to get the original delegates from Michigan. I really don't see a plausible way for her to win. The only thing she can do is maintain uncertainty about the election. Resolving Michigan and Florida quickly will take away a lot of that uncertainty and take away her only justification for being in the race. Of course, Hillary will have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, from the race. Having no reason to continue will not be enough for her.

And then there's a little trouble in Tibet. I'll write more when I get better information from my Tibetan friends. My first take is that the Tibetans want to keep the issue in the news until the Olympics. But I don't think they were expecting this level of violence. And China is learning that it has less control over the media than it would like.

In lighter news, the chief of police for Tehran was caught naked in a brothel with six prostitutes (also naked). Given that he's in charge of enforcing Iran's moral codes, it's more than a little embarrassing. But hardly surprising. It seems nearly every self-righteous moralizer is hiding some nefarious behavior. At least he got caught in style. Although for logistical reasons, I question the need for six prostitutes. Three should be enough.

Tibet Update: Well, it seems China is controlling the media a little better than I had expected. Obviously, they can do nothing about information that leaves their borders and such information is certainly getting out. But they have clearly learned a new technique: Spin. Rather than shut down all information (no longer possible), they are putting it out with masterful spin. And the Chinese seem to be buying it. Also, here's the best take I've read so far on the issue:

China's Only Path