Nichol's Toast, Is Hillary Next?

Salutations,

The EX-President of William and Mary, Gene Nichol, is now officially toast. Is Hillary next?

That’s right, the former President of my old school resigned earlier today. It turns out that the man who thinks that a cross is more offensive than topless girls was not offered a contract renewal starting this July. So, instead of being a lame duck, Nichol made the best decision of his tenure by tendering his resignation. Hopefully, the new Presidential search committee will select a better candidate this time around than a pro-ACLU lawyer who lost a previous Democratic Primary run in Colorado. They certainly couldn’t do much worse. For those of you worried about Nichol, don’t. He will continue as a faculty member at William and Mary’s School of Law.

Nichol’s Resignation Made the News:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/12/AR2008021201078.html?hpid=topnews

Read Nichol’s Statement Here:

http://www.wm.edu/news/index.php?id=8672

In political news, could Hillary really be toast? Obama’s won something like 16 of the last 24 states and it looks like he’s going to sweep VA/DC/MD tonight. Obama appears to be on track to sweep the rest of the primaries in February [“He’s on fire,” in NBA JAM terms]. Hillary is stuck with the now toast Rudy Florida strategy. She’s banking on big victories in (supposedly) Hillary-friendly Texas and Ohio primaries that will take place on March 4, 27 days after her last victory (assuming Obama remains “en fuego” in February). But if Obama builds up enough momentum and steals those states from Hillary, she’s probably dog meat. If Hillary wins those two, the best case scenario for GOPers will continue.

On the Republican side, McCain is virtually guaranteed the nomination. As I write this email, it appears he is barely squeaking out what should be a comfortable victory in Virginia (delegates are winner-take-all; I guess my contribution to Romney’s 3% didn’t do much). McCain has a serious problem courting conservatives. If Obama wins the nomination, Republicans could suffer a Perfect Storm scenario this Fall. Independents (typically strong supporters of McCain) all go for the rockstar Obama while dissatisfied conservatives stay home. Seeing how Obama is the most liberal Senator in America, I’m predicting this will not happen. Although he isn’t as hated as Hillary, I think Obama-fear could drive enough disgruntled conservatives to the polls to keep the race competitive. Overall, the Dems have the advantage. For now.

In polling news, both my boy Robert Novak (conservative) and liberal pundit Susan “my voice is worse than nails on a chalkboard” Estrich have brought up the Bradley/Social Desirability Effect recently. For example, in California, polls were predicting a 13% win by Obama, while Hillary won by about 10%. Of course, Obama is still doing well and the Bradley Effect doesn’t appear to be surfacing everywhere, but watch out for it.

Some of you may have noticed that Penn’s Governor, Ed Rendell (D), has made some controversial statements recently. The vocal Hillary supporter came out with this:

"You've got conservative whites here [in Pennsylvania], and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate."

Those evil, racist, puppy-kicking Republicans! I don’t appreciate how Rendell tied the word “conservative” into this statement. A conservative person, regardless of his or her race, would not vote for Obama for ideological reasons. True, there are morons who won’t vote for someone just because of the color of their skin. But linking conservatives to racists is inappropriate. Jerk.

That’s all for this time. Adios my peeps!