New Orleans, LA:

Though Hillary Clinton’s big win over Barack Obama was THE story out of Pennsylvania, there were candidates on the GOP ballot too.
John McCain has long since clinched the Republican nomination so the Keystone primary results are basically irrelevant as evidenced by the 800 thousand votes that were cast in the Republican race, as compared to the more than 2.2 million Democratic ballots cast BUT….

McCain got 575,000K votes or 73 percent. Ron Paul, who did a little campaigning in Pennsylvania received 125,000 votes or 16 percent. And Mike Huckabee won 90,000 votes for 11 percent.

Huckabee endorsed McCain weeks ago and will campaign publicly for John McCain starting Friday in Little Rock.

Paul raised surprising amounts of money last year, and still has plenty to spend but has given no indication that he intends it.

McCain has used this uncontested time to work on GOP unity, self definition, and expanding his party with gutsy visits to Selma, Alabama to court black voters and Youngstown, Ohio to give unemployed blue-collar manufacturing workers some straight talk about the need to retrain for new jobs that will last and compete in the new economy.

The fact that McCain, without serious competition, only got 3/4ths of the GOP votes in a key general election bellweather swing state may cause some to speculate that he’s still having trouble unifying his party…but from the moment his major rivals dropped out major polls including Gallup have said more than of 80 percent of GOP voters are comfortable with McCain.

There is little doubt that Republicans will rally around McCain (and against Democrats) in the general election…if he is to win however it will require Independents and Reagan Democrats. It is his efforts to court THEM that may matter most…

Mitt Romney scored spectacular numbers in Frank Luntz’s focus groups. (See previous post, The Forum is Over, Who Won?) He withstood withering condescension from his rivals, tough questions from Chris Wallace, all after a full campaign day. Romney has campaigned harder and for longer than all of them. Romney was seated in the middle, and he was in the middle of every exchange.

He stuck to his guns and fired several good shots of his own. He let almost no charge go un-rebutted and pivoted to offense effectively on many. As far as debating tactics, poise and execution are concerned he won.

That said, he has a heckuva job ahead. The Union leader has been pounding Romney. Huckabee’s win and attacks on Romney in Iowa left alot of bruises. Romney’s strategy always included wins in Iowa and or New Hampshire – and now he’s running 2nd to the McComeback Kid, MAC IS BACK! John McCain

Could tonight turn the corner?

(more…)

Cynthia McKinney is running for President! The former 6 term Georgia democratic congresswoman is famous for hitting a capitol hill police officer and questioning whether President Bush knew about the 9-11 attacks in advance.

Now she lives in San Francisco and is a GREEN PARTY member.McKinney has been making speeches and mulling a bid for some time.

This week she posted a 5 minute web video on runcynthiarun.org in which she says “The Democrats are no different than their Republican counterparts, eat out of the hands of corrupt lobbyists and feed at the same corporate trough.  I am proud to say that the Green Party is my new political home,”

After 5 terms in office McKinney was ousted in 2002 following the firestorm over the the 9-11\Bush questions. Her father suggested she lost in 2002 because of “Jews.” She won her seat back in 2004, then slugged the capitol cop and lost it permanently in 2006.

McKinney joins at least six other Green Party candidates (including Ralph Nader) planning to run for president. McKinney’s web page solicits donations and discusses being on ballots in several February 5th primary states and collecting petitions for ballot access in several big states in next years general election. The Green Party holds its convention in Chicago next July

Houston, TX-

Blowing up in the blogosphere today were allegations of a subliminal image, a cross, in the background of Mike Huckabee’s new “What Really Matters ” ad. Some bloggers, and political observers, see the image in the ad as an appeal, or clandestine wink, to Evangelicals, a prominent GOP base that Huckabee has been successfully courting in his surging campaign. One of his opponents, Ron Paul, said the purported image goes too far.

“It reminds me of what Sinclair Lewis once said. He says, ‘when fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross,’ ” Paul told Fox News. “Now I don’t know whether that’s a fair assessment or not, but you wonder about using a cross, like he is the only Christian.”

Huckabee’s New Ad

Fox News caught up with Governor Huckabee while he took a fundraising tour through Texas today, and asked him about his new ad.

“It’s a bookshelf.It’s nothing more than a book shelf,” Huckabee responded, chuckling in disbelief.” All the people that are reading something into it, have made us all laugh out loud…insane.

Per Jake Gibson: Des Moines, Iowa

Sunday supporters of Ron Paul organized a fundraiser on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. They raised an astonishing 6 million dollars! Even Dr. Paul seemed stunned.

The Texas Republican with a Libertarian streak astounded the political world when he raised $5M last quarter… so what’s the right adjective to describe what he did yesterday, when supporters contributed more than $4 million in just 24 hours?

In New Hampshire, GOP officials marvel at Ron Paul’s organization in the Granite State and his ability to raise money. These officials say they would not be suprised at all if Ron Paul took 3rd or 4th in the primary and meant the death knell for at least one top tier candidate. It speaks to the power of independents in NH; Bush beat McCain in 2000 among republicans but Indies put McCain over the top.

Ron Paul himself talked about his big day on Fox News Radio.

“It is amazing, it’s even surprising to me, but of course very pleasant to know that people were spontaneously coming to us,” he said. “Because it was not organized by the campaign. I have not yet talked to or met the individual that organized this, but yesterday’s fundraising was all done on the internet, and it was all done spontaneously. So something significant must be going on out there in the countryside.”

Asked why people donated in such numbers, Paul said “I don’t think anybody has a full explanation. I think it’s a message that people were starved for, in that people are very upset with what’s happening. They’re upset with the war, they’re upset with the economy, they’re upset with the future. The young people don’t look forward to paying into Social Security, and I come up with answers that are plausible and reasonable. And I think this is what has stirred their interest.”

Read the rest of the interview after the jump.

(more…)