Day: January 26, 2008

Senator Barack Obama has won the South Carolina Democratic primary by a substantial margin, easily defeating Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

Obama pulled in more votes than all his opponents combined, collecting 57 percent from a record turnout of South Carolina voters. Clinton trailed far behind with 26 percent and Edwards came in a distant third with 18 percent. The broadcast networks declared Obama the winner within seconds of the polls closing at 7 p.m.

I am always amazed at the number of people who are willing to say on national television that they decide for whom they will vote in presidential primaries when they enter the polling booth. Their lackadaisical attitude is disheartening.

If there is one thing we have in this country, it is an abundance of sources and people extolling the virtues — or weaknesses — of the candidates. Why is it we follow with more interest the ups and downs of reality-show contestants than the records and opinions of those vying to become our next president?

Post-mortems on Fred Thompson’s short presidential run focus on how the actor and former senator ran his campaign. Started late, poorly managed, lack of enthusiasm, etc.

But these analyses miss the more fundamental, and instructive, problem — his message. Touted as the only “real conservative,” a careful look shows that this label was pretty dubious. His ideas were devoid of the vision and leadership that fueled Republican ascendancy a quarter-century ago and badly needed today.

With the closest thing we have to a national presidential primary coming just two days after the Super Bowl, some fear that the sports sanctity of the football championship might be sullied by the presence of political ads.

Several campaigns investigated investing in super-expensive Super Bowl spots, figuring that might be an efficient way of advertising in the 22 states that hold contests on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.

But the Fox TV network, which will air the contest, just decreed that the broadcast will remain a politics-free zone, at least on the national level.