Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Your Morning News 2.20.08
Posted by Josh in Barack Obama, Cuba, Hawaii, Pakistan, Wisconsin
Senator Barack Obama won the Wisconsin and the Hawaii primaries last night. This means the Senator has won ten primaries in a row. If he has been getting his card punched, the 11th one is free. Everyone focused on the fact that Obama won Wisconsin by by winning majorities in every demographic, including white men and union households, which has been strongly for Clinton in part primaries. Everyone also notes that Clinton took a much harsher line of a attack against Obama in her concession speech; at least she did until Obama came out to give his victory speech early and cut her off. It should get fun from here.
Senator Obama has an Op-Ed in USA Today about public funding of campaigns, or finance limits, or something. Apparently John McCain won’t do something and that makes Obama sad.
Since Castro stepped down early yesterday morning, many of the papers have features covering Castro’s career as the longest-serving head of state in the world. The Los Angeles Times has a feature that briefly profiles the four most likely successors. Most people say that Castro’s younger brother, Raul (a hale and hearty 76), hass been running the country on a day-to-day basis for years now and will likely take over. However, some say that Castro is hinting at someone younger. If it comes up, just talk about how little is likely to change in Cuba until we have a new President. Also, you could make a joke about the embargo finally working.
The dust is finally settling from Pakistan’s elections yesterday. The Pakistan People’s Party, former led by Benazir Bhutto, appeared to be the big winner and will form a coalition government with the Pakistan Muslim League-N. President Musharraf has said he will not step down, but time will tell if he sticks to that. Time will also tell how the new government reacts to the United States, which strongly backed Musharraf.