Tompkins County in a sea of blue

Stumper, a blog on the Newsweek website, posted a story today (Stumper: Obama Won One New York County) on Obama's win in Tompkins County, that argued for why this win may portend something for future primary states. I don't know if I buy the author's argument, but he reproduced the cool New York Times graphic of the tan Tompkins Country surrounded by grayish blue. And so here it is:

Obama wins South Carolina

Barack Obama appears to have won the South Carolina primary by a sizable margin - 53% to Clinton's 27% and Edwards' 20%. I'm happy to see this because I'm seriously considering voting for him. Hillary Clinton is extremely knowledgeable on many issues - when the whole subprime mess was really beginning to affect the stock market a couple of weeks ago, I heard her speaking on the issues very fluently (and making a lot of sense). But I really like Obama's tone of hopefulness, and the fact that he doesn't bring the Bill Clinton baggage to the race that Hillary does. I haven't liked Bill's recent attacks on Obama at all - they seem quite slimy to me. (See Josh Marshall's discussion of this on Talking Points Memo - The Problem with Bill 2.0).

Oh, and Caroline Kennedy is endorsing Barack Obama (in tomorrow's New York Times). (Of course, she doesn't determine who I'm going to vote for, but I think it's interesting that she's doing so).

Bob Herbert (in today's NYT - Questions for the Clinton) discusses the dubious tactics used by Hillary Clinton's supporters, like Andrew Young and Bob Kerrey (who raised the "Obama is a Muslim" red herring at the same time as he denied doing it!). He ends his column by saying, "What kind of people are the Clintons? What role will Bill Clinton play in a new Clinton White House?" I have the same questions - does Bill Clinton now imagine that he'll be his wife's co-president? Do we want the continuation of another dynasty?

The "Obama is a Muslim" e-mail reached me via a Jewish friend - the text and a thorough rebuttal of all its claims are available at Snopes.com - Who is Barack Obama?. Shortly after I received the e-mail, nine major Jewish organizations issued a public statement denouncing these internet rumors - see 9 Jewish Leaders Say E-Mail Spread Lies About Obama.

The letter was signed by: "William Daroff, vice president of United Jewish Communities; Nathan J. Diament, director of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League; Richard S. Gordon, president of the American Jewish Congress; David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee; Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center; Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; Phyllis Snyder, president of the National Council of Jewish Women; and Hadar Susskind, Washington director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs."

Jimmy Carter at Berkeley

Amos of Kishkushim reports on Jimmy Carter at Berkeley. It's an interesting account of his speech, making Carter sound much more moderate (and in some ways ill-informed) than I had previously thought. (Ignore the bitter argument in the comments to the post, however - it's almost entirely irrelevant to the post itself).

On another note, Israeli politics certainly is interesting these days, after the Winograd preliminary report was released on the conduct of the Lebanon war last summer. Amir Peretz, the defense minister, will be stepping down when the Labor party has its primaries in about a month. It's anybody's guess how long Olmert can hang on. I find it hard to get excited about any of his possible replacements. If there are new elections, Bibi Netanyahu has a pretty good chance of winning - and he was a disaster the last time he was prime minister. Barak may run (Labor). He was also not much of a success. I kind of like Tzipi Livni, but perhaps this is because I don't know enough about her. And Peres, who would I'm sure dearly love to be Prime Minister again, would have no chance in an election. It will be an interesting summer in Israel.