Barack Obama won Democratic majority vote in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. on Tuesday, tallying up to 8 consecutive wins in the primary elections and earning him a lead in pledged delegate votes. He received strong support from his usual groups-- blacks, and younger, affluent people-- but this time he also won over older voters, women, Hispanics, and lower income people, which are usually groups that support rival Hillary Clinton. Clinton's campaign is under threat now with Obama leading her in delegation votes, and especially because of the recent demotion of her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle and the resignation of her deputy campaign manager, Mike Henry. She is holding debates in Wisconsin this week, and is now relying on the March 4th primaries in Texas, with a large percent of Hispanic voters, and Ohio, with many low-income voters. Her hopes are to damper Obama's surge of wins and stay in close tie with him on the number of pledged delegates. Obama seems confident, though; in a rally on Tuesday in Wisconsin, he claimed that "cynics" who believed his hope of success was false can longer say so. His wins crossed a range of demographic groups: high and low income, and Democrats claiming they are very liberal, moderately liberal, or conservative. Meanwhile, John McCain, the leading Republican nominee sweeped over the three states, gaining support not only from Republicans but from moderates and non-evangelical Christians; Mike Huckabee's support comes strongly from evangelical Christians and conservative Republicans. McCain's strong delegation numbers are shadowing any doubts of losing to Huckabee.
There was a lot of controversy in Obama's streak of victory. Timeliness is huge in this particular article, because the wins came so sudden at a time when Obama and Clinton were practically neck and neck. Prominence is important, because this means that Obama could very well win over the majority of delegates if Clinton doesn't do spectacularly in Texas, Ohio, and Wisconsin and therefore become the nominee for the Democratic party in the general election. Conflict is evident in the success of Obama's campaign at the expense of the incompetence of Clinton's; each nominee is struggling to beat the other. The turnout in Washington D.C. was huge, and surpassed previous primaries, according to the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics. Some precincts in the district were even running out of paper for ballots. Obviously, the impact is huge, and huge amounts of people are participating in these primaries. (New York Times, 2/13/08, p.1)
The best story of the week, in my opinion, was a feature article on a new graphic novel called The Manga Bible: From Genesis to Revelation. It was brilliantly written, with enough background information on manga and the Bible to give readers an idea of how revolutionary the novel is. The anecdotal lede is only one sentence but it is excellent: "Ajinbayo Akinsu wants the world to know Jesus Christ, just not the gentle, blue-eyed Christ of Hollwood movies and illustrated Bibles." The rest of the article features background information on publishing history of the Bible, marketing techniques on selling Bibles, manga description, a few little tastes of what goes on in the novel, and quotes from the author on his intentions to access the public to a different perspective on the Scriptures, and even a quote from the Archbishop of Canterbury praising the novel on its potential to impact people. It is an action-packed novel, according to the article, with an intent on presenting a fresh, exciting view on the Books and of Christ (described by the author as "a hard guy, seeking revolution and revolt, a tough guy"). I was sold on this article, and am going to go out and buy the novel. (New York Times, 2/10/08, p.18)
Mitt Romney withdraws from race and McCain calls upon Republicans to unite. (New York Times, 2/8/08, p.1)... A stimulus of $168 billion was debated upon strongly in Congress, eventually passed, and will now provide more rebates for citizens. (2/8/08)... U.S. is seeking to execute 6 Guantanamo Bay detainees responsible for the 9/11 attacks. (New York Times, 2/11/08)... Mortgage crisis spreads beyond subprime loans. (New York Times, 2/12/08, p. 1)... Roger Clemens stands before congressional panel insisting personal trainer Brian McNamee never injected him with illegal steroids. (New York Times, 2/14/08, p.1)...
