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Month: February 2008

Should Brown be worrying about the Clarke onslaughts?

Should Brown be worrying about the Clarke onslaughts?

Could the Prime Minister really “obliterate Labour?” While all the focus that has been on the US elections we have not really looked at the growing attacks on Gordon Brown from his long-standing foe within the Labour movement, Charles Clarke. In an interview with Petronella Wyatt in the Daily Mail this weekend the former Home Secretary and still-loyal Blairite issues one broadside after another against his party leader. Wyatt writes: …..Clarke now accuses Gordon Brown of not having ‘the confidence…

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“Significant Saturday” – the thread continues

“Significant Saturday” – the thread continues

Will PaddyPower pay out to Huckabee Kansas backers? With both the caucuses in Washington State and Nebraska now being predicted for Obama with overwhleming majorities we wait for the primary result in Lousiana where the exit polls have Obama ahead. After “Super Tuesday” these latest elections are being dubbed “Significant Saturday” On Sunday we have the Maine caucuses where 24 delegates are at stake. What will they call that? The big betting story has been from the Republican caucuses in…

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Are these the numbers that will swing it?

Are these the numbers that will swing it?

For US election junkies it’s another late night As we go into another weekend of frenzied activity in the race for the White House the above are the latest “head-to-head” polling figures from Real Clear Politics comparing how Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would fare facing up to the Republican John McCain in a general election. The numbers are good for the junior senator from Illinois but still Hillary is leading when Democratic-leaning voters are asked who they would favour….

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Sean Fear’s Friday Slot

Sean Fear’s Friday Slot

Livingstone versus Johnson Round Up. This is turning out to be pretty vicious contest. Ken Livingstone’s supporters are portraying Boris Johnson as alternatively, a racist, gay-bashing, bigot, or a bumbling upper-class twit. Boris Johnson’s supporters (particularly in the media) portray Ken Livingstone as running a corrupt, partisan, regime at City Hall, while pandering to the most hardline elements of the Capital’s Muslim population. It is all highly entertaining, and reminiscent of some of the most bitter political battles one sees…

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How will Lib Dem activists view this?

How will Lib Dem activists view this?

How big a risk is Nick Clegg taking? You don’t have to spend much time ploughing through the comments on PBC to work out that the most ferocious attacks on the Tories are not from Labour supporters but from Lib Dems. Those who work for the party in areas where the Conservatives are their main opponents are usually the most vocal – and this is reciprocated. So how are these Lib Dem supporters going to view the statements today by…

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Could it be six months before an outcome is clear?

Could it be six months before an outcome is clear?

Is it now impossible for either to win enough elected delegates? The Washington Post’s Paul Kane, in an interesting post highlighted by Taegan Goddard’s Politicalwire, suggests that it is now mathematically impossible for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton to pick up enough elected (pledged) delegates and that there’s a distinct possibility that the decision could be left in the hands of the so called “super-delegates”. If so then there could be no effective Democratic candidate until the party’s convention…

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Methinks it’s time to be back backing Hillary again

Methinks it’s time to be back backing Hillary again

My system for making money from the Democratic race If you’ve got ten minutes then the above sequence from MSNBC is well worth viewing. It’s a good piece of analysis of what went wrong with the polls and the media hype in the build up to Super Tuesday and re-affirms the little betting system that I’ve been following. If the media narrative is with Hillary and her betting price moves into the odds-on zone then back Barack. If the media…

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Why we focus so much on the White House Race

Why we focus so much on the White House Race

This is where the political betting action is One or two people have emailed me in the past few days to ask why PBC is devoting so many threads and items to the White House race. The answer is in the graphic above based on screen clips I took this morning from the Betfair site. Quite simply the US is where the betting action is Even the London Mayoral contest, which will be completed nearly four months before the first…

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