Over three years after Mike Smithson suggested that Barack Obama might just be the next President of the United States, the junior Senator from Illinois has made history by becoming the first African American to seal a major party nomination for the Oval Office. Even before the polls are closed in Montana, and in spite of losing South Dakota to Senator Hillary Clinton, Obama has secured the support of sufficient Superdelegates to be assured of an absolute majority at the…
Is she still fighting for the V-P slot? A report on the respected AP newswire within the past fifteen minutes says:- WASHINGTON – Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation’s first female president. The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City. She will pledge to…
Could he still be a contender if the conditions were right? Like many, I guess, I thought that John Reid had decided to step down from the national political scene when he made clear before Gordon’s succession last year that he did not want to continue with a cabinet role. He had ruled himself out of any future involvement. Well things might not be as they seem and I was intrigued by this comment by the Telegraph’s astute Scottish political…
Con 44 (+1), Lab 30 (+4), Lib Dem 16 (-3) Andrew Grice has announced that ComRes have a poll in tomorrow’s Independent newspaper, giving the Conservatives 44% and Labour 30%. The Lib Dems have fallen three points back down to 16%. Whilst Labour are up 4% from the last ComRes poll, the Conservatives have also gained, giving them their best score with ComRes since David Cameron became leader. According to UK Polling Report, this is the first time that David…
Who ever thought it would get this far? It feels as though decades have passed since Hillary Clinton formally announced her candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States on January 22nd, 2007. Barack Obama formally entered the contest on February 10th, 2007. Over sixteen months and $335m later, the final two states in this mammoth contest will cast their votes, and likely hand Barack Obama his party’s nomination to face John McCain in November. On…
Will Gordon look more secure after today? Ten days on from the Crewe & Nantwich by-election and MPs return to Westminster today after their long spring break. This will be the first chance many Labour members will have had to talk face to face with parliamentary colleagues about the challenges facing the party and the prospects for the next general election. What will mood be like? Will Gordon feel a tad safer after today? My guess is that he will…
How many of these will be Prime Minister this year? Israel must be one of the few democracies whose leader is currently less secure than Gordon Brown, following the corruption probe into sitting PM Ehud Olmert (top left), amid allegations that he received $150,000 in cash from US businessman Morris Talansky. Before consideration of the current crisis, a brief overview of Israel’s politics. Historically the two dominant parties have been the centre-left Labor (PMs including Rabin, Peres, Barak) and the…
Remember how the deputy was called wrongly for Alan Johnson? The final Saturday of June last year saw a big political betting event come to a climax – who would come out on top in Labour’s hugely complicated electoral system in the ballot to be Gordon’s deputy. The polls said Alan Johnson, the betting said Alan Johnson, even Sky News and the Daily Telegraph website above called it for Alan Johnson only a few minutes before the big announcement was…