Could Dave beat Maggie’s 11 years at Number 10? As we face the real prospect of a change of government it is a sobering thought that these days parties stay in office for quite considerable periods of time. Labour will have been there for 13 years assuming they go on until 2010. Before that, of course, the Tories went on from 1979 right through until 1997 – a total of eighteen years. For once confidence in a party of government…
Wikimedia Commons Are the Conservatives value at almost any price? Following the historic result in Crewe & Nantwich, the next UK betting event for political punters is now underway, with the official announcement that Boris Johnson has been appointed to the Manor of Northstead, the new London Mayor making his final appearance in the Commons today. At the time of writing, the date has not been confirmed but is widely expected to be 26th June. So, what will the opening…
Was it Mark Penn’s strategic failure that sunk Hillary? Lesson 101 of any course on political gambling would surely be “before risking money on an election make sure that you understand how the electoral process works” What’s fairly obvious for a punter should also apply many times over if you are devising and implementing the strategy for a multi-million dollar campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for a major figure such as Hillary Clinton. Yet if reports of his thinking…
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…