Rhymes with Rich

OK, a non-tennis entry.

This year has been a historic campaign, at least, on the Democratic end. For the first time, there has been both a viable woman and African American running for the President. In fact, both are so viable, that this late into the campaign season, both are still hanging in for the long haul.

It's been said, with Obama's delegate lead, he should win the nomination. Nevertheless, Clinton fights on, partly, I assume, because of her gender. Men have traditionally believed women weren't capable of such lofty positions, especially the President of the US. Stereotypes of women are that they aren't strong or determined.

Now, I'm sure part of the fight is due to Hillary's personality. But partly, I assume, is because she wants to be tough for all women that follow her.

I wonder how much the bitch factor plays a role in her divisive personality. People who hate her, and these are in the Obama camp as well as Republicans, see her as a tough person who doesn't want to give up, even if there might be damage done in the general election, one way or the other.

No one has uttered the "b" word, though I recall Barbara Bush insinuating this about Geraldine Ferraro, then a vice-presidential candidate for Michael Dukakis.

At one point, people felt certain that whatever candidate the Democrats would put forth would certainly defeat whomever the Republicans came up with, especially since the candidates at the time, Giuliana, Romney, and even upstart Huckabee, just had too much baggage to wage a serious candidacy. But McCain is the one name that has been in politics for a long time. Indeed, that may work against him, we'll see.

But now, it's not so clear that this won't be a competitive general election.

Also, the more I see the Democratic primaries, I find the "winner take all" idea rather reprehensible, and not at all democratic. Votes are effectively not counted because the majority wins out. It has the virtue of smoothing out some errors, but given how close the 2000 election was (a few states decided within the margin of 1000 votes or so), these errors can also get magnified.

As politicians push the notion of democracy, it may be good to reflect on just how good a democracy we really have.