tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post2941273855943715961..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Could Postponing Debates Matter?Jonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-21716304515700393042013-03-18T19:56:43.372-05:002013-03-18T19:56:43.372-05:00Part of it I believe is that Dems went on to win. ...Part of it I believe is that Dems went on to win. There's a tendency in post-election analysis to think the winners did everything right and the losers everything wrong, and certainly the losers are more likely to spend time dwelling on what they could have done differently.<br /><br />Still, I don't think it's the whole explanation. Despite how contentious the 2008 Hillary-Obama fight became, both candidates were still widely liked by Democratic voters. You can see the difference in a poll Gallup conducted a few times in the 2008 cycle and once in the 2012 cycle: it asked primary voters whether they considered particular candidates "acceptable." Most of the Republican candidates like McCain, Romney, and Gingrich never scored higher than the 50s on that question. But Democratic candidates like Hillary, Obama, and Edwards got in the 70s and 80s. In other words, Democrats appear to have been a lot more satisfied with their choices than Republicans were with theirs. And that leads Republicans to look more bitterly at the Romney-Gingrich-Santorum fight in 2012 than the Democrats view the Hillary-Obama episode from '08.Kylopodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06932528611103718373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-88552365484924662162013-03-18T14:19:17.005-05:002013-03-18T14:19:17.005-05:00I'd like to inject a comparison point: after t...I'd like to inject a comparison point: after the Obama/Clinton primary, which cost a ton of money and dragged on for a long time, Democrats were largely satisfied with the process, if not the result. This can be contrasted with Republican's reactions to Romney's experience.<br /><br />One could argue that since Obama went on to win, Democrats had nothing to complain about. But is that really the answer? <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com