Tuesday’s questions answered

By Jay Warren
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: March 5, 2008

On Tuesday, I presented seven questions to look for on election night as the returns came back from Ohio and Texas. Let’s see how close we came to either being right… or even asking the right question!

QUESTION #1
How quickly will the networks call the races? Tuesday, I said if it’s an early call we will know someone won big. Well, that didn’t happen. Ohio wasn’t called until after 10 and we didn’t know the winner in Texas until after 1am.

QUESTION #2
If the winner is Obama in both Texas and Ohio, what will Hillary Clinton do? Concede? Fight on? Obama didn’t get an answer to that. Hillary won both contests and will now fight on, probably until the convention in August.

QUESTION #3
If she loses, who might pressure her to drop out? I gave three options including names like Gore, Carter, and Pelosi. They won’t be needed and will all now likely stay quiet. In fact, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today called on all super delegates to remain silent and not endorse anyone until all of the voters have spoken.

QUESTION #4
Will a Hillary win mean more attack ads? The answer is unquestionably yes because the ads worked. Consider this: The Clinton campaign started airing two different attack ads against Obama five days before election day. Exit polls show that people making a last minute decision on who to vote for went for Hillary by 21%. As we predicted, get ready for more attacks.

QUESTION #5
How much will a Saturday Night Live skit play into the future of the Democratic race? The skit made fun of Obama’s easy coverage by the media and the tough treatment Hillary gets. That coverage changed this week. Obama is now getting tougher scrutiny and while Clinton is getting headlines “Hillary Rebounds.”

QUESTION #6
If McCain wins big, will the networks proclaim him the winner? They absolutely did and it was helped by the answer to question #7.
QUESTION #7
Will a huge Huckabee loss finally force him to drop out, perhaps during Tuesday night’s concession speech? Huckabee did just that Tuesday, clearing the field for McCain.

Not too bad for a presidential contest as unpredictable as this one!