Washington State

If you were looking for further evidence that we truly live in a free, fair, and democratic nation please skip this post. I will attempt to recap what has been going on in our Evergreen State (Wash St). Brace yourself folks but this will primarily, if not solely, focus on the Republican race.

In Washington, there is not only a caucus on, Feb 9th, but also a primary on, Feb 19th. On the Democratic side all the delegates are awarded based on the results of the caucus. On the Republican side only 25% of the 40 delegates are awarded based on the results of the caucus that were released on Feb 9th. The rest of the delegates are awarded based on the results of their primary held on Feb 19th. First interesting point to note, how the hell did Mr. McCain win Washington St when he was only "announced" the winner of 25% of a state's delegates? Things that make you go hmmmm.

Second interesting point, how did over 10% of Washington State's votes not get counted and yet the state party chairman still announce a winner? Even when the networks make a prediction, they are careful to announce that it is just that a prediction. Even when they declare, they say it is their declaration. Wouldn't you expect the state party chairman, when announcing a winner, to have counted all votes?

Apparently, Mr. Huckabee thinks that is how an election is supposed to be run. He is now challenging the, still incomplete, results out of Washington that erroneously reported McCain the winner. Yes folks that's right, all the votes still have not been counted. In fact, if you were to try and investigate what precincts had not yet been reported you would be hard pressed to find a knowledgeable soul who knew.

Sounds a bit wacky, right? It gets worse. Caucuses are all held differently in every state it seems. But for the most part it works as follows. A caucuser (is that even a word?) goes to their respective caucus location. They then announce their voting preference. There is then a "vote". Caucusers are then allowed to try and switch people's minds. Then there is another vote. This continues for a set amount of time until the final vote is reached. So if you were a tabulator of votes what would you count? I went to school with most of you reading this and I feel confident at least 60% of you would count the final votes. Sadly...this wasn't done in Washington! Would you believe that some of the results "officially" reported on Feb 9th were of the caucuser's initial voting preferences! Hmmm...

None of this say's McCain didn't win the caucus on Feb 9th. However, there is no way he should have been reported the winner when all the votes weren't counted, when there was no consensus on what was to be counted, and when there was uncertainty about the whole process! It's going to be interesting to see how this turns out.

I'm tempted to write about the monolines, but I think I will hold off for now. Just a little teaser for now. If you thought 2007 was bad, hold onto your hats for 2008! Buffett has just announced an offer he proposed to the monolines to "help" them with their current rating roles. If you haven't been following, the monoline industry (these are the guys who backed the majority of the CDO and subprime issuance that the IB's originated) are currently one rating downgrade away from initiating the next step down on the global economy's long trip into recession. Buffett smelling blood in the water has announced he will step in and buy the good assets of their business. Hmmmm... If you were a company that was soon going to have problems being an ongoing concern would you divest yourself of the only asset you had? Thanks but no thanks Buffett.

Paulson is about to discuss "Project Lifeline". This should be good. Carrot and stick folks, carrot and stick...

-DIS

...ok I couldn't do it (see 3rd sentence, 1st paragraph). "Do ya smell what the Rock is cookin'?" Hillary is going to get trounced in the Chesapeake Primaries.