Comments on: Well, Hillary’s certainly got a point http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/28/well-hillarys-certainly-got-a-point/ Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:03:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1 By: njcommuter http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/28/well-hillarys-certainly-got-a-point/#comment-70051 njcommuter Thu, 29 May 2008 01:28:41 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/28/well-hillarys-certainly-got-a-point/#comment-70051 This is why the swing voters are more important, vote-for-vote, than the base. A conservative who decides not to vote for McCain will probably abstain altogether. A swing voter who goes for McCain is one more vote for McCain <i>and</i> one less vote for Rodham Clinton--twice the value of the base vote, if the race is close. The emphasis on swing votes began with Colonel Edward Mandel House, who ran Woodrow Wilson's campaigns. If that name is not familiar to you, you should get your hands on Philip Bobbitt's <i>The Shield of Achilles</i> and read the middle chapter: <i>Colonel House and a World Made of Law</i>. This is why the swing voters are more important, vote-for-vote, than the base. A conservative who decides not to vote for McCain will probably abstain altogether. A swing voter who goes for McCain is one more vote for McCain and one less vote for Rodham Clinton–twice the value of the base vote, if the race is close.

The emphasis on swing votes began with Colonel Edward Mandel House, who ran Woodrow Wilson’s campaigns. If that name is not familiar to you, you should get your hands on Philip Bobbitt’s The Shield of Achilles and read the middle chapter: Colonel House and a World Made of Law.

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