If you watched The Table, you'll have seen me express the view that the Clinton-Obama race has gotten locked in a "beer track" versus "wine track" dynamic in which Clinton is bound to win as the "beer track" candidate always does. But now Obama seems to be experiencing a New Hampshire surge driven by working class voters, as predicted by Noam Scheiber some time earlier.
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Getting Beery
23 Dec 2007 12:37 pm
Comments (16)
Beer's gone highbrow, don'tcha know? The Schlitz Track has lost a lot of market share within the Democratic Party to the Sierra Nevada Track.
However, I'm paying for Wine Track tendencies on a Beer Track paycheck, so I'm still undecided.
Lol, to the extent that the 'beer track' also correlates with the 'black vote', Obama has a serious advantage there that strongly mitigates against any perception that he's the upper-class candidate.
Dontcha know, MY likes narrative and horse-race stories. Man, one might read this blog and not realize there is some guy named John Edwards who is surging in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Ughh. That Edwards guy is too glib. He constantly tells us that people are not doing well in America and is divisive. I prefer my candidates to use their intangible qualities of charm to change the tax code, health care, poverty and others. Yes, that is the way to get it done.
Looks like you can potentially chalk up this shift to Clinton's push on health care mandates (see Noam).
That always seemed like a pretty wine-tracky line for Clinton to take against Obama.
Jeff--
An Edwards "surge"? Actually Edwards is rising at a rate roughly analogous to the rate of Obama's climb in Iowa and New Hampshire (see pollster.com's charts). Still, Edwards started off lower so is not really a threat to anyone in New Hampshire. Iowa's harder due to the "second choice factor". Still, it's silly to say that Edwards is "surging," no matter how much we all like the guy.
As far as the "beer track" narrative goes, I'm not really interested in it... though I may develop an interest if anyone can figure out how to fit MD 20/20 into it.
I'll bet Dubya was the MD 20/20 candidate for Congress in the late-70s.
Hell, as classless Cheney is, that piece of shit is probably STILL an MD 20/20 kind of guy.
What's the word? Thunderbird!
What's the price? 99 twice!
What's the reason? It's hunting season!
Cypress Hill pretty much has the "bong track" vote sewn up, if they can remember to run.
The whole beer vs wine track was discussed in Ezra's comments section last week. Shockingly, Hillary was not the candidate of the beers.
Barack should start drinking 40s in a paper bag on the stump, so as to be less high concept. Though he might make this an ironic hipster thing to do.
"High concept" as generally used is a synonym for "lowest common denominator", not an antonym.
High concept as correctly used is a synonym for "lowest common denominator" (kinda), but in general usage I think you could flip a coin.
Didn't MY argue against this whole "beer track" vs. "wine track" thing with regard to Clinton and Obama a while back?
Dontcha know, MY likes narrative and horse-race stories. Man, one might read this blog and not realize there is some guy named John Edwards who is surging in Iowa and New Hampshire.
I said I would vote for John Edwards if I could! I don't think you can write me off as part of the vast anti-edwards conspiracy....
I don't think you can write me off as part of the vast anti-edwards conspiracy....
Are but you are! You failed to spell Edwards with a capital letter "E"! Hater!
Wouldn't African-American voters fall into the "beer track"? That could shift the dynamic pretty dramatically.
Comments closed January 06, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Beer vs. Wine track? And Hillary is the Beer candidate? In THOSE pantsuits? Hillary is the ultimate white wine spritzer candidate if there ever was one.
I could definitely see pounding a couple of brewskis with Obama though.
Posted by calipygian | December 23, 2007 1:12 PM