Kurt Busch A Contender for Nextel Cup

You heard it here first:

Kurt Busch, if he makes the Chase, has a legitimate shot of winning it all this year. This article, from today's Kansas City Star, chews on that possibility while profiling Roger Penske and mentioning the increased cooperation between the Newman team and the Busch team. Longtime NASCAR followers will recall the open hostility that poisoned the Penske garage when Rusty Wallace was employed there. Thank goodness those days are over!

NASCAR's Golden Boy Needs Their Help

New Power Rankings from NASCAR.COM out today...funny...

Fantasy preview

From ESPN: Mark Martin may drive the 8 car next year.

Ha! From the Charlotte Observer, in a column entitled "What does NASCAR have to do to get Dale Jr. into the Chase?," it is suggested that the NASCAR heirarchy will expand the Chase from 12 teams to 14. Tongue-in-cheek, for sure, but remember, they already expanded the Chase field from 10 to 12 to make sure that he got in this year. Except now he's 13th. Ooops.

Hillary: Changing the Map

Fascinating post at Open Left by Chris Bowers. He has taken the most recent head-to-head general election polls to illustrate the invalidity of the "Hillary is unelectable" point and made an electoral map out of these polls. They show huge gains by Senator Clinton over Kerry and Gore, when she is matched against either of the two GOP frontrunners, Guiliani and Romney. She wins by massive margins.

Guiliani is well known nationally, and Romney is not. Therefore, I think that in the Clinton vs. Romney map, the results, while accurate as of this moment, overstate the eventual electoral outcome. I don't think that Hillary would win, for example, Mississippi & Alabama. Based on long term electoral trends, very early polling, and in the case of Arkansas, past residency, I do think that it is more likely than not that Hillary is likely to flip the following previously red states:

(Based in order of my certainty, which is worth basically nothing)

Arkansas
New Mexico
Iowa
Florida
Nevada
Ohio
Colorado
Virginia
Missouri.

Which is enough to win the general election with scores of electoral votes to spare. I think that Obama or Edwards would probably produce largely the same result with the following differences:

* Neither would carry Arkansas.
* Obama would probably several of these based on his propensity to say things that would be easily exploited by the Republican filth machine.
* Edwards might bring North Carolina into play. He might not, based on his performance as a VP candidate in 2004.

Interesting map, though, based on early polling.

Wednesday Roundup

Gallup is out with a new poll: Clinton and Guiliani holding steady leads. USA Today points out that in the internals of the poll, she beats Obama 2 to 1 in a head to head race.

It seems everyone in America has an opinion: I think that Michelle Obama was praising her husband, not necessarily insulting the Clintons. Barack Obama defended her today.

Denny Hastert looks to be resigning in November. An excellent red-to-blue pickup opportunity, claims MyDD.

Another Week, Another Obama Foreign Policy Screw Up

Maybe popular with the left of the Democratic party, but if you want to win Florida in a general election, going soft on the Cuban regime doesn't really get you anywhere. It's been a week since he slandered the troops fighting in Afghanistan (and got a pass on it from the Oba-media), so I knew it wouldn't be long until he did something to further endanger his chances of winning.

LINK- AP

Hey- I don't like the Cuba policy either. The LIBERTAD Act is an embarrassment and a step in the wrong direction. But, once again, Barack Obama has displayed the adroitness of a hippopotamus in volunteering an unpopular opinion when no one asked. What a marvelous candidate...

KURT BUSCH WINNER AT MICHIGAN

It was worth the wait. After leading the most laps, Kurt Busch won the 3M 400 at Michigan International Speedway this afternoon. Still in 12th position (and Chase qualified) he has expanded his lead over #13 Dale Earnhardt Jr. to over 160 points. Great job, Miller Lite team.





After two wins in three races, Kurt has got to be considered a championship contender.

Results

Standings

Busch maturing, charging- NASCAR.com

Race Recap - Charlotte Observer

Earnhardt Accepts Blame for Mediocre Finish- To the chagrin of the Earnhardt nation (not a very attractive group, altogether) his chase hopes have all but evaporated.

Wanna see somthing funny? Here is the DEI official recap of Michigan. It doesn't even mention Junior until 19 paragraphs in.

Michigan to (Finally) Go Green at 9 am Central

Assuming the rain stays away, the August Michigan race will actually occur in August. Green flag set for 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Estrich: Hillary Likely to be Elected, Etc.

Susan Estrich's online column: Hillary Clinton is likely to win not only the nomination, but also the election.

LINK

Hillary Clinton with a massive lead in Arkansas. She's visiting today. Her tenure as First Lady of Arkansas was a hit, and it is paying dividends.