All Blog Posts from Horserace

Anti-Obama and right-wing bloggers have been throwing more and more criticism against the wall to see what sticks. One of their more fanciful charges is that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, born in Hawaii in 1961, is not a U.S. citizen and therefore cannot be elected president.

In the face of Internet insinuations that the Illinois Senator was actually born somewhere outside the U.S. and therefore does not fall within Article II of the Constitution ("A natural born Citizen") and the 14th Amendment, Barack Obama's campaign has posted a copy of his birth certificate on its rumor-discrediting Web site, www.fightthesmears.com. But that still isn’t good enough for some skeptics.

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Anti-Obama books and bloggers have been throwing anything and everything against the wall to see what if anything will stick. One of their latest charges is that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is not even a U.S.-born citizen.

The Honolulu Advertiser reported earlier this week that the Department of Health in Hawaii, where Barack Obama was born in 1961, has been flooded with requests for the Illinois Senator's birth certificate.

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Last weekend we gave you a peak at how Hawaii was revving up, or rather slowly mobilizing, for Tuesday's caucuses. We got that courtesy of a first-hand look by CBS News' director of surveys Kathy Frankovic. Fortunately for us (but perhaps not for her), Kathy was back in the New York nerve center for Tuesday's events but her husband, Hal Glatzer was back on the Big Island and he gives us a report from his precinct, which Barack Obama won by a 867 to 292 margin:

Hilo, Hawaii -- Everyone knew why they were there. But until the precinct officers unboxed the sign-in sheets and ballots, none of the 200 or so Democrats in this neighborhood knew how their caucus would be run. Three precincts were squeezed into a community center that, in an off-year, would be too big for even one of them. Confused and unsure about what to do, yet eager to do it, voters filled every chair; standees crowded shoulder-to-shoulder around them.

And still more people kept arriving; asking the ones in front of them what was going on inside. By 7 p.m., all the registered Democrats were logged in, all the new Party members were welcomed, and the ballots were distributed. (Printed weeks ahead, they still offered Kucinich and Edwards alongside Clinton and Obama.) Amazingly, no one did any electioneering; few caucus-goers sported candidates' buttons, and there were no speeches at all.

Everyone knew who they had come to vote for, and did so quickly. But only after the first 50 or so of those inside had cast their ballots and left the building could the rest of the crowd come through the door, sign in, and vote.

Democracy was certainly a messy business, in Hawaii Tuesday night.

Kathy Frankovic, director of surveys for CBS News provides a first-hand glimpse at how the presidential race has yet to reach a fevered pitch in laid-back Hawaii, a state holding caucuses tomorrow:

Hilo, Hawaii -- Last week, the state of Maryland had to keep its polls open to account for a snowstorm that created traffic gridlock. Last week, it rained on much of Hawaii, but the weather will be different for Tuesday’s caucuses. The only snow is on top of the volcanic mountains of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. It’s February on the Big Island.

The Big Island of Hawaii boasts the state’s second largest city – but Hilo’s 40,000 or so population is dwarfed by Honolulu’s more than 300,000.

There is campaigning – radio ads from Hawaii’s native son Barack Obama – and the ads end by reminding listeners that all (or at least most) politics is local: “Barack Obama is Hawaii's chance to elect a native son president.” They begin with Obama himself: "Almost 50 years ago, my family came to Hawaii in search of a better life. I was born here, and grew up here. This beautiful state and its great people hold a special place in my heart.”

There are the usual political divisions here: the Hawaii Government Employees Association’s parent union AFSCME, has endorsed Clinton. Chelsea Clinton is in Honolulu (where in Hawaiian tradition she was festooned with leis at the opening of a community health center clinic), will work a phone bank at the union, and will then travel to Maui. Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Eng, lives in Honolulu, and has been campaigning for Obama.

But the politics of the caucus hasn’t quite reached most of Hilo. Three days before another in a series of critical delegate selection events, there are no yard signs, no campaign headquarters, no campaign presence at the Mall or at Saturday’s downtown farmer’s market, or at the celebration of the Chinese New Year. There, children competing in the costume contest are described, as Obama might have been when he was a boy, by their own mostly diverse ethnic backgrounds. For example, one contestant was described as Chinese, Portuguese, Filipino and German.

Despite the apparent lack of typical politicking, turnout is expected to be high.