Sorry so late tonight, but I was wrapped up in a contest of national importance.  No, not the Potomac Primary –the Westminster Dog Show.

Google RSS already spoiled the ending for me, darn it, but I had to watch anyway:  Westminster is always one of the best-produced “sporting events” in the US (not to mention one of the oldest), and the ads were better than the ones in this year’s Superbowl. 

I was cheering for the Weimaraner (no, not because of Best in Show - just because she was gorgeous). Sigh. Maybe next year.

One small beef:  Pedigree had a ton of great commercials about pet adoption, including some about dogs abandoned for not-very-good reasons.  Would it have killed Pedigree to say straight-out that that’s not okay?  I’m just asking.  Still, big props to them for highlighting “designer originals” (aka mutts) in a show devoted to purebreds.

Anyway, back to that whole “leader of the free world” thing…

Potomac Primary Ups...

Obama:  SWEEP.  If he isn’t careful, he’s going to be deemed frontrunner, which seems to be the political kiss of death this year.

Huckabee:  Lost, but not by nearly as much as expected in VA, where he was way down (by 20) in the polls just a week ago.  Proof that playing air hockey with Stephen Colbert might just be so silly, it’s brilliant.

…and Downs

Clinton:  The former frontrunner’s campaign continued its freefall today with the resignation of a key deputy.  That’s after the Senator brought in old friend and advisor Maggie Williams to replace Patti Solis Doyle as campaign chief this weekend. Doyle, if you remember, dislodged chief strategist Mark Penn from the campaign’s helm just weeks ago.  Identity crisis, anyone?
 
McCain: For a guy who’s been “coronated” (and don’t get me started on that term), tonight’s results show the road to the convention may not be all downhill.     GOP moderates have tried hard this year to portray the conservative base as past tense.  Did anyone tell the base?     

Math problem:

Why is it that when Obama beats Clinton 2 to 1 (or 3 to 1), it’s a deadlocked race, but when McCain wins 50-41, he’s the “presumptive nominee?” 

We’ve all heard plenty about how to count the free electoral votes in the GOP race.  But here’s a wrinkle I haven’t heard much about.  When a Democrat suspends a campaign, like John Edwards, he or she “keeps” his or her delegates.  But GOP rules are different.  When a Republican suspends, his or her delegates are freed – they’re no longer pledged to any candidate.  And when Romney stepped out last week, Huckabee’s folks sent out the welcome wagon to his 280-some, largely conservative delegates. 

Romney’s delegates wouldn’t close the gap between McCain and Huck.  But they’d make it look a whole lot more like a race. And the next few GOP primaries are proportional, which favors the underdog.  I’m not saying I think Huckabee will win the nomination.  He’s a very long shot.  But the GOP convention isn’t till September 1st – six and a half months away.  That’s a lifetime in politics.  So I don’t blame Huckabee for refusing to give it up and step aside.  

Easley: Battery powered?

Governor Mike Easley told the Emerging Issues Forum today he’s asking lawmakers to earmark funding for a project at NC State that, Easley says, will make the electric car commercially viable. 

The project unites NC State with Progress and Duke Energy, grant organizations, and maybe even industry partners like GM to develop

1. better, longer-lived, more powerful electric batteries
2. lighter, stronger materials for car body construction
3. a statewide network of recharging stations for electric cars

What’s at stake? National security, according to Easley. The Gov says the US is spending 450 billion a year on gasoline made from oil we buy from countries that don’t always have the US’s best interests at heart.  What if, he asked, we could break our dependence on foreign oil and put that money back into our own economy?

“This new energy economy is out there, just waiting for somebody to pluck it from the vine. And I want to make sure North Carolina – we get our share.”

The key, Easley says, is building a better battery.  As it stands, electric cars lose “the lugnut rule”: they’re small, and they don’t accelerate quickly. They also can’t go very far, and there’s nowhere much to recharge them.  E-cars have had these problems for a very long time. But Easley says better batteries and a supply grid would make the cars more appealing to consumers. 

"Let the word go out today that we are ready to develop the “Wolfpack Powerpack.” [crowd laughs]  In North Carolina, we’re ready to get off the gas, and get on the juice. Let's get ‘er done!”

Easley says House Speaker Joe Hackney and Senate leader Marc Basnight are both on board, at least preliminarily.  Check back on that one in May.

Not to be a cynic...

But you gotta ask, right?

Q:   Various folks have been trying to make the electric car a reality for forty years, give or take. If $5 million [the program’s estimated start-up cost] would have fixed this, wouldn’t we all be driving electric cars right now? 
A: Easley says what’s different now is that battery technology is better, we have both power companies and scientists on the same page, and gas prices are finally pushing consumers to consider other types of energy.

Q: Power companies say they can hardly cover our electricity needs as things stand now.  What does this plan mean for the power market?
A: Duke Energy’s Ellen Ruff says most consumers will likely charge their cars during off peak hours, especially at night, so in theory, the plan wouldn’t require more baseload capacity. But as demand – peak and off-peak -- skyrockets, I have a hard time imagining that energy companies won’t look for profit opportunities there.  So call me a skeptic.

Comments? Drop me a line.