Bill, let's get real, please

Bill Clinton has this to say about a Clinton-Obama ticket.

Presumably he has the same thing to say about an Obama-Clinton ticket.

"You look at most of these places -- he would win the urban areas and the upscale voters, and she wins the traditional rural areas that we lost when President Reagan was president.  If you put those two things together, you'd have an almost unstoppable force."

Really?  He wins urban areas and she wins rural areas that we lost when Reagan was President?  Let's take this apart.

He wins urban areas like the state of Utah.  Or everywhere in Nevada EXCEPT Las Vegas.  Or the rural regions of New Hampshire.  Or the Dakotas.  Or Nebraska.  Or Wyoming.  Or Kansas.

There's a heck of a lot of IL he won that wasn't Chicago, although he won Chicago too.  A heck of a lot of VT and HI that wasn't Burlington or Honolulu, although he won those as well.

In CA, Hillary won mainly in the cities and suburbs with more prosperous residents.  Places that usually trend Democratic.  Obama won in regions we need with Governor Terminator stumping around the state for McCain.

True, Obama wins over urban areas, as in TX.  He wins upscale voters (and downscale ones) in places like WI.

But mainly, when Hillary wins over more rural voters, it's in blue states.  When she wins over more urban voters, it's in swing states.  And sometimes, she wins over neither in red, blue and swing states.

So, what is Bill talking about?  Is he suggesting that without a VP slot, the Clintons will tell their voters to walk?  Because these voters that we lost in 1980 didn't come back for Bill Clinton, and they aren't coming back for HRC.  Obamacans and Obama-independents are actual groups, and they exist in all kinds of states, including the states (mainly rural) that the Clintons dismiss as unimportant.

When our party decided people in rural areas and states were "unimportant," we made sure we lost them.  Senator Obama is asking for their support, and he often gets it.

MSNBC had an interesting footnote to Bill's recent musings:

But given the Clinton camp's implicit argument that Obama is not ready to be commander-in- chief or handle a 3:00 am phone call, Clinton was asked why then would she consider Obama for the No. 2 spot. "That's politics."

That's politics.

No, that's ridiculous.

Obviously, the Clintons actually believe Obama knows how to answer the phone and what to say, unless they think that HRC is somehow impervious to illness.  Otherwise, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot, and the country as well, to offer him VP.

Come June, Obama should offer her VP, and when she refuses, he should give it to Wes Clark to pull off some of the Clinton supporters in the electorate who might otherwise walk.