Speeches on Potomac Primary Night

John McCain surrounded himself with the soon-to-be- retired and the defeated tonight as he was backed by Sen. John Warner, Rep. Tom Davis, and former State Sen. Jeanmarie Devolites Davis. The camera was stuck on closeup. I guess Republicans don't do large arenas. The cameras revealed that Obama filled a large arena in Wisconsin; it was hard to gauge the size of the crowd from the medium-range shots in El Paso with Clinton though it clearly is a pretty big crowd.

McCain gave a preview of the general election in his speech. Every phrase, including the slams, begins with "My friends". He derided Obama's message of hope as a platitude followed by not-so-subtle repeated allusions to his war hero status before concluding--I kid you not--by saying that he was "Fired up, and ready to go!"

Clinton began her speech by shouting her thanks to just about every elected official in El Paso. The blogosphere doesn't seem to care much for her speaking style--just take a look at this scorching thread on the DailyKos. We don't exist to Hillary Clinton here in the Potomac Primary states. No thanks to her supporters in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia let alone a gracious concession to Sen. Obama.

Clinton's trademark seems to be to make some corny reference to the locale. Remember her joke about being unable to sing at the Opry in Nashville? In El Paso, she explained how Bush is all hat and no cattle.

Obama gave his usual stirring speech but looked a tad worn out as he struggled to get names right and hit the right notes at the right moment. Like McCain, he previewed the general election by fighting back against those who would mock his message of hope. After talking about various issues and making the required references to Bush and his cousin, Dick Cheney, Obama spoke about how the wheels have come off the straight talk express.