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# It’s 3 a.m. and who’s writing this column?
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/its-3-a-m-and-whos-writing-this-column/
- Published: 2008-03-07T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:34:01.000Z
- Author: Jack Neworth
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

ON TUESDAY, I WASTED HOURS WATCHING the election results in Ohio and Texas, including the spin afterwards. It’s amazing how both sides can claim victory. The primaries are so endless it feels like “Groundhog Day.” Before Tuesday, Hillary was on the ropes but now she’s back in the race. So that means at least three more months of this, culminating in the all-important Guam primary, which must thrill the Guamanians (Honestly, that’s what they call themselves).

Close as it is, the Clinton-Obama race is getting ugly, and due to get worse. Hillary’s recent “It’s 3 a.m.” TV commercial reminded me of Karl Rove. Remember the 2004 Bush ad with a pack of wolves descending on America? It suggested that a vote for John Kerry and we’d be thrown to the wolves. Instead we got Bush for another four years — very long years, I might add. Maybe wolves aren’t such a bad thing?

Back to Hillary and “It’s three in the morning.” Call me wacky but if it’s such a crisis why did the phone ring six times? How about picking up on the first ring? Frankly, it made Hillary look like she goes to bed in a pants suit. Besides, doesn’t the White House have staff to answer the phone? Or after 9 p.m. does it go straight to the president’s bedroom? I wonder if the Commander-In- Chief has voice mail. “I’m not in right now, but at the tone please leave your crisis.”

Whatever the outcome, this election will be historic. Tom Brokaw says it’s the most dramatic presidential race of his lifetime. Blacks weren’t guaranteed the right to vote until 1964 with the Civil Rights Act. And women only got the vote in 1920\. So, with hundreds of years of exclusion, we are now only months away from one or the other being the Democratic nominee! Then again, I saw a poll that said 8 percent of the country could never vote for a black person, and 12 percent said they could never vote for a woman (It didn’t say what the numbers would be for a black woman).

Conventional wisdom suggests all the infighting between Barack and Hillary only helps John McCain, or, as some refer to him, “Grandpa Munster.” Before you get upset by that expression, keep in mind plenty of people refer to Hillary with a word that rhymes with rich.

At one of McCain’s rallies an elderly woman asked him, “How can we beat this b\*\*ch?” Instead of chastising her, McCain smiled and answered the question. Hey, a vote’s a vote. McCain’s had more than a few campaign faux pas. Remember when he sang “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.” That’s a lot of bombing. Or how about when he said, “I don’t mind if we stay in Iraq for a hundred years.” Does he have any idea how old he is?

On Wednesday McCain went to the White House to get President Bush’ endorsement. With W’s current poll numbers, I’m guessing McCain would prefer Bush’s rolodex, or at least his donor list. Apparently McCain was late for the appointment and kept the president waiting. I wonder if he was thinking back to the Republican primary in South Carolina in 2000\. Using phone calls and flyers, some in the Bush camp suggested that McCain had had fathered a black child out of wedlock and that his wife was hooked on drugs (Was that all?). At a televised debate the next night I thought McCain was going to rip Bush’s head off. Judging from Bush’s stammer, he thought so too.

These endless primaries give new meaning to the word “grueling.” And I’m talking about for the voters. Imagine how is it for the candidates. Fred Thompson got into the race for about half an hour and said, “Thanks but no thanks.” Obama, responding to charges that he’s secretly a Muslim, was forced into telling us he’s a devout Christian, has belonged to the same church for 20 years, and prays every night. You could tell he was uncomfortable revealing such personal information. I was uncomfortable. Freedom of religion is the very first of our amendments to the constitution. In my view, a confession like that (no pun intended) should never be necessary.

Well, tomorrow is another day in the long and winding road to the White House. Actually tomorrow is the Democratic primary in Wyoming (How does “Groundhog Day” end?). For those marking their calendars, the Guam primary is April 3rd. Go Guamanians! And don’t forget Puerto Rico’s primary on June 7th. And to think, all of this is for the right to answer the phone at 3 a.m.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 7, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030708.pdf?ref=smdp.com)