Politics makes strange bedfellows, but primaries make strange watch parties in this era when “bipartisanship” is the buzzword. Republicans and Democrats imbibed elixirs derived from malt and barley under the same roof during the Feb. 5 Oklahoma primary, according to Wade Goodwyn’s NPR report, “McCain, Obama share celebration space,” on the Feb. 6, 2008, “Morning Edition.”
“Strangely, the celebrations for both the Republican Party and Barack Obama were on the second floor of the Bricktown Brewery in Oklahoma City,” Goodwyn reported. “The one elevator happened to open onto the entryway to the Republican celebration. When the elevator door opened to reveal Obama supporters inside, you could see the surprise, then puzzlement (from) all of the suit and tie and cocktail dress people milling around in front of them.
“Could these voters have come over to Obama? No. The Obama supporters would be kindly directed to the other side of the room. Most of the time, the staffers didn’t have to ask which party a group wanted. They could tell by looking.”
Barack would come in second to Hilary Clinton in the Oklahoma primary, garnering 31 percent of the vote compared to 55 percent for the former first lady, whose supporters gathered at another beer-oriented establishment, Tapwerks Ale House and Café in Bricktown, according to The Associated Press.
Although Mike Huckabee did well in states filled with evangelical voters, John McCain won the Sooner State 37 to 33 percent. Considering McCain and Obama supporters could share the same space, Chicken-Fried News wonders what the chances are that the two could share the same ticket? Have another drink.
This article appears in Feb 13-19, 2008.