CNN put me on the air again...

I guess I represented the progressive blogosphere well enough the first time to be invited back on the air. I appeared on CNN Newsroom's Blog Buzz at 7:30 PM on Sunday to discuss the results in Nevada and South Carolina.

Host Tony Harris asked about McCain's "momentum" and we discussed the issue of race as it has been playing out so far in the primaries. The blogger/columnist for the Right is Mary Katharine Ham of Town Hall. Video and transcript are below the fold.

Here's the CNN transcript:

Thanks to Joe Sudbay for the video.

TONY HARRIS, CNN, ANCHOR: So he stopped short of calling himself the front-runner, but Senator McCain is definitely looking for a little momentum out of South Carolina. So far, the republican race has really been wide open. Six different states have held contests and three different candidates have claimed victory so far.

So he triumphed last night. But can Senator McCain keep his momentum? Well, that's one of the questions we will we pose to our political bloggers. There they are Pam, good to see you. Mary Katherine, good to see you. Put the gloves on for now. We'll take them off later in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. The political blogs are exploding with talk on the left and the right after Senator John McCain nabs his second win in the presidential race. How far will the voters take him? And Senator Barack Obama is getting a lot of flack for seemingly complimenting the republican party. Joining me now, Pam Spaulding, author of "The liberal blog." Pam's house blend and conservative blogger Mary Katherine ham from townhall.com. Good to see you both, ladies. And as always, please feel free to sort of leave me out of conversation and go back and forth and talk amongst yourselves here. Hey, Mary Katherine, let me start with you. John McCain after the victory in South Carolina last night, is he the frontrunner?

MARY KATHERINE HAM, TOWNHALL.COM: You mean, we're not talking about the playoffs tonight?

HARRIS: Not yet. Not yet. We'll get there.

HAM: I think McCain and Hillary both are banking on the fact that two wins finally means they're front-runners because one certainly didn't. So, here we go from here. McCain certainly won with military voters in South Carolina. But it does not mean that he's this big consensus juggernaut now by any means. In 2000, his vote total was much larger. It's much smaller this time. And the regular conservatives/evangelical vote was split between Fred and Huck, which is a lot of the reason why he came out on top.

HARRIS: Pam, what do you think?

PAM SPAULDING, PAMSHOUSEBLEND.COM: OH, I absolutely agree. I think that anybody but Huckabee campaign is trying to gain momentum. That's what we are seeing here. Because that vote is split, I think we've seen a very interesting race in South Carolina. I think you might have seen a Huckabee win had Fred Thompson not been a part of that race.

HARRIS: That's interesting. And John McCain says he has broad-based republican support. He said that just a moment ago to our Dana Bash. Mary Katherine, what do you think, do you agree with that?

HAM: Well, you know, conservatives are not on board with the McCains. So they have not ever, it's been a long time since we've loved McCain. But it's long troubled relationship. But I think, you know, people respect him. He's obviously a war hero. He's a good guy. He's got a of experience. And there is some buzz about the fact that he could be a good match for Hillary. So although he bugs us, we're not afraid to watch him like wipe the floor with Hillary in a debate or something. So, that could be fun.

SPAULDING: Whatever.

HARRIS: Whatever. Hey, Pam, how about this, from the exit polling in South Carolina. Where are my glasses? I need my glasses here. Eight in ten of those voting yesterday called themselves republicans, yet just three in ten voted for McCain. When we get to the place where independents can't really sort of go their own way here, what does this mean for John McCain when he has to win conservatives, republicans?

SPAULDING: Well, he's in a world of hurt. I think in certain states this is going to be problematic in the general. But he's still got to prove something. He won in South Carolina. He won that heavy, independent vote. And he's still got something to prove. It really is going to be interesting on super duper Tuesday.

HARRIS: Last word on this before we turn to the democrats, Mary Katherine.

HAM: Well, nothing's being settled. That's the beauty of this primary season. Apparently more than two states are going to get to see these nominees...

HARRIS: How about that the voters are actually get to play and make some decisions here and taking it out of the hands of the pundits? And there I said the bloggers. OK.

To the democrats now. Let's see, let me see if I can phrase it this way, you lose in New Hampshire, you lose the overall race in Nevada. How confident do you feel if you're Barack Obama going into South Carolina and how important is tomorrow's debate, Pam?

SPAULDING: Well, I think the debates are also very critical when you're winding your way down to a primary right in front of one. I think that he's going to have - it's going to be interesting to see where the black vote goes. I think that the signs out of Nevada were troubling for Hillary.

HARRIS: Yes. And Michigan, as well. Wouldn't you say?

SPAULDING: Yes. So I think that's a factor. And I think we're going to get a good look at whether or not the Bradley effect is truly in play.

HARRIS: Now, what is that? Remind us again what that is.

SPAULDING: That is when white voters go to the polls and in entrance polls they say they may vote for the black candidate but when in fact they close that curtain, they vote for the white candidate.

HARRIS: Wow, Mary Katherine what do you think?

HAM: Well, you know, Obama has already shown himself to be a winner in an overwhelmingly white state in Iowa and in New Hampshire, I would add in the exit polls, they actually didn't underestimate or overestimate Obama's support. They underestimated Hillary's. So I don't know what that means. But it's not exactly a Bradley effect. So, we'll see what happens. But I think Pam's right, that the black vote is going to be huge in South Carolina. She was getting eight of ten coming into Vegas, eight of 10 black voters and it's really going to make a difference in South Carolina. And that racial politics dust up between Obama and Hillary last week is not going to help.

HARRIS: Oh, that was - what did you think of that? I thought that ended up being much a do about nothing. But you know look, you talk to folks everyday, probably more that I do, what do you think of it?

SPAULDING: Well, I think all of this dialogue sort of racial tinged charges and sort of back biting comments that have that flavor to them really ruins the discourse and takes away time that we should really be spending on talking about policy and differences between the candidates. And the real problem is our country does not have the difficult discussions about race that we need to have when it's not - the stakes aren't as high.

HARRIS: Mary Katherine, it felt like this was an attempt by surrogates, by Hillary herself, to pull Barack Obama into a discussion about where do you stand on issues, where do you stand on issues important to you?

HAM: Well, this is a huge issue. I think part of the problem is that, you know, we've become so hypersensitive about race that it's hard to talk about it without being accused of being a racist. So that's part of the problem. I think..

HARRIS: Essentially and at the end of the day doesn't that feel silly?

HAM: Yes, it does. But I think that the, you know, democrats and the press to a large degree have been instrumental in creating that.

HARRIS: I think you're right.

HAM: And so...

SPAULDING: And the consultant, don't forget them.

HAM: Yes, well, these are surrogates, but you have to take responsibility for what your surrogates are doing as well.

HARRIS: Hey, Pam, great to talk to you. Mary Katherine, great having you on the program. You know that. Back to the football games. We'll talk about the results of the games next week. Have a great Sunday morning.

HAM: Have a good one.

***

I had hoped that we had time to touch upon the voting problems in SC, but it didn't happen.

States have had since 2000 to ensure the right of citizens to 1) be on the rolls to vote 2) have machines that work, and 3) ensure an auditable system, but alas it happened again:

Malfunctioning voting machines plagued Horry County, which contains the cities of Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach. "Human error" put the machines offline in 80 percent of the county's precincts during Saturday's voting, according to county spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier

By 4 p.m. ET, only about four of the county's 118 precincts were without a working machine, Bourcier said. Polls closed at 7 p.m. ET.

It's bad enough that so many people don't vote to begin with; in an election cycle where there is so much interest and participation at the polls, to have this dysfunctional mess occur as we approach November 2008 is a travesty.