And the Band Plays On

Another primary and we’re no where closer to a clear Democratic candidate after Hillary Clinton’s victory in Pennsylvania this past Tuesday.  It seems that super delegates will indeed be the ultimate factor in deciding who will run against Senator McCain this November.  In an election where the Democrats were primed to take back the White House, an extended primary race into the summer won’t help any of them.

Here’s an interesting article, Hillary claims to be leading the popular vote, however she is counting the votes in Florida and Michigan.  As you may recall the Democratic party decided not to campaign there so their primary votes do not count towards delegates.  In fact Obama wasn’t even on the Michigan ballot so he received no votes.  Take away those two states and Obama has the lead in the popular vote.  Seems Hillary is grasping at thin air here

Eve of Pennsylvania

Well after weeks of waiting, another Democratic primary is finally on the horizon.  Tomorrow will be the Pennsylvania primary and could very well set the tone of the summer as far as nominating a candidate goes.  A big win by Obama could make him the clear front runner while a Clinton victory could extend the race through the rest of the primary season.  Stay tuned for coverage of tomorrow night’s results

Obama Continues to Gain Ground in Pennsylvania

According to CNN, Senator Obama continues to gain ground on Senator Clinton in the race for the Pennsylvania primary. Clinton’s lead stands now at just 6 percent which is quite minimal when you consider the margin of error. Polls also show that Obama is gaining ground in key demographics such as white voters. So what exactly is behind the shift?

“Obama has outspent Hillary Clinton three to one just on television advertising in Pennsylvania. He spent more than $3 million trying to get his name out and his message out to Hillary Clinton’s $1 million,” said Mark Preston, CNN’s political editor.

Less then two weeks to go now till this key primary. The results should be very interesting no matter who wins because the Democratic National Committee does not want this fight to drag on all summer and would like an established candidate for President as soon as possible

Obama Takes Mississippi

With a victory that surprised no one, Barack Obama took the Mississippi primary Tuesday and widened his delegate lead over Sen. Clinton.  Perhaps what is more interesting is that with Obama finally estimated to be the winner of the Texas caucus from March 4th.  While he didn’t win the coveted Texas primary, he took what was more important:

Clinton beat Obama 51 percent to 47 percent in the Texas primary that was also held on March 4, but Obama was expected to win a majority of the 228 Texas delegates due to his caucus win.

This is the last Democratic primary until April 22nd in Pennsylvania which is another large delegate rich prize for the candidates.  In the mean time I’ll cover Obama and Clinton’s continuing campaign and any word on who McCain will choose as a running mate

stay tuned

Obama Wins Wyoming, Goes Mostly Unnoticed

Well Barack Obama got back to his winning ways Saturday picking up a victory in the Wyoming caucus.  The delegate light state sent 7 delegates to Obama while awarding 4 to the Clinton camp.  Obama now has a 99 delegate lead heading into the Mississippi primary on Tuesday.

GOP Has Their Candidate, Democrats Continue to Fight

As we wait for the remainder of the Texas Caucus votes to be counted, let’s reflect on Tuesday’s events. Barack Obama won his 12th consecutive Primary with an easy win in Vermont, but thats where his streak ended. Hillary Clinton easily took Rhode Island, Ohio, and squeaked out a win in Texas. While the three wins were big for the Clinton campaign and kept the race very much alive, Obama still leads by 96 delegates as of this post. The two candidates now turn their attention to Wyoming and Mississippi in the next week for their primaries. It’s clear neither candidate will receive the necessary delegates by convention time, we should be in for a fun summer.

John McCain now has topped the number of delegates and will be announced as the official Republican candidate at this year’s National Republican Convention. Now his focus should turn to campaigning against Clinton and Obama as they battle it out and to choosing a proper running mate.

February 19th Primary Afterthoughts

This response comes late, but I digress. Obama picks up two more victories to bring his current “winning steak” to ten (this is beginning to sound like a sport) since Super Tuesday. This was to be expected as Hillary Clinton is putting most of her focus on the Texas and Ohio Primaries on March 4th (Vermont and Rhode Island have their primaries this day as well). McCain picked victories as well and is ever closer to officially earning the Republican nomination and I do not believe the New York Times report on a potential affair will have any effect on that.

Here’s an interesting article from CNN on Obama and his amount of patriotism. A reporter criticized the Ohio senator for not being patriotic enough

The reporter cited the fact that Obama once failed to put his hand over his heart while singing the national anthem…
The reporter also noted that the Illinois senator does not wear an American flag lapel pin, has met with former members of the radical anti-Vietnam War group, Weather Underground, and his wife was quoted recently as saying she never felt really proud of the United States until recently

I’ve always found it interesting in a post-September 11th America the amount of patriotism one has can be questioned and attacked. Does wearing a small pin really make you more an American than someone who doesn’t?

Another week, more primaries

Tomorrow, February 19th will bring once again another set of Presidential primaries. This week we have the Democratic primary in Hawaii and primaries for both parties in Washington State and Wisconsin. On the Democratic side I’m imagining more victories for Senator Obama as Hillary has shifted her focus to Texas. McCain is now only 360 delegates from officially securing the nomination for his party so the more telling story for that side now is can McCain reassure the more conservative Republicans he’s the right candidate for them

Obama’s “Super” Week Continues

Barack Obama has wrapped up his sixth consecutive primary victory in Virginia tonight. Early polls are showing Obama has nearly two-thirds of the vote in said state. 168 total delegates are at stake for the Democrats. On the Republican side the race in Virginia is too close to call at the time.

Obama’s momentum from winning the majority of the States on “Super Tuesday” has been strong in the subsequent week when he won all five primaries over the weekend (Maine, Nebraska, Washington, Louisiana, and Washington). This has to be one of the most exciting Democratic races in some time and it might be very possible no candidate will have enough delegates to outright win the nomination at the National Convention.

With Mitt Romney dropping out of the race it leaves only John McCain and Mike Huckabee left as candidates for the Republican nomination. McCain has a healthy lead and any chance of a Huckabee comeback will rely on the southern States and the more conservative vote.

UPDATE-Obama and McCain took the remainder of Tuesday’s primaries, continuing both their recent impressive victory streaks.  Obama now leads in total delegates however still is behind Clinton in superdelegates.  McCain is all but the official Republican candidate for President however Huckabee says he will not drop out until one candidate reaches the necessary amount of delegates.  His approach is a bit confusing, why continue to fund a campaign that needs an almost impossible comeback?  Perhaps this is all a bid to strengthen his chances of becoming the Vice President nominee

Edwards Leaves Campaign

Following Rudy Guiliani’s decision to drop out of the 2008 Presidential election after the Florida primary, Democrat John Edwards is expected to announce the same Wednesday afternoon in New Orleans according to CNN.

I find the timing of Edward’s decision especially important because the result is the “super Tuesday” primaries next week will essentially be a two horse race for the Democrats between Senators Clinton and Obama. Possibly even more important will be to keep an eye on who Edward’s supports cast their votes for now. Perhaps in a weeks time the Democratic party will have a clear front runner to be on their ticket for November’s election