January 23, 2008
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Sorry I fell behind on this, but there is some more news to report.
Last Saturday we had the Republican primary in South Carolina, where John McCain won with 33% of the vote. Mike Huckabee came in second with 30%, and Thompson actually slightly edged out Romney 16% to 15%. Huckabee was the clear choice for the Religious Right in this primary
yet again; conservative Republicans do not like McCain.
The Democratic primary here will be this coming Saturday, January 26. Right now, polls have shown Obama leading Hillary by a pretty comfortable margin. There are a lot of African-American voters there, which could definitely help Obama. What you also have to realize is that Democrats in the Deep South are a lot more conservative than their urbanized counterparts; case in point: Zell Miller.Mitt Romney pretty easily won the Republican caucus in Nevada. This caucus wasn’t really contested on the Republican side, as both Huckabee and McCain were focusing their efforts on the South Carolina primary being held at the same time. Romney continues to chalk up more delegates for the RNC, but he has only been able to win one primary (Michigan). Huckabee is actually in worse shape now, because he has not won a primary yet and the only caucus he has won was Iowa, not to mention the lack of funds. He has had at least a respectable showing in other caucuses and primaries, but a win in South Carolina would have given him a lot of momentum. John McCain is on a roll it seems, winning primaries right and left, and it looks more and more like he will be the Republican presidential candidate. Wait for Super Tuesday (Giuliani is banking everything on that) to know for sure, but John McCain is sitting pretty right now. Thompson just dropped out of the race yesterday, and didn’t endorse anyone, but his conservative supporters will surely not go to McCain.
On the Democratic side, Hillary won 51% of the vote in the Democratic Nevada caucus to Obama’s 45%. Edwards picked up third again with 4% of the vote. Hillary has really gained a lot of ground, and she appears to be the definitive frontrunner at the moment for the Dems. The mudslinging has really picked up between Clinton and Obama, as it seems there is a new allegation by one camp or the other every day. This race really seems to be getting dirty for the Dems, and while the Republican side has been anything but clean, the Democrats are making all the headlines. I think the odds of an Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ticket are getting slimmer by the day, and I think Edwards will end up being the VP candidate for whichever of those two wins the Democratic nomination.
Just so this is out in the open, I don’t know who I will vote for in this election; it really depends on who ends up being on the ballot. I have some major problems with the Republican party platform, as I do with many of its candidates. I strongly support the separation of Church and State (that is my biggest issue), and as long as the Republican party is controlled by religious conservatives they will not have my support. However, the Democrats have a recent history of putting forth candidates that are not viable, and while I have still not made up my mind about Clinton or Obama, this election may not be any different. Just because we need change doesn’t mean we need the kind of change you are advocating, and until you prove to me that we do need it I will not vote for you either. I may actually vote libertarian in this election.
Comments (2)
Obama
It’s becoming obvious that Hillary and Barack hate each other. I’m amazed at the vitriol that is flowing so publicly.
It’s interesting how small decisions can have a large effect. In S.C., the second choice for most Thompson voters was Huckabee. If Fred had dropped out two days sooner, Huckabee would have won another state and might be the front-runner again. As it is, it looks like Thompson’s Florida supporters are turning to Romney (unless Fred decides to endorse someone before they vote). That could be enough to knock McCain from the leader’s position.