Jan 30 2008
Super – What?
Well, the Florida results are in and we have 2 more drop-outs: Rudy Giuliani and John Edwards. Hats off to Rudy for recognizing he was done and getting out of the way. He is expected to appear with John McCain and endorse him today.
Super Tuesday seems less super all of the time. It actually seems more like muddy Tuesday. With one week to go, the three Republicans left in the battle are likely to split the delegates. I believe that Super Tuesday will likely move Mike Huckabee into second place in the delegate count. A lot of focus is spent on California’s 173 delegates; however it is not a “winner takes all” state. Mike Huckabee is polling well in several states voting on Super Tuesday, but John McCain and Mitt Romney are battling it out for the lead in several “winner takes all” states. I imagine Giuliani’s endorsement will help pull McCain over the top in those states.
Key Primary Language
Here are some basic explanations of terms you might hear tossed around as Super Tuesday draws close. I strongly recommend reading this article from Real Clear Politics for a very good explanation of the choosing of delegates and the voting process at the convention.
Closed/Open Primary – A closed primary requires that you be registered in the party for the primary in which you to vote. An open primary means that anyone can vote in a party’s primary. Pennsylvania has closed primaries.
Delegates – delegates are generally elected to vote at the convention for the party nomination. There is a great degree of variance state to state on how delegates are chosen, but they are usually related to the state’s primary results. Sometimes delegates have been known to change their support at the convention, making for an interesting turn of events.
There are four types of delegates to the Republican National Convention. The first type consists of elected members of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Each state is allocated three such delegates. Second, each state gets three delegates for every congressional district. Third, each state gets ten “at large” delegates. Fourth, each state gets “bonus” delegates added to their at large delegation based upon how Republican the state has voted recently. [Note that United States territories like Puerto Rico and Guam also receive at large and RNC delegates.] Source: Real Clear Politics
Winner Takes All – The candidate winning the majority, or in the case of Alabama if the candidate wins 50% of the vote, receives all of the delegates from that state. These states can make or break a candidate.
Huckabee supporters…a plea from a fellow conservative here. I think most of you understand just how liberal McCain’s main achievements in the Senate have been, linking up with extreme liberals like Feingold of California, Kennedy of Massachusetts, working closely with Hillary Clinton, etc. If McCain wins, all conservatives lose, and in a big way likely to last for years. The ONLY way we can stop McCain is to have you guys join us in supporting Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday. Please consider this. I believe it is critically important. Don’t forget the McCain crafted the bill that had it passed would have given all illegals a chance to stay in the U.S. the rest of their lives with only a minor fine to pay. Don’t forget that McCain-Feingold was a direct restriction of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. Let’s unite for conservatism! This is a link to one of your fellow Huck supporters who just decided to change his vote to Romney…they explain why here: http://huck2008.blogspot.com/2008/01/im-endorsing-mitt-romney.html
Thank you fo9r your comment. However, I would rather vote for a man who has demonstrated courage and integrity, though I do not agree with everything he believes, than a man who has proven himself to be dishonest and not trustworthy.
Mitt Romney has been caught in deception too many times in this campaign to be trusted. Furthermore, it is difficult to believe a man who changes his position when he decided to run for president on important matters such as the support of human life.
I will never vote for Mitt Romney,, even if that means voting for a third party candidate. I am convinced he is does not have American’s best interest at heart.