What a wild ride yesterday was in the four states where both Democratic and Republican candidates faced the judgment of the voters. John McCain swept all four states and is now the presumptive nominee. Governor Mike Huckabee took a final bow and gave a rousingly warm speech about patriotism and standing together, united as one country. The speech cited the words spoken at the Alamo where the men knew that they would be put to the sword, down to the last, but that as long as their flag flew, they would not surrender. This is a sentiment cherished by all Americans and one that makes Texans proud.
So hats off to Governor Huckabee and congratulations Senator McCain as the presumptive nominee for the Republican ticket come this fall.
Democrats and the Texas Two Step
What seemed to be energizing voters in four states yesterday was the tight race between Senators Clinton and Obama. Contests in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont were considered a deciding factor in who would be going forward. If Obama swept the four states, then chances were that Clinton would face pressure to bow out. Yet the results, which took hours to tabulate (I was up until midnight watching the early returns and exit polling here in Texas) kept this horse race a tight one. Clinton took Ohio and Rhode Island with Obama securing Vermont.
These victories were enough to keep the tight race in Texas, considered too close to call for most of the day, a nail biter. With 73% of the precincts reporting at 11:30 last night, CNN called Clinton the winner, but the winner of the primary in Texas does not necessarily secure all of the delegates. In what has been referred to as the “Texas Two Step” delegates are decided by both primary elections and caucuses that are held afterwards. Only voters who participated in the primary election can participate in the caucuses and according to some reports, those caucuses were extremely passionate with debate, but it looks like Senator Obama secured some favor from them.
What does this mean for the Democratic National Convention? The race is not over and now a lot of pressure will be put on the Pennsylvania primary on April 22nd.
Voting
This year’s primaries have seen more than 36 million voters turn out to cast their ballots. The numbers are higher than usual with many independents and even registered party voters hedging their bets until the general election. Experts are speculating that the highly contested Democratic race is what is bringing voters out in droves from the disenfranchised to the independents to the undecideds.
It’s only my opinion, but in a race where every vote counts, it’s good to be a voter and it’s even better to be an American. Later today, we’re going to look at some of the political tactics that came into play and we’re going to focus on the issues throughout this week, looking at the campaign platforms, the voting records and more. Are you enjoying this year’s primaries?