Barack Obama has been projected as the winner of all three Democratic primaries in Washington D.C, Maryland and Virginia today, giving him enough delegates to surpass Clintons preceding lead. At least for now…
Clinton has fought an incredible campaign, gaining much of the advantage from Super Tuesday, along with Republican John McCain, who has also been projected as the winner of all three of today’s Republican Primaries.
For a candidate whose Presidential Campaign was pronounced dead in the July of 2007, John McCain has certainly come a long way in winning over the American people. Before the invisible primary had even began, and before the media had started le cirque d'Amérique, John McCain looked like he was losing momentum. He attended the British 2007 Conservative party conference here in the UK, which started an initial buzz around McCain’s shot at the presidency in 2008. It was this buzz that has seen a pleasing resurgence since Super Tuesday.
Super Tuesday, Super Duper Tuesday, or the Tuesday of Destiny; (Feb 5th 2008) saw 24 of the 50 states of the USA hold their primaries and caucuses. These states included significant, conservative southern states like Georgia, Arkansas and Alabama, as well as delegate rich California and Illinois. As far as the Republicans could see it, McCain had this in the bag. His strong patriotism and war hero history won him many votes across the states, including Oklahoma, California and New York; but the Evangelical Christian vote had stuck like a magnet to his intra party opponent – Mike Huckabee. Huckabee was a name that kept cropping up into the early hours of the morning as I watched CNN live online. I started to make notes on the winners of each state, and the first to be called was the state of West Virginia; going to none other than Mike Huckabee. He followed shortly with Georgia, then Tennessee, Arkansas and Alabama. Huckabee was so confident on Super Tuesday, in fact, that he boldly stated that “it is! [a two man race] and we’re in it!”
He was right. Despite his second place success on Super Duper Tuesday, Mitt Romney was soon to pull out of the presidential nomination race for the Republican Party. Romney quickly chose to back the McCain campaign, further strengthening his stronghold, post- Super Tuesday. During republican debates and speeches, a name from the past has been echoing throughout. That name, is Ronald Reagan. Reaganomics has been spoken about by every candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, and Romney even went as far as to announce his plans to raise Government Military funding to 4% of the GDP, if elected. The conservative idolisation of the economics of Ronald Reagan is interesting at a time of economic crisis for America. The GOP candidates seem to be rallying the American People into a pack of flag waving army soldiers, as they try to promote some sort of appeal into staying in Iraq.
This may be the key to John McCain’s success in his campaign as of recent. He is almost 600 delegates ahead of Huckabee, and his nomination looks almost certain. As I write this, Maryland exit polls and projections from various news programs and websites announce John McCain as the winner of the Virginia, Washington D.C, and Maryland primaries, all being held today. This result has pretty much secured the nomination for McCain, especially as super delegates are a low percentage; 89 to his 812.
As for the Democrats, Illinois Senator Barack Obama has prevailed over Hillary Clinton today in a three state sweep of delegates, allowing him to surpass Clinton by a mere 23 delegates. The race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination is closer than we have ever seen, and the race in question being between a Woman and a Black man, adds whole new meaning to the progression of the attitudes in the USA. As Obama wins more and more states, Hillary Clinton has not won a single state since Super Tuesday, and this is proving to damage her campaign. However, Clinton is concentrating much on the remaining delegate rich states such as Ohio and Texas, which she is sure to win. If Clinton does win these delegate rich states on March 4th, it will be up to Obama to secure such states as North Carolina and Pennsylvania in order to hold on to his last chance of the Democratic Nomination. It would be foolish to rule out Obama as the nomination winner, despite Hillary’s ties in Texas and Ohio, as well as her un-pledged Super Delegates. Obama has already surprised us in states such as Georgia, Alabama and more recently Virginia.
A question that has plagued the minds of election enthusiasts over the last few days is who will be pushed to drop out. In a race so close between Clinton and Obama, someone could drop out before the convention in Denver this coming August giving us a definite knowledge of a nominee. Though it is not likely, a close eye should be kept on the actions of Howard Dean and the Democratic Party as August comes closer. The same can be said for the Republicans, although the gap between Huckabee and McCain is so considerably large at the moment, there would be not much change in political projections between McCain and Huckabee as there would with McCain and Ron Paul, who seems to be acting like a Third Party in the battle for the GOP Nomination. Its all well and good guessing what could happen on the run up to the Conventions in August and September, but what we must concentrate on at the moment is what is happening now. As McCain further strengthens his hold on the lead for the Republican Nomination, Obama has taken a delegate lead over Clinton, but only by a very narrow margin.
If one thing is certain, it is that tonight will be a long night for the Obama campaign. The recent victories spur up a whole new buzz for the Illinois Senator, and his youthful charisma mirrors that of great presidents like JFK. His compassionate connection with the people of America creates an irreplaceable sense of communication and loyalty, which I think will help him in the final months of the Democratic Primaries. In the months to come, and certainly on March 4th, we are likely to see some interesting results for the Obama campaign. Until then, keep a close eye on your screens, because at the moment, anything could happen!
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