Clinton's getting out her boxing gloves

March 4th is coming up fast. It's the day of the pivotal Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont and Texas primaries. Sen. Hillary Clinton 91 delegates short of Sen. Barack Obama. According to a Rasmussen Report's telephone survey that was published on Feb. 25, Clinton has a one point lead over Obama. She's slowly slipping, because she had a three point lead over Obama last week. Clinton is beating Obama in Ohio by five points. Although the Texas and Ohio debates went pretty well for her, she is in a troubled spot. If she loses getting the majority of delegates from superstates such as Texas and Ohio, she's practically a goner.

Third party candidate stirs up what's left of the left

Democrats were mad this week. Sen. Hillary Clinton said "Shame on you Barack Obama" for sending out mailings that she said were "blatantly false." She criticized Obama for borrowing some lines from a supporter/governor's speech. And then there was the tactical Texas debate, which mainly focused on Clinton and Obama's differences in policies. But what really stirred things up for the party was Ralph Nader.
On Monday, he decided to through his hat into the ring as a third party candidate. He's been on the ballot as a third party presidential candidate for the past three elections. Clinton and Obama believe that he's going to lose the Democratic Party the presidential election, but Nader defends his decision to run and insists that people aren't and shouldn't be happy with Clinton and Obama. He will most likely be on the ballot in November as an Independent.

"Obamarific"

Sen. Barack Obama has won 10 straight contests. Last night, Obama won both the Wisconsin and Washington primaries, and he also won the Hawaii caucus. Obama now has 1,315 delegates, while Sen. Hillary Clinton is slowly slipping away with only 1,245.

Obama has more votes, more delegates and has won contests in more states. He's also currently taking away Clinton's female and blue-collar voters.
Clinton has the support of the Superdelegates.

McCain also won the primaries in both Wisconsin and Washington, with his delegate total now at 918. He only needs 273 more delegates to win the Republican nomination.


Watch tomorrow night: Clinton vs. Obama in a CNN debate.

I wonder:
What created Clinton's fall from her leaving Obama in the dust on Super Tuesday to her current loss of straight 10 contests?
Will Clinton make a comeback with wins in Texas and Ohio? Or will those primaries prove Obama will send Clinton back to New York with her tail between her legs?
Will Clinton's large amount of Superdelegates secure her win for the Democratic nomination? Does that check on the voters seem democratic if Obama continues to get more votes than her?

One election after another

With one election down and two more to go, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters office is busy as a beehive. California had their first "Bifurcated" Primary this year. A bifurcated primary is the title given when the presidential primary election is on a separate date than the direct primary election. The direct primary election is coming up quickly - it's on June 3rd - and the registrar of voters office is stepping it back into full gear for the next election.

First on their agenda is getting poll workers - who are trained and paid for their one-day job. It's the perfect opportunity to do something to help your community (but the plus is that your reward isn't only appreciation, but it's also money). People speaking all languages are needed, but primarily Spanish, Filipino and Vietnamese.

Make sure you register to vote so that you can vote in the June 3rd election!

Obama takes the lead

One thing's for certain: Sen. Barack Obama has momentum. Obama is now in the lead, having 1,253 delegates, which is 42 delegates more than his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton. Obama won the primaries from all three states in the elections on Tuesday, Feb. 11. Clinton's had eight consecutive losses to Obama, but has been putting her effort into the bigger states that haven't voted yet, such as Texas and Ohio. She'll need all the help she can get to stop Obama's winning streak.

As for the Republican race, Sen. John McCain has practically won. He has 827 delegates and Mike Huckabee only has 217, and it's mathematically impossible for him to make a comeback extreme enough to beat McCain. The GOP leaders are celebrating McCain's "victory" and endorse him. Now it's just the Democratic Party nominee that's up for grabs. Next up: Washington and Wisconsin.

I wonder:
Who has the best chance of winning: the candidate who promises change, has the most delegates but isn't winning the big states, or the candidate with the experience, wins the big states but has been losing the top position?
Will the people vote on who has the best policies or who will beat McCain?
Only time will tell, and while the Democrats are getting nervous, the Republicans better start preparing for one heck of a battle for the White House.

A wrench thrown in Hillary's and John's camps

Sen. Hillary Clinton had a bad weekend, to say the least. Sen. Barack Obama is closing in on her with his charismatic "We need change now" campaign, no matter how hard she fights. After he won contests in three states on Saturday, he only trails by 27 delegates. This caused fear and nervousness to Clinton and her loyal supporters. Recognizing potential failure of getting the Democratic nomination, she knew she had to make some changes of her own. She , Patti Solis Doyle, to a senior adviser position and put longtime adviser, Maggie Williams, in her place yesterday. Clinton now has 1,148 delegates and needs 2,025 to win the nomination.

Sen. John McCain is still in a far lead, but is confronted by a desperate Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is still standing strong in the race. McCain won the Washington caucus, but lost the Kansas caucus and Louisiana primary to the hopeful Huckabee, who claims that he still believes in miracles. McCain has a total of 723 delegates and Huckabee has a non-threatening 217 delegates. The Republican candidates need 1,191 delegates to win the nomination.

Adieu, Romney

Wave goodbye to Gov. Mitt Romney, the Republican governor of Massachusetts, who has been behind Sen. John McCain in the presidential race. He dropped out today, Feb. 7, after he won three primaries and eight caucuses on Super Tuesday. He was currently in second place in total delegates for his party, with 286 delegates. McCain has 714 delegates and former Gov. Mike Huckabee has 181 delegates. Huckabee said today that he'll continue his run for the Republican nomination.

I wonder:
Will Romney's drop help unite the Republican party and result in a McCain-winning blowout?
Or will this create a split among the Republican voters- the more moderate voters to McCain and the more conservative voters to Huckabee?

Could you smell the election in the air?

The presidential race is close and the stakes are high. Efforts have increased this year to get more voters- especially young voters- to be active in this democratic process. There are 2,026,537 eligible voters in San Diego County, with a record-high of 60 percent of them (around 15.7 million) being registered. Thirty-five percent of the registered voters are Democrats, 39 percent are Republicans, 2.4 percent are Independents and .6 percent are members of the Green Party. More people declined to the state this year than any other year on record, leaving less people voting as a particular political party. The 2004 presidential election's registration percent was 68.95 percent and this year's election's registration percent has slightly decreased to 68.47 percent.

The obvious return to traditional paper ballots slowed down the tallying process and therefore resulted in a long night, but it will ensure accuracy.

In San Diego County, Sen. Hillary Clinton won 50.5 percent of the Democratic votes with Sen. Barack Obama winning 43.3 percent. In the Republican race, Sen. John McCain won 40.1 percent, Gov. Mitt Romney came in a close second place at 38 percent and former Gov. Mike Huckabee received only 9.4 percent of the votes from the county.

Twenty-four states voted yesterday, Feb. 5. Clinton and McCain won California, getting 52 and 42 percent of their parties' votes respectively. The delegate count leaves Clinton in a short lead over Obama while McCain has a secure lead over the other Republican candidates.


Primaries the candidates have won:
CLINTON: Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan and New Hampshire.
OBAMA: Georgia, New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut, Missouri, Utah, Deleware and South Carolina.
MCCAIN: Arizona, New Jersey, New York, California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Missouri, Delawar, Florida, South Carolina and New Hampshire.
ROMNEY: Massachusetts, Utah and Michigan.
HUCKABEE: Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama and Tenessee.

States that still have to vote:
Saturday, Feb. 9- Louisiana primaries, Washington ccaucuses, Kansas Republican caucus and Nebraska caucus.
Sunday, Feb. 10- Maine Democratic caucuses
Tuesday, Feb. 12- D.C., Maryland and Virginia primaries
Tuesday, Feb. 19- Hawaii Democratic caucuses, and Washington and Wisconsin primaries


How San Diegans voted on the Propositions:
Prop 91: Transportation funds- 54 percent voted NO
Prop 92: Community college funding- 59 percent voted NO
Prop 93: Limits on legislatures' terms in office- 52 percent voted NO
Prop 94: Indian gaming compact- 60 percent voted YES
Prop 95: Indian gaming compact- 60 percent voted YES
Prop 96: Indian gaming compact- 59 percent voted YES
Prop 97: Indian gaming compact- 60 percent voted YES


How Californians voted on the Propositions:
Prop 91- 58 percent voted NO
Prop 92- 57 percent voted NO
Prop 93- 54 percent voted NO
Prop 94- 56 percent voted YES: passed
Prop 95- 56 percent voted YES: passed
Prop 96- 56 percent voted YES: passed
Prop 97- 56 percent voted YES: passed