Super Tuesday showdown: candidates clash

Opted for Fat Tuesday over Super Tuesday? Well, here’s what you
missed:
 

     This Tuesday, 24 states were up for grabs for the 2008 presidential election primaries, ending in a big win for the Republican front-runner, Senator John McCain and a close race between Democrats, putting Senator Hilary Clinton slightly ahead of Senator Barack Obama.
     With 1,681 delegate votes on table for the Democratic candidates, and 1,020 delegates for the Republicans, Super   Tuesday marked a pivotal role in determining the two 2008 presidential nominees; but the party isn’t over yet.
     To win either the Republican or Democratic Party presidential nominee, each candidate must win a certain amount of delegate votes allocated to each state based on population.
     For the Republicans, a candidate must win 1,191 out of the  2,380 delegate votes; For the Democrats, a candidate must win 2,025 out of the 4,049 delegate votes to secure the nominee position.
     As of press time, McCain leads the Republican Party with 703 delegate votes, followed by Romney with 269 and Huckabee with 190 votes. As for the Democrats, Clinton leads with 845 delegate votes followed closely by Obama with 765 votes.
     Even though Obama won more states, Clinton won states like California and New York, which have higher amounts of delegates.
     Unlike the Republican Party’s “winner take all” approach to state delegate votes, the Democratic Party uses proportional representation when allocating each state’s delegate votes. For example, Obama won 67 percent of the votes in Georgia, giving him 27 delegate votes, while Clinton received 31 percent, securing her only 18 delegate votes.
     Bottom line: McCain seems to have the Republican Party nominee bid in the bag while the Democratic Party nominee is still up for grabs.
     On Super-Tuesday night, members of GCSU’s Young Democrats gathered in Bell Hall to watch the action unfold on MSNBC. “This is bigger than the Superbowl to me.” Justin McDaniel, YD member, said.
     As each state’s votes were tallied and analyzed by political commentators, talk amongst the Young Democrats focused on the amount of young voter turnout especially in Georgia.
     “I’m excited that this election is bringing out a record number of young voters,” Lauren Lawson, president of GCSU Young   Democrats, said. “It’s a really close race so far and I’m really nervous to see what happens after tonight.”
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution exit polls, over 77 percent of Georgia’s voters between ages 18 and 29 voted for Obama, securing Obama 27 delegate votes out of Georgia’s 45 delegate votes.
     On the Republican side, Governor Mike Huckabee won all of Georgia’s Republican delegates, largely in part due to the majority of votes from the under 30 age bracket.
     At Wednesday’s Times Talk, members of GCSU’s political science honors society, Phi Sigma Alpha, led the discussion on post-Super Tuesday thoughts with 15 other GCSU students and faculty.
     Topics ranged from Super Tuesday surprise state wins for candidates, speculation of potential running mates for the front-runners, the pros and cons of Obama versus Clinton, to the reasons behind increased student voter turnout.
     Taylor Sellers, vice president of Phi Sigma Alpha, offered his opinion as to what makes this election more appealing to young voters.
     “I think with this campaign, there is a feeling that we can change the future,” Sellers said. “(The election) seems more polarized, but the ideas are more progressive, that’s why a lot more young voters turned out.”
     All in all, many speculate that the unprecedented young voter turn out in the 2008 presidential primaries may be a sign of things to come. Whether the Democratic Party nomination goes to Clinton or Obama, or if Romney pulls a miracle and takes the Republican bid from McCain—the 2008 presidential election might just be in the hands of young voters.
     So put back on your Mardi Gras beads folks, the 2008  Presidential party has just begun.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 8 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry