Sunday, March 6, 2016

Post Super tuesday and Super Saturday Primary Spiel

Hey!  Sorry for being a little bit out of touch for the past week. Between work related issues, trying to get the new issue done, and taking a step back to enjoy some of the True/False Film Festival live shows (due to financial issues I couldn't afford a pass) I'd been distracted.  So let's get to the past week.

We'll begin with the Republicans.  As expected Donald Drumpf (or Donald Trump) is still in the lead  (winning seven states) though Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have taken a bit of wind out of the "trumpmentum", so to speak.  Cruz winning Texas and Oklahoma did prove he wasn't gone yet.  Rubio got Minnesota but Kasich is still sticking in the race. 

A few days later another casualty in the race occurred when Ben Crson suspended hs campaign, leaving only four in the race for the Saturday primaries and a debate on Thursday that seemed more like a playground fight than anything political.  The Donald won Louisiana and Kentucky, even after a week where the question of support of the candidates from white supremacists became an issue that it should've been a long time ago.  Cruz got Maine and Kansas while Rubio and Kasich didn't win either.

While the race has shaken up slightly it appears that Donald Trump is still going strong , for better or worse.

As for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton swept most of the southern states (Alabama, Arkansas,Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Massachusetts, Georgia)  though it wasn't a complete blowout.  Sen. Bernie Sanders did win four of the five states he was focusing on (Vermont, Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota).  While it did give Clinton some actual delegate count momentum (as opposed to superdelegates), the fact that she barely won in Massachusetts  and lost Oklahoma proves that it's still too early to call.

On Saturday, Louisiana, Kansas and Nebraska were up for grabs.  With LA, Clinton does get further ahead in delegate count.  However, Sanders winning Kansas and Nebraska does show the race might still have some competition left. 

Maine is today.  Sanders might win.  Clinton might win.  I really don't know until its over. 

Tuesday is Michigan and Mississippi.  While polls show Clinton ahead how the debate tonight happens could close the gap somewhat.  Mississippi will likely be for Clinton in light of how the South voted on Super Tuesday.  However, since the primaries and caucuses are proportional, to say it's a winner take all is difficult to determine at this point. 

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