2016 Primary Race - The Final Stretch is Here

Okay, so it's summer and we're at the first Monday in June.  Normally that would be that but it's June of an election year which means we're in the final stretch of primary season.  Since Donald Drumpf, I mean Trump has gained the delegates for the Republican presidential nomination and only has the convention to deal with let's focus on the Democrats this time around.

Over the weekend Hillary Clinton won the primaries in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.  If you weren't aware of those primaries you probably aren't alone as the media has done very little coverage of them in comparison to what's ahead.   While both primaries are in colonies rather than states they still provide some delegates.

The big deal is on Tuesday June 7, 2016 (or today).  Six states will be holding their primary elections (North Dakota, New Jersey, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and California).  While all have some importance this time around, the media eye is on California and, to a lesser extent, New Jersey.  So far it appears that Hillary Clinton is leading in NJ and is neck and neck with Sanders in California. 

What will happen today?  The AP has already called Clinton the presumptive nominee using both pledged and superdelegate support.  However,  given that superdelegates can change who they support up until the Convention next month, it isn't that simple.  Some Sanders supporters consider this to be a ploy to keep them from voting today in California (especially important given it's large delegate count).  While I'm not totally convinced of that I can see where the corporate owned media would throw its allegedly neutral hand in the ring to frame it as such.

As anyone who read my posts on the primary race can attest I have been hesitant to say who will win.  While it does appear likely that Hillary Clinton may get the nomination for the Democrats (especially since we're nearing the point where the superdelegates actually have a role in the process) many predictions so far seem to be from a perspective of normal times.  And as the success of Donald Drumpf has shown us, this election year is not normal times.  Maybe Bernie Sanders will pull off an upset in Cali...though such a feat will require a massive voter turnout in his favor.  As of now I really don't know what to expect.