Senator Barack Obama, “This election is about the past versus the future; we are one nation, we are one people and the time for change has come.”  The results of Super Tuesday move a Democrat closer to the White House.

The change that Senator Barack Obama has emphasized must begin with an exit of the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. (the White House) for as Obama has stated, “I decided to run for president because of what Dr. King called ‘the fierce urgency of now.’” That urgency has propelled the Senator into a heartbeat distance from the presidency.

As the super Tuesday primary is over, voters now have to look forward to the nominating process of both parties: the Democratic Party convention will take place in Denver, Colorado and the Republican Party convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is important to understand how the process works and what happens now. There is no clear Democratic nominee so it is still a two-man (a man and a woman) race for the Democratic nomination.

On Tuesday night, Obama had won 14 states and Senator Hillary Clinton had won eight states. Though he had won more states than she, it appeared that she had won more delegates. She had been the projected winner of California; the super rich delegate state, which is a winner-take-all state, having the most delegates per state in the nation. The approximate delegate count of the night was: Clinton, 740 delegates and Obama 659 delegates. The Democratic candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win his/her party’s nomination and the Republican candidate needs 1,191 delegates to win his party’s nomination. However there are still the uncommitted super delegates who can go with any candidate that he/she desires, and that may be the key point in who eventually becomes the nominee at the convention in August.

The super Tuesday results were as follows: Obama won Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois (his home state), Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Utah. (He had already won Iowa, and South Carolina).

Clinton won Arkansas, Arizona, California, Massa-chusetts, New Jersey, New York (her home state), Oklahoma, and Tennessee. (She had already won New Hampshire, Nevada, Florida and Michigan). However, it was reported that all the Democratic candidates, including Clinton and Obama, signed a pledge that they would not campaign in Florida and Michigan. Yet prior to super Tuesday, Clinton staged a rally in Broward County, Florida, akin to a victory party that prompted one newspaper the next day, to report: “In a brash display of political theater, Hillary Rodham Clinton staged a triumphant victory party to celebrate her win in Florida’s primary last night—even though her win will have no practical effect on who gets the Democratic nomination.”

The main issues on voters’ minds are still the economy, health care, the War in Iraq, immigration and national security. Each candidate has received endorsements from an array of celebrities of every persuasion including the major newspapers from coast to coast. The Los Angeles Times has endorsed Obama, and the New York Times has endorsed Clinton.

So far 28 states have either held their primaries or caucuses and there are still 22 states left to decide; the race is for a possible nominee is far from over. The prevailing wisdom, like some of the polls has recently given the public skewed information and the only sure thing is that nothing is a sure thing. In the past, Super Tuesday would normally signal a clear winner for the Democratic nomination, but this time it has not. The Republicans, however, seem to have a clear picture as to who their nominee is going to be—Senator John McCain of Arizona. The results of February 5th have shown that for the Democrats, the race is still on. A definitive winner is nowhere in sight.

Published in : News, Politics