"I'll chase him 'round the bayous of Louisiana and 'round the Chesapeake maelstrom and through Perdition's flame!"

The Political "Brief"
Super Tuesday Wrap-Up; The Race Moves On...

Pardon the delay, but I'm in the midst of bathroom renovation and...y'know...work. I wanted to get a far more detailed summary of what happened, but there's too much real stuff in the way. If I get requests (hah!), I'll post per candidate what their wins mean.

So onward and upward!

***

Barack Obama won the following states: Alaska , Alabama, Colorado, Conn., Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, N. Dakota, Utah

Hillary won the following: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee

New Mexico is still being processed.

Barack is a force, a Movement unto himself, but there's little more than hot air in his sails right now. Give him a chance to unwind some sound proposals, and he'll without a doubt beat Hillary. So long as she looks like the one more able to propose valid, liberal legislation and win in a tough election, he'll just be the untested JUNIOR senator from IL. Both are virtually tied in delegates.

***

The Republican side was a three-way tussle, but McCain still came out ahead.

McCain: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma

Romney: Colorado , Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah

Hucabkee: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia

Huckabee kept Romney from a position of strength, splitting conservatives, and though he went far to proving it doesn't take money to buy states, it also proved him a regional candidate. Outside of the South, Huckabee is that funny-named Baptist guy who used to be a fatty. His support is purely based on being a Southern two-term governor. Romney is similar, and his wins have all along shown him to be a Western regional candidate, with his support stemming from a Mormon base, so much so that other candidates didn't really run around Utah at all. Mitt also won Michigan and Mass., but he was 1) from there and 2) governor, so if he lost, he lost.

McCain now has the unenviable job of proving to conservatives that he's not a patsy for the left, a liberal in Reagan's clothing. If remains to be seen if Romney and Huckabee will stump for McCain and seek to shore up that "right" that fractured this primary season.

***

Super Tuesday came and went, and the first casualty has been felt. Mitt Romney announced yesterday in a fiery speech that he was withdrawing. Hanging around in the race delayed the launch of a national campaign, John McCain's essentially, and in a time of war, he could not stand to do that. You can find his speech here, and boy is it full of gutfire and conservatism. It is my opinion that Romney wishes to position himself for a major leadership role in the Republican party, and could make a run for some other governmental position in 2010 should he be kept out of the Cabinet or not offered the VP slot. But he definitely said to all conservatives that he is their man, despite his past record.

***

This Saturday, there are several more contests:

Washington (D)
Louisiana (D, R)
Nebraska (D)
Kansas (R)
Virgin Islands (D)
Maine (D; Sunday)

There's no use talking about the Republican aspect of the race, though Huckabee, if he didn't make a deal with McCain to hurt Romney, might still make some trouble. And Romney didn't explicitly state he was backing McCain, just that he didn't want to delay a national campaign.

Each of the contests for the Democrats are caucuses, and Obama does well in those. Just ask Matt Saniie, Obama staffer and caucus organizer from Iowa. The logic here is that those passionate, idealistic Obama supporters are 1) more likely to show up and 2) great arguers for their side. The fervor surrounding Obama is more intense than Hillary, and it shows everywhere. She's in for a tough few days between Saturday and next Tuesday, the Chesapeake primary (DC, Maryland, Virginia) where demographics key in on Obama (ie, there's a reason Old Man Cochran called it Chocolate City).



Hooper