The Super Bowl was 3/4 boring and 1/4 awesome, Super Tuesday had me paying closer attention to an election than I ever have, Heath Ledger unsurprisingly died of an overdose, and tomorrow we’re supposed to launch a space shuttle. I think that about catches me up.
Super Tuesday was crazy. I mean, I have never ever paid attention to the primaries before, but last night I was glued to CNN for the entire evening. McCain seems to be on his way to the Republican nomination having built a lot more momentum yesterday. But the Democratic race, I mean, wow. There were 1,681 delegates at stake yesterday. So far they’re estimating that Hillary Clinton got 540, and Barack Obama got 539. While Clinton won the conspicuous states like New York and California, Obama won pretty much everything in the middle. But then — how much does a win really mean if it’s only by a few percentage points, when the delegates are divided proportionately and by congressional district? Twenty-two states held primaries yesterday, yet so far the two candidates are separated by a single delegate. It’s mind-boggling. It’s crazy. It’s awesome. For the first time in years, I feel like people really, truly care about electing the next president. People feel like they have a real choice, and they’re excited about the candidates. I know I am. And bonus: my vote in the Texas primary on March 4 will actually matter!
I came in early, so I’m leaving early to squeeze in a run before class tonight. I haven’t worked out since a good 27-mile bike ride on Sunday. This week has been so busy. It’s only three days later but that bike ride seems like years ago.
According to the Washington Post, Clinton got 737 and Obama 699.
Although Clinton won California’s popular votes, she didn’t get all of the delegates. Obama got the popular vote in Alabama but Clinton got more delegates. It’s not clear to me how each party and state (and precinct?) decide to allocate their delegates. It looks like the Republicans follow the example of the electorate college, where usually the top winner gets all of the delegates. But this sort of thing is why Clinton and Obama are still so close. And why, ultimately, I think it will be decided at the Democratic Convention in a bunch of wheelin’ and dealin’.
Details at
http://content.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/results-all.aspx
That’s a good point Gavin. Republican is generally winner-take-all, and I think all Democratic contests are proportional. I think the Replublican race would be very different if they did it the Dem. way.
How delegates are assigned varies from state to state. one interesting point is that states which support their respective parties more financially and with votes at election time tend to be allocated more delegates for a given population.
This has been an interesting race so far. Unfortunately, I’m not sold on any of the candidates, but I am excited about our upcoming primary!
Interestingly enough, Obama’s campaign office in Pasadena is gone. Signs down. Nothing in the building. Kind of surprisingly: here for a week or so, gone tomorrow.