I know I've neglected my blog in recent weeks. I've been busy doing "actual" work but hopefully I'll pick up the pace a bit and write more often.
Today is Super Duper/Tsunami Tuesday where 24 states head to the polls and get their chance to be Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina (wasn't that the point of moving them all up, to make all these states more important?).
There is a bit of uncertainty in the ranks as both parties seem to lack cohesion around a particular candidate. Sure McCain is surging in recent polls but that hasn't stopped Republican Party opinion leaders like Rush Limbaugh and the editors of The National Review from endorsing and pushing for the nomination of Mitt Romney.
On the Democratic side there is no such thing as a frontrunner anymore. Edwards was the fallback guy, the clear loser in the bunch. Knowing his role, he dropped out before the big day where he had spoiler potential (however it still isn't clear who he would spoil it for since his supporters aren't uniformly lining up behind a particular candidate). Now Democrats are stuck in a very peculiar situation. No matter who they vote for, they're going to make history by nominating either the first woman or the first African American major party candidate for the presidency.
Hillary Clinton is focusing her Super Duper Tsunami Tuesday strategy on the big delegate prizes like California and New York while Barack Obama is really trying to garner more support in middle America. He has been campaigning recently in states that are consistently red in general elections like Kansas and Colorado. The thing to remember is that all Democratic primaries and caucuses allot delegates proportionally. This means that losing a majority in a state by a few votes won't really hurt you all that much.
As a native Californian, I'm most interested in what is happening in that alternate universe on the west coast. In recent weeks Barack Obama has closed the gap in the polls between him and his democratic rival. With the recent endorsement of The Los Angeles Times and the number one spanish daily paper, La Opinion, Obama may actually have a chance to surpass the Clinton machine in a state she appears to be betting on. That being said, Hillary Clinton's support throughout California may have dropped a bit as Mitt Romney unleashed an attack ad that goes after her rather than his Republican rival, John McCain. Perhaps the ad has made California's liberal population wake up and smell the competition already brewing between the entire "right wing conspiracy" with the former first lady.
There is something interesting happening amongst my parents, grandparents and their upper-middle class Democratic friends. Even though they pay attention to the news, watch the debates, read the op-eds, they are still undecided. Each Democratic candidate has a list of pros and cons and as of right now, its unclear who's list looks the most presidential and whose list has the most potential in a general election. I wouldn't be surprised to see some coins being tossed in the voting booths.
