Tag: Primaries

Another Tuesday, More Primaries

Don’t fret…it is FAR from over!

The results of the endless primaries are basically in……and I wanted to see how the Michigan race was going for the Dems….and as I have been saying the media is determined to make the case for Hillary…..

Let’s go to the tallies……..

All eyes were on Michigan on Tuesday night, but three other states were in play—including Mississippi, where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each won easily. When the polls closed at 8pm ET, CNN and AP immediately called the race for Clinton, who continues her sweep of the Deep South as she rides a continuing wave of support from black voters. The Republican race took longer, but CNN called it for Trump about a half-hour after the polls closed. With most of the vote in, Ted Cruz handily took second, with John Kasich and Marco Rubio each winning less than 10% of the vote. Up for grabs were 40 GOP delegates and 36 Democratic delegates; they’ll be proportionally awarded.

Elsewhere:

  • Idaho: With 32 delegates at stake and 74% of the vote in, NBC was projecting Cruz as the winner with 44% of the vote followed by Trump with 28%. Marco Rubio, in what may be his best showing of the night, is third with 17%.

Hawaii: Another win for Donald Trump, this time in the state he didn’t believe President Obama was born in. CNN projects that the tycoon has won Hawaii’s GOP caucuses, adding to his Tuesday night victories in Michigan and Mississippi. Hawaii is one of the smallest and most solidly Democratic states in the union, meaning visits from GOP candidates are rare and its GOP caucuses can be very hard to predict. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that the state Republican Party was deeply split over Trump’s candidacy, though organizers were very pleased with the size of the turnout, which they estimate at around 20,000 more than twice as many as turned out in 2012

But the big news is Michigan………

The biggest prize of the night is Michigan, and it’s shaping up to be a tight finish between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. With 97% of results in, CNN and NBC are projecting Sanders as the winner with 50% of the vote to Clinton’s 48%. Both candidates campaigned aggressively in the state, which has 130 delegates up for grabs. One factor in Sanders’ strong showing might be what Nate Cohn of the New York Times calls the “most surprising” stat out of exit polls: Clinton was “beating Sanders by 32 points among black voters in Michigan, which would be her weakest showing of the season by a wide margin.”

Sanders was hoping for an upset to make the case that he’s more of a national candidate, given that Clinton has racked up so many wins in the South, notes Politico. Clinton, on the other hand, had been hoping for a decisive victory to “close the door” on Sanders’ candidacy, it adds. Either way, neither candidate will get a huge net gain in delegates, which will be divided proportionately.

But the bigger news for the media was Trump’s wins…..wins by the way were foretold by the polls…….the Bernie win is just a side note…..he took on the might of the Clinton machine and won….why is that not more news than the inevitable winner?

Would it be a bigger story for the media is Bernie had been black?

The big question should be…..will Hillary play nice or will the Clinton “nasty” machine once again rear its UGLY head?  My guess is “nasty” will win the day.

Next week will be make or break for Rubio and Kasich….if they lose…they are gone!

2016: The Weekend That Was

In case you were otherwise engaged living life and enjoy the day…..I will give you the mark-up on the races that made the weekend bearable for the media…..

First the Repubs……

Ted Cruz picked up two double-digit victories against Donald Trump Saturday night with wins in Kansas and Maine, though Trump won much tighter contests in Louisiana and Kentucky. Trump will retain a sizable overall lead in delegates, but the Cruz wins show “there’s no quick end in sight to the fractious GOP race,” notes AP. Cruz’s victory in Kansas was especially decisive: He received 48% of the vote, well ahead of Trump (23%), Marco Rubio (17%), and John Kasich (11%). The results in Maine, another caucus, were a bit closer: Cruz (46%), Trump (33%), Kasich (12%), and Rubio (8%). Trump’s wins over Cruz, meanwhile, will likely end up being in the single digits, with Rubio having a weak night all around. In fact, Trump called on him to drop out in his post-results address to supporters, reports Politico.

“It’s time,” he said, adding, “I want Ted one on one.” In his own address, delivered early in the night, Cruz told supporters in Idaho that “what we’re seeing is the public coming together, libertarians coming together, men and women who love the Constitution coming together and uniting and standing as one behind this campaign.”

And now the adults in the room (as scary as that may sound)…..the Dems…….

Bernie Sanders has won the two Democratic caucuses of the night in Kansas and Nebraska, but Hillary Clinton countered with a big win in the Louisiana primary, reports CNN. The network called the latter race soon after polls closed at 9 Eastern, with African-American voters again giving her an easy victory. With 58 delegates at stake, Louisiana is the single biggest prize of the night. Kansas has 37 at stake and Nebraska 30. Which means that while Sanders has bragging rights after winning two of three, “the results were not likely to alter the broader contours of a race in which Mrs. Clinton maintains a significant delegate lead,” observes the New York Times.

The only thing you missed was the implosion of Rubio…the man could not buy votes last weekend….his only dim hope is looking like Florida….plus it gives the MSM something to speculate over for the next week or so….

See your time was better spent on other endeavors……leave the mundane crap to me.

Super Tuesday–The Results

Purely For Your Information only……….

Super Tuesday and the voters have spoken……..and the media is the big winner……

GOP results…….

Donald Trump had his expected strong night on Super Tuesday, but he didn’t post a clean sweep. He won seven states—Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, and Vermont—but Ted Cruz defeated him in the senator’s own home state of Texas, in neighboring Oklahoma and in Alaska, reports CNN. The Oklahoma win was a surprise and gives Cruz at least as strong a claim to be the “Trump alternative” as Marco Rubio, writes Nicholas Confessore at the New York Times.

“This has been an amazing evening,” Trump told supporters, describing himself as a “unifier.” “Once we get all of this finished, I am going to go after one person: Hillary Clinton,” he vowed. Rubio, meanwhile, scored his first victory with a win in Minnesota and finished a strong second in Virginia, perhaps buoyed by Democrats voting for him in the open primary, notes Vox. But overall, he fared poorly in the South, where evangelicals and conservative voters chose Trump, reports the Washington Post. The brightest spot for John Kasich was Vermont, where he came a close second. He also came a distant second in Massachusetts, while Ben Carson failed to crack the top three in any state

Democrat results……

Hillary Clinton scooped up seven states on Super Tuesday in her bid to lock down frontrunner status—but Bernie Sanders had a late flurry of victories himself. When the first polls closed, CNN quickly projected Clinton the winner in Georgia and Virginia—both states she lost to Barack Obama in 2008—with Sanders winning his home state of Vermont. Clinton then racked up wins in Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas (where she was once the state’s first lady), before adding Texas. The latter gave her a sweep of Southern states holding primaries, reports the AP. She also won Massachusetts in a close contest, along with American Samoa. The night ended well for Sanders, however, as he added Oklahoma, Colorado, and Minnesota to his tally.

Earlier, Clinton declined to make any predictions. “Let’s see what voters decide in all these states that are lined up today and then we’ll take stock after it’s over,” she said. Sanders spoke in Vermont and said his campaign, which has plenty of money, is in it for the long run, reports Business Insider. He noted that most of the states have yet to vote. “Let me assure you that we are going to take our fight for economic justice, for social justice, for environmental sanity, for world of peace, to every one of those states.” All told, Clinton and Sanders were competing for 865 delegates in 11 states and American Samoa on Tuesday, the biggest single-day prize of the 2016 campaign.

It appears the candidates for the general in November is becoming clear…..this should be settled completely by 01 April…….

And the beat goes…….

Super Tuesday Arrives! (If You Really Care)

The SEC Primary is here…..BTW that is what the media wants all of us bloggers to call Super Tuesday……but what if anything will change after today’s vote?

If you are interested then this what you will need to know if you are looking for something to write about……

Super Tuesday is upon us—and it could be the day that changes the Republican Party forever. With 11 states holding GOP primaries and caucuses, rival candidates are doing their best to dent Donald Trump, but the party establishment fears that the time when his candidacy could be stopped is already in the past. On the Democratic side, meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will battle for 11 states plus American Samoa, and analysts say it will require victory in a few close-run contests for Sanders to keep his candidacy afloat. A roundup of coverage:

  • FiveThirtyEight has a detailed guide to every state voting in the Republican and Democratic contests, including poll numbers—which suggest both front-runners are headed toward huge wins.
  • With Trump poised to win up to 10 states, Politico looks at how his momentum has split Republican leaders, and at what Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz plan to do in the days ahead.
  • The Wall Street Journal looks at why Massachusetts will be a must-win for Bernie Sanders.
  • The AP has a guide to when results will start rolling in. Caucus states Minnesota, Colorado, and Alaska may experience more hiccups than others.
  • Fox News takes a closer look at the states where victory will be most important, including Texas, the biggest prize and possibly Cruz’s only win.
  • It’s also primary day for Democrats living overseas. The AP talks to voters in New Zealand, where Super Tuesday arrived first.
  • Politico breaks down five numbers it says will define Super Tuesday, including Rubio’s share of the vote in northern Virginia.
  • The Washington Post reports on Sanders’ jabs at Clinton on the eve of Super Tuesday. He has vowed to stay in the race until all 50 states have voted.
  • Peter Beinart at the Atlantic has three reasons why liberals in states that allow non-Republicans to vote in GOP primaries should give up their chance to vote for Sanders or Clinton and cast a ballot for Marco Rubio.
  • Today is do or die for Cruz, according to the National Review, which explains how he managed to paint himself into this corner.
  • The New York Times looks at the GOP’s revamped delegate selection, designed to “turbocharge the campaign of a front-runner”—and at how it could help Trump wrap things up very quickly.

There you are…..everything you never wanted to know about today’s circus we call voting…….

You may thank me by donating to Wounded Warriors Project……(just a suggestion)……..

Candidates Spin For Dollars

Today is the Nevada caucus and all I can say is….who cares?  It has been a debacle since it began with a little luck this will be the last attempt for them to be relevant…..

The next biggie for the candidates is that ever popular “Super Tuesday”……after the last set of votes each of the major candidates has to spin their butts off to try and keep what support they have now…….so what are they saying?

  • Ted Cruz says that his third place finish in South Carolina “effectively tied for second” place with Marco Rubio, who placed second by two-tenths of 1 percentage point over Cruz. He added that “there is now only one strong conservative remaining in this race who can win.”
  • Bernie Sanders says his loss to Hillary Clinton in Nevada probably was caused by lower voter turnout. “We will do well when young people, when working-class people come out” to vote. He adds: “We did not do as good a job as I had wanted to bring out a large turnout.”
  • RNC Chair Reince Priebus says the party is ready “for anything” at the nominating convention in July, including a brokered convention. “We will be prepared if that happens, but again I don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
  • Hillary Clinton says that voters have an “underlying question…is she in it for us or is she in it for herself? That’s a question that people are trying to sort through…I know that I have to make my case.”

That is the candidate’s take on the upcoming set of votes…..who will be the big “winner” in the next vote?

Vital wins for Donald Trump in South Carolina and Hillary Clinton in Nevada have solidified the front-runner status of both candidates—but this election year is far from ordinary and the path to nomination will not be an easy one. Here’s what analysts are looking out for in the days and weeks ahead:

  1. The Trump ceiling. After cruising to victory despite having taken on both George W. Bush and Pope Francis, Trump “is seemingly untouchable,” according to USA Today—but as the race heats up, we’ll soon find out whether the long-predicted ceiling to his support actually exists. Politico predicts that he may find it harder to portray himself as the outsider candidate now that Jeb Bush, his favorite establishment “chew toy,” has dropped out.
  2. Clinton momentum. Her victory over Bernie Sanders in Nevada was a narrow one, but it was enough to restore the Democratic establishment’s expectation of “a stately march to the nomination for the former first lady,” according to the Globe and Mail. If she wins as expected in South Carolina next week and dominates Super Tuesday, it may be too much for Sanders to bounce back from.
  1. Sanders woos minorities. The senator from Vermont “has never in his four-decade political career had to court minority voters,” the Washington Post notes, but he’s going to have to learn fast to have a chance in upcoming contests—including those in Texas, Virginia, and Tennessee—despite promising inroads among Latino voters in Nevada. Sanders aides say they believe his message on economic inequality will appeal to younger voters regardless of race.
  • Trouble ahead for Ted Cruz. Cruz, after being labeled a liar by both the Trump and Rubio campaigns, had a worse-than-expected result in South Carolina, which does not bode well for other states with large numbers of conservative Christian voters. The result exposed what “may be a big crack in Cruz’s Southern firewall” and shattered his strategy of riding momentum into Super Tuesday, the National Review notes.
  • Sink or swim time for Marco Rubio. Rubio has had some better-than-expected primary results but no wins, which “needs to change soon or else it will become a two-person race,” USA Today notes. With Bush’s exit narrowing the field of establishment candidates, Rubio’s people are about to start “gently cajoling—or elbowing—John Kasich to the exits,” Politico predicts.

Vote for your candidate….but vote for the person that will do the MOST for this country and its people.

If you are voting for your own self-interests then stay home you are doing NOTHING to make this a better country………or stronger….or safer…..

Clinton Wins, Marco Smiles And Jeb!

Yesterday was a big day for politicos….the Nevada Caucus and South Carolina primary…..

Hillary Clinton has been declared the winner of Saturday’s Democratic caucus in Nevada, holding a 4-point lead over Bernie Sanders with 66% of precincts reporting, the New Republic reports. “To everyone who turned out in every corner of Nevada with determination and heart: This is your win. Thank you,” Clinton tweeted. According to CNN, Clinton avoided a “dramatic setback” with the win. And the Hill states it will “calm some nerves” after Sanders nearly beat both expectations and Clinton in the state. Sanders managed to turn a double-digit deficit in earlier polls into a narrow loss. The results of the caucus were called about two hours after it started.

The win gives Clinton some momentum with the South Carolina primary and Super Tuesday coming up. She also now has evidence that 2016 will play out differently than her 2008 contest against Obama and that she is more electable than Sanders. But it wasn’t all good news for Clinton. She underperformed among Latino voters and isn’t getting “fervent support” from young people. New Republic notes this “enthusiasm gap” could hurt her in the general election. As for Sanders, FiveThirtyEight reports he could still win the rest of the states that have caucuses, mostly because those states—with the exception of Hawaii—are “really white.”

Hil has her revenge and now maybe she will start acting more presidential…..

South Carolina was the next to report in…….

Donald Trump has won the South Carolina primary, according to projections from the AP, CBS News, NBC News, and Fox News. It’s the second victory in a row for the billionaire, who looks to have about 34% of the vote. This in spite of exit polls that showed that some four in 10 voters made up their minds at the last minute and many broke for Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who are still locked in a battle for second and third place at around 21% of the vote. Jeb Bush is running a distant fourth place—though John Kasich is showing a late surge, and has the potential to knock Bush to a fifth-place finish—and faces some hard decisions as his fundraising dries up. Ben Carson is solidly in sixth place, and has now spoken to his supporters to assure them that he’s not dropping out.

The media has turned Rubio into a winner by spin his losing effort into a positive…..

Jeb! has been on life support the whole process……and now he can go home and play with himself in the corner of the basement…..

Less than two hours after the polls closed in South Carolina sending Donald Trump to victory, a teary-eyed Jeb Bush ended his bid for the Republican nomination for president, reports the AP. The move ended a campaign that drew a staggering level of financial support from donors but failed to win over voters angry with Washington and leery of sending another member of the Bush family to the White House. Following disappointing performances in both Iowa and New Hampshire, Bush pinned his hopes on South Carolina, a state where the Bush name has maintained some clout. But Bush was unable to break into the top three in South Carolina. He would likely have faced pressure from GOP leaders and donors to drop out had he stayed in the race.

There will be NO Bush 45……

Now that you know….go enjoy the rest of your weekend….there is more where all this came from…..DAMMIT!

2016: Today’s A Big Day For Candidates

Today is Saturday and I usually turn to subject matter that has nothing to do with politics, foreign policy or war…..but today is a big day that deserves a few insights…….

We have the SC primary for the GOP and the Nevada Caucus……there  are a couple of candidates for both parties that need to win and win …..BIG!

Saturday is a big day for the presidential hopefuls from both parties, with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders facing off in the Nevada Democratic caucuses and Donald Trump taking on all challengers in the South Carolina Republican primary. How both of those events play out could have major impacts on the rest of the race. Here are six things you need to know:

  • Both Clinton and Sanders have a lot to lose in Nevada, NBC News reports. A Clinton loss “would launch another week’s worth of negative headlines for her campaign,” while “a Sanders loss could even be more impactful because it would set up Hillary Clinton to start running the table” in the south.
  • The Washington Post believes the GOP side is turning into a three-man race in South Carolina and beyond. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have been “attempting to position themselves as the main alternative to Trump,” but “Trump is still the biggest attraction of all, dominating the polls and attracting huge crowds wherever he goes.”
  • Clinton made a serious mistake when “she failed to take Bernie Sanders serious enough,” allowing him to close the gap in Nevada, the Los Angeles Times reports. Now even a narrow victory over Sanders in Nevada “could raise strong doubts about [her] candidacy.”
  • NBC notes that while Trump has had the lead in South Carolina polls for months, its no longer looking insurmountable. His 16-point lead from last month has crumbled to 5 points in one recent poll.
  • USA Today highlights five questions, the answers to which will determine the way the Nevada caucuses go. One of the major questions is whether turnout will be small enough and—especially—diverse enough to deliver a win for Clinton. “If she loses Nevada because—horror of horrors—the caucus voters looked more like New Hampshire and Iowa, Clinton will have to look in the mirror. Or at her field operatives.”
  • Finally, things aren’t looking good for Jeb Bush (not to mention John Kasich and Ben Carson), according to Politico. Morale is down in the Bush camp, with even his biggest supporters believing “Saturday might be the end.” Donors are reportedly ready “to intervene and tell Bush, depending on his finish here Saturday night, that his time is up” after a week one describes as “a kick in the balls.”

With luck two things will occur…..Jeb! gets his ass handed to him and Clinton hits a Bernie wall……both events would go a long way to making this a more interesting election process…..

What say you?

Now I shall go watch paint dry…….

2016: New Hampshire’s In The Books

All the rhetoric for New Hampshire is a moot point…..the citizens have spoken and the head scratching begins….but not for long…..they are headed South…..

All the polls are also a moot point……all the hoopla is gone and now we have a real campaign beginning…..

Sorry I was rattling……(drum roll please)……the New Hampshire Winners Are…..

No late surprises in the New Hampshire top spots Tuesday night: Both the AP and CNN called the winners as soon as the polls closed at 8pm Eastern, with Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump triumphing easily. The bigger questions will be who finishes in the secondary spots in the GOP—though John Kasich has locked up second place—and how big Sanders’ margin of victory will be. In incomplete returns, Sanders had 59% to Hillary Clinton’s 40%, while Trump (34%) was followed by Kasich (16%), Ted Cruz (12%), Jeb Bush (11%), Marco Rubio (10%), Chris Christie (8%), Carly Fiorina (4%), and Ben Carson (2%). While the wins by Trump and Sanders were predicted by recent polls, the New York Times takes note of the bigger picture: These are victories by two relative “outsiders” who have “rocked the political establishment.”

The Washington Post has a similar line of thought: The night is a “remarkable victory for two outsiders who tapped into voter anger at the two parties’ establishments, each promising massive government actions to provide working people with an economic boost.” After accepting a thunderous ovation from his supporters at his victory rally, Sanders called his win “nothing short of the beginning of a political revolution.” Trump, meanwhile, said, “This is something very special,” and told supporters that his late parents were looking down with pride. Clinton, for her part, called Sanders to congratulate him as soon as the race was called. “It’s not whether you get knocked down that matters,” she said at her rally. “It’s whether you get back up.” A spokesman added that the nomination “will very likely be won in March, not February,” and predicted that Clinton would roll up a “potentially insurmountable” lead next month, reports Politico.

No time for a shower…..if you feel dirty because of the primaries….then you should feel even worse…..for the mud is about to get deeper……

First, look for Clinton to try and re-invent herself…..she will jump on the ant-Wall Street bandwagon……she will use more economic stumps than before…..she will change to meet the competition…..

Will there be another “massacre” within the GOP or will they wait for the results in the next primary?

Now on to South Carolina……let the nasty begin!

For You Bernie Skeptics

Today is the big day!  (At least for the media)…..Iowans go to their caucuses and decide just what to do with their vote…..In the big picture it means very little but if you listen to the news…..anyone who does not win is toast….(a-choo!  Sorry but I’m allergic to bullsh*t)…..

As I surf around the web I keep an eye on what people are saying about Bernie……I find that the Clinton people are the ones that are pushing the “socialism” thing hard especially now while they are behind in the first couple of primaries……..the media is using the term every time they report on Bernie….other stuff I have seen is he is too old or other nonsense….

I wanted to write a post explaining why most of the perceptions about Bernie are wrong….but before I could Robert Reich beat me to it…….so I will defer to him………

He *can* win in a national election, and he’s not too old. The former secretary of labor makes the case for Sanders

Source: Robert Reich: The Bernie skeptics are wrong — here are 6 reasons why – Salon.com

And then there is the question……will a Clinton presidency look any different than the Obama one?

On foreign policy my guess would be……NO!

Hil has attacked Bernie for a vague foreign policy….she says she has the chops to do the job……I ask….what job is that?  More profits for the M-IC?

Source: Half the Foreign Policy Experts Signing Clinton’s Anti-Sanders Letter Have Ties to Military Contractors

The next prez will represent ALL Americans……and not just the ones that can afford to own a politician……you will have to decide who will be the person of the people…….

A Bernie Homie…….

Understanding The American Primary System

In about a week the 2016 election primaries will officially begin…..

Do you truly understand the primary system?  The logical answer would be yes after all we are Americans…..but that would be delusional……if you are not part of the MSM then you will find it tedious and too damn long…..

Personally, if we must have these primaries then we should have a national holiday and all the primaries held on that day…..would eliminate one state having the benefit of being first and all primaries would carry the same weight…..

I would like to hear your thoughts on the primaries…….please let’m fly!