Reflections From a Murky Pond

On Tuesday, January 22, 2008, Former Senator Fred Thomson signaled the end his run for the US presidency. Mr. Thompson resigned from the race after his disappointing third-place finish in South Carolina’s GOP primary. He finished with 16 percent of the vote, whereas McCain and Huckabee finished with 33% and 30% of the vote respectively.

Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.

— Fred Thompson

Thompson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994 and represented Tennessee for eight years. Thompson had hoped that South Carolina, the first Southern state contested in this election cycle would provide him with a strong showing that could have revitalized his stagnating campaign.

Fred Thompson is reported to be a long time friend of Sen. John McCain. It is completely conceivable to me that we’ll see Mr. Thompson becoming McCain’s running mate in the near future.

Tags: 2008 Elections | McCain | Politics | Republican Primary | Thompson

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 4:08 pm and is filed under 2008 Election. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

The Nevada Primary is over and the press is proclaiming the results to the world at large. According to the media Clinton and Romney won their respective races. But is this actually the case? As with the previous NH primary, that depends on how you look at the primaries and caucuses.

The Democratic results from NV were: Clinton 5,355 (50.7%); Obama 4,773 (45.2%); Edwards 396 (03.8%). This shows that Sen. Clinton edged out Sen. Obama by at 5.5% margin, but did win the popular vote in the NV Primary. This is what the media is reporting about – though, unlike the earlier NH Primary, they’re also reporting on delegate counts as well this time.

Let us though once again look at the practical matter of the allotment of delegates, since it’s these delegates who will actually nominate the Democratic Party’s Presidential Candidate. It’s these men and women, plus 852 “superdelegates”, who will determine which candidate is nominated. Democratic primaries and caucuses award delegates on a proportional basis. Below is the break down of delegates for the 2008 NV Primary:

• Hillary Clinton won 12 Nevada delegates
• Barack Obama won 13 Nevada delegates

From the perspective of delegates the 2008 NV Democratic Primary Sen. Barack Obama achieved victory by a margin of 1 NV delegate. This is because many delegates are decided at the district level and Obama won the more heavily populated southern districts in Nevada.

On the Republican side of the 2008 Election race the results were more conclusive: Romney 22,649 (51.1%); Paul 6,087 (13.7%); McCain 5,651 (12.7%); Huckabee 3,616 (8.2%): Thompson 3,521 (7.9%); Giuliani 1,910 (4.3%). This shows Romney as a solid winner of the popular vote in the Republican primary.

As with the Democrats, let us once again look at the practical matter of the allotment of delegates, since it’s these delegates who will actually nominate the Republican Party’s Presidential Candidate.

• Mitt Romney won 17 Nevada delegates
• Ron Paul won 4 Nevada delegates
• John McCain won 4 Nevada delegates
• Mike Huckabee won 3 Nevada delegates
• Fred D. Thompson won 2 Nevada delegates
• Rudolph Giuliani won 1 Nevada delegates

Mitt Romney actually did score a very decisive win the 2008 NV Republican Primary in all practical ways, both by popular support and by delegate allotment.

Tags: 2008 Elections | Clinton | Edwards | Giuliani | Huckabee | McCain | Obama | Politics | Romney | Thompson

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 10:22 am and is filed under 2008 Election. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

The New Hampshire Primary is over and the press is proclaiming the results to the world at large. According to the media Clinton and McCain won their respective races. But is this actually the case? That depends on how you look at the primaries and caucuses.

The Democratic results from NH were: Clinton 110,550 (39%); Obama: 102,883 (36%); Edwards: 47,803 (17%); Richardson: 12,987 (5%); Kucinich: 3,845 (1%). This shows that Sen. Clinton barely edged out Sen. Obama, but did win the popular vote in the NH Primary. This is what the media is reporting about.

Let us look at the practical matter of the allotment of delegates, since it’s these delegates who will actually nominate the Democratic Party’s Presidential Candidate. It’s these men and women, plus 852 “superdelegates”, who will determine which candidate is nominated. Democratic primaries and caucuses award delegates on a proportional basis. Below is the break down of delegates for the 2008 NH Primary:

• Hillary Clinton won 9 New Hampshire delegates
• Barack Obama won 9 New Hampshire delegates
• John Edwards won 4 New Hampshire delegates

From the perspective of delegates the 2008 NH Democratic Primary was a tie between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

On the Republican side of the 2008 Election race the results were more conclusive: McCain 86,802 (37%); Romney 73,806 (32%); Huckabee 26,035 (11%); Giuliani 20,054 (9%); Paul 17,831 (8%); Thompson 2,808 (1%). This shows McCain as a solid winner of the popular vote in the Republican primary.

Let us once again look at the practical matter of the allotment of delegates, since it’s these delegates who will actually nominate the Republican Party’s Presidential Candidate.

• John McCain won 7 New Hampshire delegates
• Mitt Romney won 4 New Hampshire delegates
• Mike Huckabee won 1 New Hampshire delegate

John McCain actually did win the 2008 NH Republican Primary in all practical ways.

Tags: 2008 Elections | Clinton | Edwards | Giuliani | Huckabee | McCain | Obama | Politics | Romney | Thompson

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 11:32 am and is filed under 2008 Election. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Attention! Let the election frenzy begin in earnest!

Image courtesy of ZardozZ News & Satire

Tags: 2008 Elections | Clinton | Edwards | Giuliani | Huckabee | Humor | McCain | Obama | Politics | Romney | Thompson

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 11:32 am and is filed under 2008 Election, Humor. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.