If anyone doesn't know already, a superdelegate is defined by dictionary.com as being a party leader or elected public official chosen as an uncommited delegate to a national political convention. Although the Democratic Party does not refer to these political elite as superdelegates it is a common media practice, which has transfered to the public as well. This year with the race being so close between Clinton and Obama these delegates could be a huge deal. The superdelegates total up to about one-fifth of all the delegates, which is a quite large portion for being single people.
Like many other Americans I am appalled by the power of the superdelegates. I just don't feel that one person should have the power of a large community when it comes to allocating their delegate. The purpose of voting in America is for the country as a whole to choose a person, all citizens having equal representation. The democratic party is being accused as being extremely undemocratic in the fact that these delegates aren't strictly forced to choose a candidate by the preferences of the community they represent. The Democratic Party has to take a step back and see that they are sort of putting the election in the hands of the most powerful and rich white men. Statistics are showing that one of these allocated superdelegates will represent just as much as 10,000 regular voters.
Although this Democratic election is almost wrapped up by Obama there could have been a huge debate if these superdelegates would have actually made the difference. I think that American citizens have to tell the Democratic party what they think about the process that is currently in place. I'm not hating on all the superdelegates that actually vote with their community, but we just have to eliminate the chance that some might actually vote without taking in consideration to their community thinks. These political leaders might have to think twice because their stay in office could be jeopardized if they are careless with their power. We'll just have to see what happens with this power.
March 30, 2008
March 23, 2008
Political Sex Scandals Month
I hope everyone had a good break and happy Easter. To get back in the groove I'm going to talk about the political sex scandals that have recently taken place.
Elliot Spitzer
Earlier this month Elliot Spitzer, former New York Governor, was reported to have been a regular customer of a high priced prostitution organization called Emporor's Club VIP. It has been said that Elliot Spitzer had paid more than $15,000 over a six month period for prostitution services at this organization and over $80,000 for other prostitutes over a couple years while he was Attorney General and Governor. This investigation was not originally for a suspicion of Spitzer receiving services from prostitutes, but suspicious money transfering. Authorities first believed that Spitzer had been illegally bribing people, but as you can see by using a wire tap found him having illegal confrontations with prostitutes. Elliot Spitzer later resigned as the New York Governor with his scandal projected into the public as the on March 12, 2008.
David Paterson
David Paterson was named the Governor of New York after Elliot Spitzer stepped down. This marked the first time ever that a New York Governor was African American and also legally blind. The day after David Paterson was inaugurated as New York Governor, he and his wife spoke out and acknowledged that they had both been involved in "straying" from their marriage in extramaritial affairs. This just coming days after the prostitution scandal of Elliot Spitzer was devestated the politics in New York.
Jim McGreevey
Also last week a driver for former Governor Jim McGreevey, Ted Pederson, stated that he had had multiple sexual encounters with Jim McGreevey and his wife. McGreevey's wife denied having these threesomes with her husband and their driver. She also rejected knowing that her husband was gay when she married him. Jim McGreevey however admits to having these threesomes. Pederson has claimed that these "Friday Night Specials" had occured before and after their marriage, but ended before MecGreevey became governor.
I hope that our government isn't becoming extremely corrupt with all these scandals currently being uncovered.
Elliot Spitzer
Earlier this month Elliot Spitzer, former New York Governor, was reported to have been a regular customer of a high priced prostitution organization called Emporor's Club VIP. It has been said that Elliot Spitzer had paid more than $15,000 over a six month period for prostitution services at this organization and over $80,000 for other prostitutes over a couple years while he was Attorney General and Governor. This investigation was not originally for a suspicion of Spitzer receiving services from prostitutes, but suspicious money transfering. Authorities first believed that Spitzer had been illegally bribing people, but as you can see by using a wire tap found him having illegal confrontations with prostitutes. Elliot Spitzer later resigned as the New York Governor with his scandal projected into the public as the on March 12, 2008.
David Paterson
David Paterson was named the Governor of New York after Elliot Spitzer stepped down. This marked the first time ever that a New York Governor was African American and also legally blind. The day after David Paterson was inaugurated as New York Governor, he and his wife spoke out and acknowledged that they had both been involved in "straying" from their marriage in extramaritial affairs. This just coming days after the prostitution scandal of Elliot Spitzer was devestated the politics in New York.
Jim McGreevey
Also last week a driver for former Governor Jim McGreevey, Ted Pederson, stated that he had had multiple sexual encounters with Jim McGreevey and his wife. McGreevey's wife denied having these threesomes with her husband and their driver. She also rejected knowing that her husband was gay when she married him. Jim McGreevey however admits to having these threesomes. Pederson has claimed that these "Friday Night Specials" had occured before and after their marriage, but ended before MecGreevey became governor.
I hope that our government isn't becoming extremely corrupt with all these scandals currently being uncovered.
March 9, 2008
Toss Up
-It seems that the "groundhog" has seen his shadow and we are in for another 7 weeks of primaries until there is Pennsylvania with a large amount of delegates. Hillary Clinton gained some momentum back on Tuesday when she won primaries in Texas and Ohio. Although she only gained 4 delegates on Obama that day, she has gained momentum that has been so valuable for Obama. She is now down 99 delegates and it will be very hard for her to win, but she believes she is in the perfect position to win this nomination. What lies ahead is unknown, other than the fact that this election is going to go on for quiet some time.
-The reason for Clinton's great success on Super Tuesday 2 was the fact that she switched her strategy for her campaign drastically. She has changed campaign managers, paid great attention to her campaign finances and had a clearer message about economic issues in our country to better her chances in winning. Although many people look at "new" attacks on Barack Obama as being negative to her campaign, I actually feel that they have been quiet successful in taking votes away from Obama. Obama had been getting extremely cocky after winning 11 straight states and he now has to take into account what Clinton did and formulate new campaign strategies so that he doesn't end up losing the lead he currently holds. Clinton's main strategy has clearly been to win the big states (California, New York, Texas, Ohio, etc.) while caring not much about the smaller states. It has been talked about that this is where Obama can hit Clinton hard because she has stated that she didn't care about losing some of the small states she has lost. It has also been said that Obama should target some of Clinton's foreign policies. Also, now that Clinton has a clear strangle hold on economic policy in a time that the economy could be our worst fear, Obama must give Americans a good look at the unique policies he can bring to the table concerning economics.
-Today political leaders debated the options regarding the situation revolving around the Michigan and Florida primaries. The suggestion was to initiate a mail-in ballot process for each state that had had their delegates striped from the nomination process. These two states have 366 pledged delegates and super delegates together. Clinton gained ground on Groundhog Day and the Democratic nomination may not be settled unless these delegates would be included. Both governors have stated that it would be a disgrace for their citizen's vote not to count, but there is going to be a problem finding someone to foot the bill for this mail-in ballot process. The primary in Michigan would cost approximately 10 million dollars while the Florida primary would cost 20 million dollars. Charlie Crist, Florida Governor, clearly stated that he would not put this large burden on his citizens by taxing them if they were not given money by outside sources. Crist really wants his state to have another chance in the Democratic primary, but said that the only way they would take part would be if the Democratic Committee would pay for it. Although this process could be attainable there may be some problems such as properly counting these ballots and the chance of duplication and fraud of ballots. These problems and the time constraint for setting up these two primaries could ultimately cause these two states to be disenfranchised from this year’s Democratic nomination.
-The reason for Clinton's great success on Super Tuesday 2 was the fact that she switched her strategy for her campaign drastically. She has changed campaign managers, paid great attention to her campaign finances and had a clearer message about economic issues in our country to better her chances in winning. Although many people look at "new" attacks on Barack Obama as being negative to her campaign, I actually feel that they have been quiet successful in taking votes away from Obama. Obama had been getting extremely cocky after winning 11 straight states and he now has to take into account what Clinton did and formulate new campaign strategies so that he doesn't end up losing the lead he currently holds. Clinton's main strategy has clearly been to win the big states (California, New York, Texas, Ohio, etc.) while caring not much about the smaller states. It has been talked about that this is where Obama can hit Clinton hard because she has stated that she didn't care about losing some of the small states she has lost. It has also been said that Obama should target some of Clinton's foreign policies. Also, now that Clinton has a clear strangle hold on economic policy in a time that the economy could be our worst fear, Obama must give Americans a good look at the unique policies he can bring to the table concerning economics.
-Today political leaders debated the options regarding the situation revolving around the Michigan and Florida primaries. The suggestion was to initiate a mail-in ballot process for each state that had had their delegates striped from the nomination process. These two states have 366 pledged delegates and super delegates together. Clinton gained ground on Groundhog Day and the Democratic nomination may not be settled unless these delegates would be included. Both governors have stated that it would be a disgrace for their citizen's vote not to count, but there is going to be a problem finding someone to foot the bill for this mail-in ballot process. The primary in Michigan would cost approximately 10 million dollars while the Florida primary would cost 20 million dollars. Charlie Crist, Florida Governor, clearly stated that he would not put this large burden on his citizens by taxing them if they were not given money by outside sources. Crist really wants his state to have another chance in the Democratic primary, but said that the only way they would take part would be if the Democratic Committee would pay for it. Although this process could be attainable there may be some problems such as properly counting these ballots and the chance of duplication and fraud of ballots. These problems and the time constraint for setting up these two primaries could ultimately cause these two states to be disenfranchised from this year’s Democratic nomination.
March 2, 2008
Groundhog Day
-Many people are calling Tuesday's big primary showdowns in Texas and Ohio the political "Groundhog Day." Either these two states will end Clinton's campaign or give her momentum in the race and basically a restart for her. The reason that this has lately been called the political Groudhog Day is because the next big delegate state is 7 weeks later in Pennsylvania. Clinton's campaign team said she will clinch the race in June, while Obama's campaign thought this remark is mathematically crazy for Clinton. Bill Clinton didn't win his Democratic nomination until June. No one wants to have this prolonged race and the Democratic leader wants April to be the deadline. Howard Dean, Chairman of Democratic National Committee, believes that if there isn't a nominee in March or April they are going to have to get the candidates together to make an arrangement. I really don't understand what this "arrangement" would be, and it is clear by looking around that no one else does either. I didn't know that the party leader could make arrangements to finish the race early.
-Thanks adam for pointing out my mistake about Florida and Michigan. The thing I am confused about what seeding actually intales.
-Also in respect to Nader running as an independent. Nader will not have to run in any primaries since he will be running under his own independent party, not Democratic or Republican. If I'm not mistaken anyone can run for president seeing that under democracy this is possible, but the main thing is that you need the money to run.
-Thanks adam for pointing out my mistake about Florida and Michigan. The thing I am confused about what seeding actually intales.
-Also in respect to Nader running as an independent. Nader will not have to run in any primaries since he will be running under his own independent party, not Democratic or Republican. If I'm not mistaken anyone can run for president seeing that under democracy this is possible, but the main thing is that you need the money to run.
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