Super Tuesday II: The Results
March 5, 2008
Two things were clear leading up to the four primaries on March 4 – John McCain would likely end up the official Republican nominee, and Hillary Clinton needed to win big to still have a shot at beating Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.
Both happened.
McCain’s victories on Super Tuesday II have provided him with enough delegates to cross the 1,191 threshold, making him the Republican Party’s official nominee for President of the United States. His only major rival to remain in the race, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, acknowledged McCain’s victory, dropping out of the race and endorsing the Senator (Reuters video).
McCain’s campaign from here on out will take on two major tasks: selecting the right vice-presidential candidate to complete the ticket and convincing the American people (not just Republicans) that he is the best candidate for the job. One of the most complicated factors for both problems will be the fact that the Democratic nominee has not been chosen. Whether Senator Obama or Senator Clinton is nominated will have a significant impact on the tactics and direction of McCain’s campaign (Reuters).
As for the Democratic race, it is far from over. Barack Obama was gaining in the polls leading up to March 4, but Hillary Clinton managed to win three out of the four contests, including the two delegate-rich states of Ohio and Texas. Though her victories were narrow, they were enough to bring her closer to Obama in the delegate count (though he still leads) and to break his 12-state winning streak. Senator Clinton still faces a tough challenge, though. In order to beat Senator Obama in the delegate count, she would need to “rack up big margins” of victory in the remaining contests (AP). The challenge is that the Democratic process provides candidates with delegates proportionally, so that even though Clinton won two big states, the narrow margin means that she and Obama received close to the same number of delegates.
Senator Obama expressed his confidence that he would still be the nominee after the results came in from Tuesday’s contests: “We still have an insurmountable lead. We’re very confident about where we’re going to be and that we can win the nomination and the general election” (AP).
Senator Clinton has expressed interest in joining forces with Obama on the Democratic ticket in ’08. Speaking on CBS’ “The Early Show,” she responded to a question regarding the idea, saying, “That may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide who is on the top of ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me.” Obama doesn’t seem interested, however. Since Tuesday he has continued campaigning and attempting to show voters that Clinton is not the best candidate for the job, especially on foreign policy: “I ultimately think the American people are going to want a clear break from the Bush-Cheney foreign policies of the past because they haven’t made us more safe and more secure,” Obama said. “If she thinks that longevity in Washington is the primary criteria for winning the White House, then John McCain is going to beat her.”
The next Democratic contests are in Wyoming on Saturday and in Mississippi next Tuesday. The next delegate-rich contest is in Pennsylvania on April 22.
