primaries

Super Tuesday

Fandango15 Comments

In the United States this coming Tuesday is what is known as “Super Tuesday.” It’s a day that 15 states plus American Samoa hold their primary elections. In addition to my home state of California, these other states are having their primaries: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.

Super Tuesday earned its nickname because its the date the most states hold their primaries and caucuses, meaning it’s also when the most delegates are at stake to earn the party presidential nominations, which are announced at the respective political party conventions in July and August.

In the past, Super Tuesday is the day that is seen to most accurately forecast how the presidential primaries will play out. Every four years, the contest is when millions of Americans in a wide swath of states head to their polling places.

But this year, we already know that the Democratic presidential nominee will be the incumbent president, Joe Biden, and his vice presidential nominee will be the incumbent vice president, Kamala Harris.

We also already know that the Republican presidential nominee will unfortunately be Donald Trump, but his running mate is yet to be determined. So this year’s Super Tuesday event is not going to have the impact on the presidential election that Super Tuesdays have had in the past.

Every registered California voter automatically receives election ballots in the mail. My wife and I completed our mail-in ballots yesterday and we’ll be dropping them off today in official ballot drop boxes.

Because there is not much at stake in these primaries this year, at least at the presidential level, primary voter turnout is expected to be low. But there are also primaries in most of these states for seats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives as well as for statewide, countywide, and local elections, which is what prompted my wife and me to get it done and drop them off to be counted.

Anyway, if you happen to live in a Super Tuesday state, I encourage you to get out and vote. Because even though the presidential contenders may be a foregone conclusion, who wins the other state and local primaries could have a major impact on your quality of life starting on January 20th of 2025.

Iowa Caucuses — What, Me Worry?

Fandango43 Comments

Am I worried that, in the Iowa caucus, the kickoff event for the 2024 presidential primaries, Trump won 51% of the votes, handily beating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley? Yes and no.

Iowa is largely a white and conservative state and is not entirely representative of the U.S. population. And the Iowa caucus hasn’t always gone on to be the best predictor of who will be the party’s nominee, even less so at predicting who will win the presidency. So there’s that.

The next contest is the New Hampshire primary on January 23rd, followed by four primaries and two caucuses in February. But the big day is March 5th, known as Super Tuesday, where 16 states, including my home state of California, are having primaries or caucuses.

By the way, in case you were wondering what the difference between a primary and a caucus is, here is your answer:

Most states hold primaries 6-9 months before a presidential election. Primary voters choose their preferred candidate anonymously by casting secret ballots, either in person or, in some states, by mail-in ballots. The state where the primary is held takes the results of the vote into account to award delegates to the winners.

Several states hold caucuses in the months leading up to a presidential election. Caucuses are in-person meetings run by political parties that are held at the county, district, or precinct level. Some caucuses choose candidates by secret ballot. Others require participants to divide themselves into groups according to the candidate they support. Undecided participants form their own group. Each candidate’s group gives speeches and tries to get others to join their group. At the end, the number of delegates given to each candidate is based on the number of caucus votes they received.

So even though the Iowa caucus is close to meaningless, I am worried that more than half of the Republican caucus voters in that state stood with Trump. In the first chance Americans had to cast judgment on Trump since he tried to overthrow an election by inciting a siege of the U.S. Capitol Building, and has been charged with 91 felonies in four criminal cases this past year, most Iowa Republicans made clear that they don’t judge Trump. They love him.

If this Svengali-like spell he has over Republican voters continues (or strengthens) through primary season, and if Trump doesn’t either get convicted and sent to jail or die between now and November 5th, I don’t see how he loses to Biden again. And then it’s all over but the shouting for democracy in America.

One-Liner Wednesday — Fighting Cannibalism

Fandango11 Comments

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“The difference between liberals and cannibals is that cannibals only eat their enemies.”

Former United States President Lyndon B. Johnson

There are now twenty Democrats competing for the Democratic nomination to run against Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Well, 19 Democrats and Bernie Sanders, who is technically an Independent.

But the big question is whether the Democrats, who range from socialists to progressives to moderates and from pro-impeachment to no-impeachment, will not tear one another apart in their efforts to differentiate themselves from each other in order to prevail through next year’s primaries and to secure the Democratic nomination.

Personally, I don’t care that much about which one of the twenty rises to the top. I would vote for any one of them over Trump.

Written for this week’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt from Linda G. Hill.

Yet Another Totally Crazy Thing Donald Trump Said

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839FE8D6-5E15-49FC-A2BA-D6990A8CCACE“If I did one mistake with Comey, I should have fired him before I got here. I should have fired him the day I won the primaries,” Donald Trump said in an interview with The Hill on Tuesday. “I should have fired him right after the convention, say I don’t want that guy.”

Of course, a presidential candidate, after winning the primaries and getting his party’s nomination at the convention, is not in a position to fire the sitting FBI Director. Or, for that matter, anyone in the then current president’s cabinet or administration.

Perhaps he realized the absurdity of what he said, because he then said, “Or at least fired him the first day on the job. I would have been better off firing him or putting out a statement that I don’t want him there when I get there.”

It’s hard to believe that this idiot is the President of the United States. Every time he opens his mouth, he demonstrates how incompetent he really is.

And to those who don’t recognize that and who still unquestionably support him, all I can say is that you are delusional.