Rocked by the vote

Full disclosure: I admit I am not one who follows politics with the same zeal as some people. I get a fair amount of my political news from seeing it lampooned on The Daily Show. The most debate I tend to see is on the Bill Maher show.

However, even from that and the bits of "real" news I come across, I have noticed there are pundits who are claiming that having both Obama and Clinton still vying for the nomination while the Republicans have wrapped it up is destroying the Democratic party's chances for a victory in November. Having two viable candidates is apparently awful.

Having the preferences of the voters where the primary in their state comes later in the election year (at this point, thanks to a quick search: Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota—also, Guam and Puerto Rico) be factored into the decision made at the convention rather than simply be irrelevant (because one front-runner has already accumulated the requisite amount to capture the nomination before they get to vote) is tantamount to handing the general election to McCain. How dare the votes in the smaller states actually matter? How is that democratic?

And why is the lack of a presumptive nominee for the Democrats allowing the Republicans to have such an easy time of it? It seems because the public—oh, who are we kidding?—because the media can focus on him.

Of course, if the media cannot focus on only Clinton or only Obama, it would seem that neither can the Republicans. Lacking a specific opponent for their campaign conceivably doubles the effort that those trying to get McCain elected must put into trying to figure out how to slander—er, discredit—the other side. And somehow try to do without seeming either sexist or racist.

Yep, that's definitely a slam dunk for the GOP.

But hey, what do I know? I'm not on appearing on those Sunday morning shows on TV.

~

I find amusing the irony of California moving up its primary date to the so-called Super Tuesday because in the past, when generally a front-runner had emerged in both parties by its later date, the highest populated state was not a "player" in the game but then this year the game actually ran long, and had the date stayed what it used to be California (in June), it might be the key to the whole thing for the Democrats.

Instead, all the pundits are putting that on Pennsylvania. Or Indiana. Until those don't pan out, and then undoubtedly it will be on Oregon.

Personally, I hope it comes down to Guam. They have 9 delegates!