McCain Consolidates the Lead
Vilas Nair
Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Politics
While recent primaries and campaign events have helped elucidate which candidate will receive the Republican nomination for the presidency, the Democratic race appears even more up for grabs. Following Barack Obama's momentum-building win in the South Carolina campaign, both Democrats and Republicans turned their sights south to Florida.
For both parties, Florida serves as a critical proving ground for candidates to show they can capture their party's confidence; Florida's closed primary system ensures that only registered party members can vote for candidates. Leading Republican candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney entered Florida hoping to capture the state's delegates. Rudy Giuliani, the only major candidate to forego campaigning most early primaries, hoped his campaign would gain momentum with a win in Florida. When the dust settled, however, strong support from Florida's Hispanic population helped propel McCain to a 36% to 31% victory over Romney according to CNN.
The Florida primaries showed that McCain could harness the Republican vote, contrary to perception that he relied heavily on independents and moderates to support him due to his maverick stances on issues like immigration and climate change. McCain's victory came as a blow to the Romney campaign - a series of wins for McCain in South Carolina and Florida mitigated any momentum Romney had coming out of a victory in Michigan. Also, McCain's string of victories made him the frontrunner in the Republican race while Romney is forced to play catch-up. While the close loss to McCain no doubt disappointed Romney, it signaled the death knell for Giuliani's campaign. For a campaign that pegged its White House aspirations on a dominant showing in Florida, a third place finish came as a staggering blow as many analysts predicted Giuliani would bow out of the race.
On the Democratic side, the Florida race paralleled the Michigan primary. Stripped of its delegates by the Democratic National Committee for moving its primaries forward, a victory in Florida served as more of a rallying point for a campaign than a battle won. Although all the Democratic candidates pledged not to campaign in Florida, the race was the last opportunity for candidates to gain momentum going into Super Tuesday on February 5th. John Edwards' sagging campaign could also have used a victory in Florida to boost fundraising efforts and re-fuel the campaign as the February 5th primaries approached. CNN reports that in a contest overshadowed by the Republican race, Hillary Clinton won Florida with 50% of votes compared with Obama's 33% and Edwards' 14%.
For both parties, Florida serves as a critical proving ground for candidates to show they can capture their party's confidence; Florida's closed primary system ensures that only registered party members can vote for candidates. Leading Republican candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney entered Florida hoping to capture the state's delegates. Rudy Giuliani, the only major candidate to forego campaigning most early primaries, hoped his campaign would gain momentum with a win in Florida. When the dust settled, however, strong support from Florida's Hispanic population helped propel McCain to a 36% to 31% victory over Romney according to CNN.
The Florida primaries showed that McCain could harness the Republican vote, contrary to perception that he relied heavily on independents and moderates to support him due to his maverick stances on issues like immigration and climate change. McCain's victory came as a blow to the Romney campaign - a series of wins for McCain in South Carolina and Florida mitigated any momentum Romney had coming out of a victory in Michigan. Also, McCain's string of victories made him the frontrunner in the Republican race while Romney is forced to play catch-up. While the close loss to McCain no doubt disappointed Romney, it signaled the death knell for Giuliani's campaign. For a campaign that pegged its White House aspirations on a dominant showing in Florida, a third place finish came as a staggering blow as many analysts predicted Giuliani would bow out of the race.
On the Democratic side, the Florida race paralleled the Michigan primary. Stripped of its delegates by the Democratic National Committee for moving its primaries forward, a victory in Florida served as more of a rallying point for a campaign than a battle won. Although all the Democratic candidates pledged not to campaign in Florida, the race was the last opportunity for candidates to gain momentum going into Super Tuesday on February 5th. John Edwards' sagging campaign could also have used a victory in Florida to boost fundraising efforts and re-fuel the campaign as the February 5th primaries approached. CNN reports that in a contest overshadowed by the Republican race, Hillary Clinton won Florida with 50% of votes compared with Obama's 33% and Edwards' 14%.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Dean Smith
posted 2/05/08 @ 6:46 PM EST
IMMIGRATION is the issue poised to scuttle the United States of America.
Allowing 20 million illiterate peasants to become voting citizens with access to welfare is going to shock even the Liberals when they get the bill! Mexicans, Hispanics, Chicanos, and Latinos are historically NOT self reliant. (Continued…)
OrdinaryAmerican
OrdinaryAmerican
posted 2/05/08 @ 6:49 PM EST
IMMIGRATION is the issue poised to scuttle the United States of America.
Allowing 20 million illiterate peasants to become voting citizens with access to welfare is going to shock even the Liberals when they get the bill! Mexicans, Hispanics, Chicanos, and Latinos are historically NOT self reliant. (Continued…)
Post a Comment