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What is a Primary Election?

The United States’ primary presidential elections, which are used to whittle down all of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to 2, are occurring earlier than ever this year. Why? In the past, states like New Hampshire and Iowa held the first primary elections, the outcomes of which heavily influenced voters in other states. While states like Florida, Michigan, and Wyoming have joined New Hampshire and Iowa in having early primaries, at least 24 states are having theirs tomorrow, on “Super Tuesday”, February 5th.

The current leaders as determined by the delegate votes given to each candidate from primaries that have already taken place are: Hilary Clinton with 232 votes, and Barack Obama with 158 votes on the Democratic side. For the Republicans, John McCain is leading by a hair with 97 votes, and Mitt Romney follows with 92.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Mitt Romney on Abortion

According to the very important and controversial 1973 Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade, a woman has a right to have an abortion up until her fetus is viable. The age at which this occurs is set at 7 months, but could occur as soon as 24 weeks. Hillary Clinton wishes to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. Barack Obama would not allow any constitutional amendment that would overturn Roe v. Wade. John McCain and Mitt Romney voted for the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, which prohibits abortion in the second trimester, between 18 and 26 weeks. They both believe Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Mitt Romney thinks abortion should be an issue at the state and federal level.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Mitt Romney on the Economy

So what does your favorite presidential candidate have planned to save the American economy from a recession?

Republicans:
John McCain, like President Bush, would lower the corporate tax rate in an effort to help corporate growth, from 35 to 25 percent. His focus is primarily corporate.

Mitt Romney also wants to cut corporate taxes. He also has proposed to make middle-class savings tax-free and to cut taxes for all Americans. He would not increase social security taxes.

Democrats:
Hillary Clinton wants a $30 billion emergency housing fund that would help alleviate the effects of foreclosures on states. She also wants funds to help families with high heating bills, funds for unemployment insurance, and funds for alternative energy investments.

Barack Obama wants tax cuts for working families, seniors, homeowners, and the unemployed, $45 billion in reserves that could be quickly injected into the economy if need be, and a social security bonus for seniors. He would also expand unemployment insurance.

Clinton and Obama Tied in New Poll

Besides an overwhelming victory in South Carolina’s primary, Barack Obama is also catching Clinton in the race to become President for another reason: his Kennedy family endorsements. (And maybe Oprah’s endorsement has something to do with it as well.) Senator Edward Kennedy and his nieces Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and Maria Shriver have all publicly endorsed Barack Obama. While Hillary Clinton has a Kennedy following as well, with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Bobby Kennedy, and Kathleen’s sister Kerry all behind Clinton, the endorsements aren’t having as much of a visible effect on Clinton’s campaign.

John McCain came out in this poll as the overwhelming leader in the Republican race, with the backing of 44 percent of registered Republican voters vs. Mitt Romney’s 29 percent.

McCain vs. Romney: Who is More Conservative?

Mitt Romney is getting antsy. He’s now concentrating all of his efforts on exposing McCain for being a moderate Republican, something Romney believes the party does not want. With Super Tuesday coming up, the heat is on and the two men are focusing their campaign efforts on California, where Romney dumped a large chunk of his advertising money.

McCain retorted by highlighting that he has long been in favor of cutting federal spending and is a huge proponent of fighting Islamic extremism. “So I’m proud of my record in the Senate as a staunch conservative,” says McCain. McCain does not, however, want to alienate the indepentent and moderate Republicans. He will be in San Diego tomorrow while Romney will hold a rally in California tonight. The heat is on!

Super Tuesday: Obama Wins Georgia

Barack Obama took Georgia and American Samoa in today’s Super Tuesday primary elections. Even though Obama seems to be doing best today, the margin between him and Hillary Clinton may wind up being quite minuscule by the day’s end. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, said he’ll consider Tuesday a win if Obama finishes within 100 delegates of Clinton. Clinton used to be doing amazing well among female voters is starting to watch her votes split. So don’t loose any sleep tonight staying up until all the votes are in. We may not know any more about who our Democratic candidate will be after today than we already do. McCain, however, looks like the clear Republican front runner.

Super Tuesday: McCain Reigns, Clinton and Obama Continue Battle

McCain has taken a huge lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The real battle still remains between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Both are setting precedents; if Hillary were to win the presidential election, she would be the first female president. If Obama won, he’d be the first black president. The heat is on and the battle is far from won. Late last night, it was calculated that Hillary had a 117-vote lead. Two more big days are coming up for these two presidential hopefuls. On Saturday, the contests continue in Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington state. And on February 12, primaries will be held in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. It’s still anyone’s game and the most exciting presidential primaries in recent U.S. history continue.

John McCain Will Not Balance Ticket

Senator John McCain addressed many topics today, including the war in Iraq, and whom he would consider as a running mate. McCain made it clear he thinks the days of ticket balancing are over. Some people thought he might ask Mike Huckabee to be his Vice Presidential nominee in order to gain favor in the South. McCain replied, “From a practical standpoint, I think former President Clinton and Vice President Gore showed us you don't have to be regionally different. I think America is such that, quote, regional differences don't play the role that maybe they did in earlier times.” McCain also made it clear that he is in favor of keeping military force in Iraq, in perhaps what was a first step to appeasing conservatives skeptical of McCain’s right-wing politics.

Obama leads McCain in AP Poll

Barack Obama may win the election if he winds up pitted against Republican front runner John McCain. But only by 6%. Hillary Clinton vs. McCain would provide a draw—with Clinton winning 46% of potential voters, and McCain winning 45%. The poll, taken today by the Associated Press-Isos, also shows Clinton trailing Obama by 5% in the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee: Obama got 46% of the vote to Hillary Clinton’s 41%.

It is still a ridiculously tight race on the Democratic side and may be months until a clear winner steps forth.

The survey was conducted February 7th-10th by telephone interviews with 1,029 adults. 520 Democrats were polled, and 357 Republicans were polled. The survey had an overall margin of sampling error of +/- 3.1%.

Obama Looks To Va, Md, DC to Keep Winning Streak

Will Barack Obama keep his upswing in electoral votes flowing? With 3 primaries being held in mid-Atlantic states today, statistics say yes. With heavy black and well-educated demographics, groups that Obama has tended to take away from Hillary Clinton, the Virginia, D.C., and Maryland primaries might just be Obama’s for the taking.

Going into today’s contests, Clinton has a very slim lead on Obama, with 1,147 delegates to Obama’s 1,124. 2,025 delegates are needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination. On the Republican side, John McCain lost to Huckabee in the Kansas and Louisiana contests, and is working hard to reinforce his position as probable Republican presidential nominee.

Hillary Clinton Gets Down and Dirty

Hillary Clinton is getting her game face on as her race against Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination steams on. The two have been neck and neck since the beginning, with each winning several primaries, and nothing making one candidate more likely to win the nomination than the other. Hillary Clinton is now using the stance that she’s all about solutions, while Obama is making empty promises. She refuses to seem discouraged in the face of Obama’s recent primary wins, saying “I want to congratulate Senator Obama on his recent victories and tell him to meet me in Texas, we’re ready.” Bravado? Is Hillary just trying to keep a stiff upper lip, or is she really ready to face Obama, who has a 26-delegate lead over Clinton today, after yesterday’s primaries? Only time will tell.

Mitt Romney Endorses John McCain

John McCain looks like he’s nabbed the Republican presidential nomination a full 9 months before the general election takes place in November. With the support of his one-time rival, Mitt Romney, McCain looks to gain 280 more delegates, which will put him awfully close to the 1,191 he needs to be the decisive victor in the race to become the Republican nominee for president.

Romney’s decision to endorse McCain can’t be taken lightly, as it is widely known that neither man particularly likes the other. They had a bitter rivalry, in which Romney accused McCain of being outside the conservative mainstream. McCain fought back, claiming Romney equivocated on several important issues, and that Romney seemed perfectly willing to change his stance on several issues to fit his political goals.

Obama Endorsed by SIEU

Things are turning up rosy for Barack Obama lately, with the endorsement of 2 large worker’s unions in 2 days. What do these endorsements mean for the Democratic presidential hopeful? These endorsements signify a chance for Barack Obama to increase support for his campaign in states that are holding primary elections in the next few weeks, like Ohio and Texas, whose primaries are on March 4th, and Pennsylvania, whose primary takes place on April 22nd.

69,000 of the United Food and Commercial Workers live in Ohio, with another 26,000 in Texas. They also have 19,000 members in Wisconsin, whose primary is on Tuesday. With a very young average member age, the UFCW and Service Employees International Union’s support also solidifies what we’ve known for some time: Obama is doing incredibly well among young voters.

Obama and Clinton Face Off in Wisconsin and Hawaii

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama seem to be reaching a greater divide than they showed a few weeks ago. Obama went for his 9th straight win yesterday, with the Wisconsin and Hawaii primaries. Obama started out yesterday with 1,281 delegates, and Clinton with 1,218. Wisconsin offered 74 delegates while Hawaii, where Obama spent much of his life as a young boy, offered 20. 2,025 delegates are needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s national convention in Denver. It’s still a close race, but Obama’s winning streak may influence voters in upcoming primaries.

McCain Goes After Obama

McCain is now beginning to focus his campaign efforts on Barack Obama, assuming, perhaps, that he and Obama will be pitted against each other in the general election. His first attack on Senator Obama? McCain says he’s naïve when it comes to national security, an issue no Americans take lightly in this post-9/11 era. It seems nobody could hold a candle to Senator McCain’s experience defending our country; he was a formar navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war. Almost anyone would seem inexperienced pitted against the 71-year old presidential hopeful.

Obama has been openly opposed to the Iraq war, and has fought back through his foreign policy advisor, Susan Rice, who stated that experience hasn’t helped current Republican policy members in defending our nation, and that McCain as president would be like “4 more years of George Bush”.

Is Hillary Clinton Done For?

It took an entire hour of debating last night for Hillary Clinton to make a single attack on Barack Obama. And when she did, it hardly helped her campaign gain momentum; she attacked Obama for plagiarism, eliciting boos and moans from the audience. So far, Obama has 11 contests in a row. If he wins Ohio and Texas, next up in the race for delegates on March 4th, it could be the end of Hillary. It seems like the two candidates, who, as Obama said, were “friends before this campaign started, and will be friends afterward” agreed to never disagree, leaving voters on the fence in a pickle, as the only difference that seemed to be presented last night was that one candidate is a man and the other a woman.

Hillary Clinton Lies About Trip To Bosnia

Trying to make herself sound like an experienced and courageous diplomat, Hillary Clinton recently claimed that she had to "dodge sniper fire" when she visited war-torn Bosnia during her husband's presidency. Video footage uncovered soon after she made this statement clearly shows that she lied; the video shows Hillary calmly getting off the plane and being greeted by a little girl with flowers.

Clinton Criticizes Proposed Fed Overhaul

Hillary Clinton has focused on the nation's economic woes in appearances in Pennsylvania and other states holding primaries in coming weeks, trying to persuade voters that she is better prepared to tackle economic challenges than rival Barack Obama and Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain.

The former first lady pledged as president to offer $100 billion in tax cuts for middle class families to pay for health care, education and other costs. Among other things, she proposed a $3,000 tax credit to help pay for the care of an elderly parent or a disabled child, and said she would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to make it available to a broader range of low-income workers.

McCain Raises $15 Million in March

The amount was confirmed to The Associated Press by two campaign officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the numbers haven't been made public.

Clinton Reaches For PA. Win

Hillary Clinton made her closing arguments Monday for the biggest primary left on the election schedule, running an ad with historic images to ask voters whom they would trust most in the White House during a time of trouble. It's the same tactic she used successfully in the "3 a.m." ad she aired in the closing days of the Ohio and Texas contests last month.

Clinton Fights On... Superdelegate Time

Clinton needs to convince superdelegates that she'd be a better matchup against Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee.

Clinton Wins Large in West Virginia

Interviews with West Virginians leaving their polling places suggested Clinton's victory could be as overwhelming as any she has gained to date, delivered by an overwhelmingly white electorate comprised of the kinds of voters who favored her in past primaries. Nearly a quarter were 60 or older, and a similar number had no education beyond high school. More than half were in families with incomes of $50,000 or less.

Clinton wins Kentucky Democratic Party

Kentucky had one of the least liberal electorates of 33 competitive Democratic primaries that had exit polls this year — only about a third of voters claimed that label. In contrast, Oregon was among the most liberal, with close to six in 10 voters in the state's Democratic balloting taking that designation. In most primaries to date, Clinton has done better with more conservative voters, Obama with those who are more liberal.

Obama claims nomination; is Clinton seeking VP spot?

Clinton's comments raised anew the prospect of what many Democrats have called a "Dream Ticket" that would put a black man and a woman on the same ballot, but Obama's aides were noncommittal. "We're not in the presidential phase here. We're going to close out the nominating fight and then we'll consider that," David Axelrod, Obama's top strategist, told reporters aboard the candidate's plane en route to Minnesota.

NBC's Tim Russert Dies at 58

Tim Russert was NBC's Washington bureau chief.

President Bush, informed of Russert's death while at dinner in Paris, saluted him as "a tough and hardworking newsman. He was always well-informed and thorough in his interviews. And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it."