I just watched a live feed of the GOP convention and Kanawha County (Delegates) voted:
Mike Huckabee - 28
John McCain - 0
Mitt Romney - 45
Mike Huckabee - 567
John McCain - 12
Mitt Romney - 521
UPDATE II:
An online straw poll aimed to give West Virginian's a voice has been set up.
Voting began at 3:00 pm January 27th and will end at 7:30 p.m. February 5th. Check it out.
UPDATE:
An astute fellow blogger posted the clarification for me in the comments concerning Tuesday's WV primary. Rather, a GOP convention is happening Tuesday, which will pick up some delegates for the Republicans. But no voting. I still think this delegate/primary issue begs the question of sanity and sensibility. And we shouldn't be swayed from letting our voices be heard - especially when it's the majority!
In Florida, the Democratic Party opted out of Jan. 29th's primary as a punishment to Florida lawmakers for violating the schedule they had originally set - which was supposed to be in March instead of January.
From what I am understanding about this completely insane way our country votes, West Virginia is included in next week's Super Tuesday
Simply look at what happened last night in Florida. Hillary got ZERO delegates, yet over a million people voted for her. About half of that voted for Obama.
As always, digby says it much better:
My point is that actual human beings voted today. If it is inappropriate for Clinton to declare victory it's also damned inappropriate for every gasbag on television to say that all these votes are completely meaningless. They may not add to the delegate count, but they were cast in good faith by American citizens and they should be treated with respect by these jackasses.
More people showed up to vote in Florida for Democratic candidates than previous states so far. That's more than double the people that voted in 2004. And about double the people have been showing up to vote for Democrats instead of Republicans in each of the 2008 primaries thus far. That's a significant margin and it is setting a precedent for this election.
Regardless of the delegate issue, there's no way in hell a Democrat is going to win office unless we the people continue to get out and vote in such large numbers, and by such large margins against the Republicans. I have absolutely no idea if Hillary or Obama can beat McCain. National head-to-head polls show that Obama can beat McCain slightly easier than Hillary but at this point it's still anybody's game. Except it's the Democratic's game now. Look at any poll or survey (or common sense) and the majority of American's want a Democrat in office. The media can continue to play the personality game, but on issues alone (as it should be), we're completely over this Republican rule.
As long as the margin is large enough, there's no way Republicans can realisticly steal this election again. In the upcoming November election, exit polls, which have been historically accurate, will show an amazing turnout for Democrats, yet the media will show only a slight lead over McCain. Trust me, I asked Dionne Warwick about this too and she's hardly ever wrong.
If McCain or Romney get into office you will all know this whole election process was a farce. How can they possibly win when more than double of the voters are turning to Democrats?
In the first four contests in which both parties have competed, the Democrats have set records for turnout and substantially exceeded the Republican showing, according to state parties and state election tallies.
In South Carolina on Saturday, for example, more than 530,000 Democrats voted, nearly twice the Democratic turnout of 2004, and nearly 20 percent higher than the Republican vote the week before.
Other indicators of an enthusiasm gap show up in polls, with more Democrats than Republicans reporting excitement about voting this year and a strong commitment to their candidate, according to recent New York Times/CBS News polls. Democratic presidential candidates have also regularly out-raised the Republicans in campaign cash.
Republican Party analysts are already preempting to explain away the huge turnout, saying Democrats will be more divided if their man/woman doesn't get the nomination. I simply disagree with that baseless assumption. Although we do need to be united, the Bush years have left such a bad taste in people's mouths that, in the end, just about *any* Democrat will suffice.
NOTE:
Polls are now showing McCain beating both Hillary and Obama. Jeez, if more than twice as many Democrats are showing up to vote in every single state so far, how can these polls seriously be accurate? Granted, not every state has been included, yet with these kinds of huge margins among voters, the polls are at the very least suspect.
In other slightly unrelated news, I found it ironic that Maya Angelou is supporting the woman despite her protege Oprah backing Obama. heh
4 comments:
Actually, as I understand it, nobody in WV will be voting on Tuesday. The WV primary is still in May. The state GOP has some sort of convention on Tuesday that will allocate some delegates, but not all - with the rest allocated in the May primary. It seems like a way to move WV up in the calendar without moving the whole primary.
That doesn't make it any more sensible, however.
Thanks for the clarification JDB!
That's what I was confused about. First I was told that we were voting on Tuesday (by someone who doesn't even live in this state - ha!) and then another close friend who works for the county said he didn't get off that day so it can't be.
But still, like you said, there will be some delegates to gain for the Republicans on Tuesday. But it's this whole weird way delegates are even allocated in the first place that makes the election system so screwy....and me so confused. :)
I'm not sure if I should be laughing about this or not...
Well done. you are doing good job
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