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The Guilfordian

The student news site of Guilford College

The Guilfordian

The student news site of Guilford College

The Guilfordian

Clinton has clout, Obama has momentum

Last Tuesday was also Super Tuesday, and for me it was a night of revelry and copiously legal drinking at what amounted to a political rally in my own apartment. The screams of joy when CNN announced their projections, the anxious silence before winners were announced, and Brennan Aberle’s blood-curdling cry of agony when Hillary Clinton won California all made the night one to remember.The politics of Super Tuesday itself certainly weren’t a vivacious and convoluted affair, however.

While it was exciting, and most entertaining, there were only a few critical upsets, and very few surprises. Barack Obama won Georgia, Alabama, Kansas, North Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Alaska, Illinois, Colorado, Utah, Connecticut, and Delaware.

Hillary Clinton came out on top with wins in California, Arkansas, American Samoa, New Jersey, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Arizona, according to CNN.

The first major upset of the night was Obama’s win in Connecticut, as Hillary was expected to meet little resistance in that state. But what really surprised me was Obama’s win in Delaware. While Delaware doesn’t have as many delegates as other key states, it does have a very interesting property.

My own political guru, junior James Bartow, told me on Super Tuesday “whoever wins Delaware wins the White House. Delaware is usually a pretty good barometer of the country, politically.” It will remain to be seen whether or not the seventh most populated state really is a political barometer, as this race is far from over.

Clinton won big with her win in California which was a huge upset for Obama, after he campaigned hard there just prior to the super duper event, even snagging an endorsement from the Governator’s wife, Maria Shriver (who is also a Kennedy). And while Obama would seem the victor, having won more states than Clinton, he came out of Tuesday with 767 delegates versus Clinton’s total of 790.

Since Tuesday, Obama has been on fire, winning eight primaries in a row: Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington, the Virgin Islands, Maryland, Maine, Virginia, and D.C. Because of these wins, Obama is now ahead of Clinton in pledged delegates, 1215-1190 according to CNN. Clinton is still maintaining her edge over Obama in super-delegates, leading 223 to 131, which means that she can still pull through and trump the deck.

That’s right, now you don’t have to win over the people any more thanks to the Democratic Party’s introduction of super delegates this season. Super delegates are select party officials and important Democratic figures who are not required to make their vote public, and are free to change their mind at anytime, unlike the pledged delegates, who must vote for who won them in their state.

Regardless of how either candidate is doing, the fact that more people have gotten out the vote is a sign of the change that we all so desperately seek in our America. Only 5,000 Democrats voted in Idaho in the 2004 presidential election, but Obama won the state this year with 15,000, and in a primary no less. This past Tuesday, half a million people got out the vote for Obama in Virginia, and this is just a primary! Voting may seem like something that doesn’t change much, but it’s the way our government works, and if you want anything changed, you MUST vote. And in this election, there’s no reason not to.

If our life and liberty are under attack, if our happiness is made silent, if our voice is made feeble, we can only blame ourselves if we do not act against such things. So vote, don’t mope.

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