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Barack Obama wins big in Virginia, DC, and Maryland; John McCain wins too

Barack Obama overtook Hillary Clinton’s delegate lead with three more wins (now eight in a row) and John McCain got his momentum back after winning the Virginia, Washington D.C., and Maryland primaries:

Obama’s wins in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia primaries propelled him past Sen. Hillary Clinton in the race for delegates. […]

Obama had led in pledged delegates, but Clinton had held the lead when superdelegates were factored in.

The Illinois senator has now won eight consecutive contests.

Despite regaining the delegate lead, the race on the Democratic side is far from over and may actually come down to a decision by the close to 800 superdelegates at the convention in August.

In the Republican primaries, John McCain rebounded after three losses last week to win against Mike Huckabee:

Huckabee continued to reemphasize his vow to stay in the race until a candidate reaches the required number of delegates to become the nominee.

Posted in Barack Obama, Democrat, GOP, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Republican | No Comments »

Rudy Giuliani Abandons White House Bid

Rudy Giuliani abandoned his White House bid Wednesday and endorsed John McCain after a lackluster showing in the Florida primary:

Rudy Giuliani, who sought to make the leap from New York mayor to the White House, bowed out of the Republican presidential contest Wednesday and endorsed front-runner and longtime friend John McCain.

“John McCain is the most qualified candidate to be the next commander in chief of the United States,” Giuliani said. “He’s an American hero.” […]

The endorsement joined two Republicans who had campaigned on similar themes that highlighted their national security credentials — McCain’s status as a Vietnam POW, war hero and a Senate voice on defense matters, and Giuliani as a stalwart New York mayor during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Giuliani, who was once considered the front-runner on the Republican side, skipped several early primary states and made Florida his make-or-break state, campaigning there for several weeks. His endorsement should be helpful to McCain.

Posted in GOP, John McCain, Republican, Rudy Giuliani | No Comments »

John Edwards drops out of race, encourages end to poverty

John Edwards decided to drop out of the Presidential race Wednesday, announcing a commitment to end poverty from both of his fellow Democratic presidential contenders:

Former Senator John Edwards, D-N.C., surrounded by his wife Elizabeth and his children, announced Wednesday his presidential bid has come to an end.

“It’s time for me to step aside so that history can blaze it’s path,” Edwards said, making his announcement against the backdrop of the Ninth Ward in New Orleans on the site of a Habitat for Humanity home-building project.

“I began my presidential campaign here to remind the country that we, as citizens, and as a government have a moral responsibility to each other,” he said. “We must do better if we want to live up to the great promise of this country that we all love so much.”

Edwards’ withdrawal from the race means that the delegates he has won thus far are up for grabs. And many political experts expect that his supporters and delegates will largely move to support Barack Obama, and not Hillary Clinton.

Edwards did not endorse any candidate in his withdrawal speech, although he has reportedly spoken to both camps regarding an endorsement.

Posted in Barack Obama, Democrat, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards | No Comments »

John McCain beats Mitt Romney in Florida Primary

John McCain beat Mitt Romney in the Republican winner-take-all delegates Florida primary Wednesday:

With 99 percent of Republican precincts reporting from Florida after Tuesday’s voting, McCain held a five-point lead, 36 percent to 31 percent, over Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani placed a distant third with 15 percent of the vote, followed closely by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who held 14 percent.

The results essentially put John McCain in the frontrunner position for the Republicans and essentially ended Rudy Giuliani’s campaign, after he made Florida his make-or-break state.

Democrats also voted, but the Democratic National Committee stripped the state of its delegates as a penalty because the state pushed their primary up before February 5th. The Democratic primary was largely referred to as a “beauty contest,” although that didn’t stop Hillary Clinton, who got 50% of the vote from celebrating her “victory”:

Posted in Barack Obama, Democrat, GOP, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Republican, Rudy Giuliani | No Comments »

Barack Obama responds to the State of the Union Address

Barack Obama responds to President Bush’s last State of the Union Address Monday night:

“Tonight, for the seventh long year, the American people heard a State of the Union that didn’t reflect the America we see and didn’t address the challenges we face. But what it did do was give an urgent reminder of why its so important to turn the page on the failed politics and policies of the past and change the staus quo in Washington so we can finally start to making progress for ordinary Americans.”

Check out BarackObama.com for the full text of the speech.

Posted in Barack Obama, Democrat, GOP, George W. Bush, Republican | No Comments »

Obama crushes Clinton in South Carolina Primary

Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary in a landslide over Hillary Clinton Saturday:

Sen. Barack Obama claimed a significant victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday, telling supporters “we are hungry for change.”

The Illinois senator earned more than twice the vote that rival Sen. Hillary Clinton did, 55 percent to 27 percent, unofficial returns showed.

Former Sen. John Edwards was third with 18 percent.

“Tonight, the cynics who believed that what began in the snows of Iowa was just an illusion were told a different story by the good people of South Carolina,” Obama said to supporters Saturday.

Obama referenced the “snows of Iowa”? Now who’s injecting race into this campaign? Geez, we already know Iowa is 94% white, Barack. Okay, we’re just kidding. We’re not going to discuss race here as the defining issue of the campaign, as some others have done.

All kidding aside, Obama won more than double the vote Clinton did, certainly giving him momentum (and the delegate lead) going into the humongous Super Tuesday contests in 24 states on February 5th.

Posted in Barack Obama, Democrat, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards | No Comments »

Dennis Kucinich drops out of Presidential Race

Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich is dropping out of the presidential race, according to an article in his hometown newspaper:

The Cleveland-area congressman is facing a primary challenge to his seat in the House from a number of Democrats, including Joe Cimperman, who has begun running an attack ad accusing Kucinich of being a “part-time congressman” and missing more than 300 votes in the House.

After being shut out of consecutive debates on CNN, ABC, and NBC, it seemed that the mainstream media had decided Kucinich was out of the race a long while ago.

And the FCC didn’t find itself having jurisdiction to do anything about the networks excluding Kucinich either.

For those of you who love supporting the underdog, don’t dismay, Mike Gravel is still officially running for President, at least according to his website.

And then there were 4…

Posted in Democrat, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel | No Comments »

Fred Thompson drops out of Presidential Race

Republican candidate Fred Thompson abandoned his bid for President today through a brief statement e-mailed from his campaign office:

In fittingly odd fashion, Thompson left the race through a brief statement e-mailed from his campaign office and said nothing publicly to the press or his supporters.

“Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States,” Thompson said in the message. “I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.”

Thompson’s exit, in many ways, was as idiosyncratic as his entrance. He kept his supporters and potential supporters waiting for months over the summer as he mulled whether and then when to get into the race.

His late entry and lackluster performance only served to suck the life out of the campaign in the time he was a part of it.

What none of us realized at the time was that Thompson not only negatively affected the presidential race with his long, boring speeches, but he was also sucked the life out of Law & Order, almost causing it’s cancellation last season.

Have you seen how improved the show is this season without him?

And then there were 5…

Posted in Fred Thompson, GOP, Republican | No Comments »

McCain edges out Huckabee to win South Carolina Primary

John McCain beat out Mike Huckabee by a three point margin to win the South Carolina Primary Saturday:

With 94 percent of the electoral precincts reporting, Mr. McCain had 33 percent of the vote, Mr. Huckabee 30 percent, Fred D. Thompson 16 percent, and Mr. Romney 15 percent.

McCain’s victory in South Carolina is even more amazing considering his loss there eight years ago to George W. Bush ended his presidential race.

Next up is Florida…

Posted in Fred Thompson, GOP, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Republican | No Comments »

Duncan Hunter drops out of Presidential Race

Republican candidate Duncan Hunter abandoned his presidential bid shortly after finishing in last place in the Nevada Caucus:

“The Nevada caucuses reflecting only 2 percent of the vote for me,” he said. “I ran the campaign exactly the way I wanted to, and at this point not being able to gain traction in conservative states of Nevada and South Carolina, it’s time to allow our volunteers and supporters to focus on the campaigns that remain viable.”

Hunter’s campaign never really connected to voters, despite the candidate’s strong anti-immigration stance.

And then there were 6…

Posted in Duncan Hunter, GOP, Republican | No Comments »