As we all know, the race to find out who will be battling for the White House is well under way. I have watched primaries and elections before but never have I followed any as closely as I am now. Everyday I make sure that I check certain websites to see if there have been any updates regarding either the Republican or Democratic races. I check to see if there are any new article, when the primaries are, the voting results of different caucuses and primaries, etc.
I will say that I am a conservative Republican simply because I do not support the Democratic platform (I will get into that in later blogs) but that one thing that the Democrats are doing right in these primaris is dividing the delegates based on voting percentages. The Republicans have a lot to learn in that area.
For example: Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucus. What happens to the delegates? They're split up. What happens when Mike Huckabee loses the state of Missouri by less than 1.5% (http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/missouri/)? He gets nothing. Yes, it is true that I support Gov. Huckabee but fair is still fair. Winner-takes-all and delegate divisions should not be happening.
There was also the incident in Washington state where GOP State Party Chairman Luke Esser called the race for Sen. John McCain and stopped the voting leaving approximately 1,500 votes uncounted. I believe that Mike Huckabee was right in challenging that - all the votes get counted fairly and accurately no matter what.
Louisiana was another problem. Apparently, a candidate could not receive any delegates unless that candidate earned fifty percent or more of the vote. So Mike Huckabee won there, too, but walked away with nothing.
I do not believe that this is right. In fact, I believe it's just one more for ensuring that favored candidates are able to win. For example, Rudy Giuliani was expected to do very well in New Jersey so the GOP there changed it to winner-take-all. Now I am unsure of where I first read this so I am not quite sure whether it is fact or not.
Finally, I think it is grossly unfair that some states are allowing seventeen year olds to vote as long as they are eighteen before the general election. What about me? I'll be eighteen in September but my state didn't allow me to vote in the primary. This is unfair as well.
I believe that in order for a candidate to be selected, it must be done fairly - isn't fairess something that everyone desires? Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama are running a tight race that will end at the party convention and ultimately be decided by the superdelegates (which I don't agree with either). On the Republican side, I'm still hoping that Gov. Huckabee will keep Sen. John McCain from reaching the 1,091 delegates needed to seal the nomination. I believe that the race would be much different if the government officials played by their own rules which they are obviously not.
So what will happen? I don't know. Nobody knows. I can only put my faith in the hope and prayer that future party leaders will see the error of this biased system and do something to change it.
