The Quirks Of Super Tuesday

(AP)  Super Tuesday may be a de facto national primary, but the outcome might not be as clear - or as timely - as results in most November elections.

Unlike general elections for public office, the goal in primaries and caucuses is to win delegates to the parties' national conventions this summer. The Democrats will have 1,681 delegates at stake on Tuesday, and the Republicans will have 1,023. But it might take days to find out who wins them all.

In California, where the largest batch of delegates is at stake, a record number of absentee ballots, voting machine changes and logistical headaches have left registrars worried that they will end election night with up to 2 million ballots still to be counted, about 22 percent of the expected vote.

Voters in a total of 24 states and American Samoa, as well as Democrats around the globe, will cast ballots on Tuesday. They will take part in a hodgepodge of primaries, caucuses, a state party convention and even Internet voting by Democrats living overseas.

Tiny American Samoa is determined not to get lost in the mix - even though it is six hours behind the East Coast and doesn't take part in the general election.

Party leaders scheduled their caucus for late morning in American Samoa so the results could be reported by early evening on the East Coast - before any state other than West Virginia. The caucus will yield only three delegates to the Democratic convention, but the results could come when the news organizations are hungry for results.

A total of 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the Democratic nomination; 1,191 are needed for the Republican nomination.

Other Democrats living overseas won't have their votes counted so soon. The Democrats Abroad, an organization sanctioned by the national party, will hold a global primary with voting by mail, fax and the Internet. Expatriates can also vote in person in more than 30 countries, at hotels in Australia and Costa Rica, at a pub in Ireland and at a Starbucks in Thailand.

The voting runs from Tuesday through Feb. 12 and will determine seven Democratic delegates. But the results might not be available for a week or more because they must be gathered in Geneva, where the chairwoman, Christine Schon Marques, lives.

The results in some states could be perplexing, given the way Democrats award delegates. The Democrats award delegates proportionally, based on vote counts statewide and in individual congressional districts.

In a close contest, the loser of the statewide vote could emerge with more delegates by winning congressional districts with an odd number of delegates. Such districts can reward a razor-thin margin of victory with a larger share of those delegates. A version that of already happened in Nevada last month.

Colorado is holding Republican and Democratic caucuses Tuesday, but does not expect to have the results broken down by congressional districts on election night. That means delegates awarded in individual districts - 21 for the Republicans and 36 for the Democrats - will not be awarded until the state parties provide the results.

Alabama is scheduled to hold its primary on Tuesday. But voters in two coastal counties - Baldwin and Mobile - already voted Wednesday because Super Tuesday is also Fat Tuesday, the last day of Mardi Gras.

Carnival is an official holiday in the two counties, so the local governments shut down. The votes cast on Wednesday have been sealed and will be counted with the others on Super Tuesday - or Fat Tuesday, depending on where you live.

[taotxzen]

Crime of the Century: Time for Congress to Act

Dave Lindorff

Who''s minding the store in Washington?

While President George W. Bush was standing before the members of Congress on January 28 laying out his plans, such as they are, for the final year of his second term in the White House, he was also seriously and perhaps fatally undermining the authority of Congress with a new signing statement, attached to the latest National Defense Authorization Act, in which he declared that he would simply violate or fail to comply with four provisions.

Let me say that again. The president states in writing that he is not going to obey and will not be bound by four parts of a law duly passed by the Congress.

Just so you know that we''re not talking about the naming of a bridge or a new ship, the four provisions of the act which the president is going to ignore are:

* the establishment of a commission to investigate contractor fraud in Afghanistan and Iraq

* the protection for whistleblowers who report contractor fraud from harassment or official retribution

* a requirement that U.S. intelligence agencies respond to Congressional requests for documents

* a ban on funding for any permanent military bases in Iraq, and on any actions that would seek to give the U.S. control over Iraq''s oil resources or oil
money.

Still think we are in Iraq to get the ''terist?''

[bdrlnt4rl]

BILL GATES PRESIDENT

[terrorislam6]

hey hip hop hussein!!!

tell your brothers and sisters to stop murdering non-muslims

typical of radical retarded fascist nazi terrorislamic jihadist slavers and murders

barack hussein obama(D-KENYA)

"You are all my brothers and sisters," Mr Obama told crowds of excited residents who craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the senator.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5290844.stm

One of Obama Jr''s great grandfathers (several generations back), "Owiny" was said to be a powerful leader of the Luo tribe, which moved into Kenya some 400 years ago.

Sarah Obama, a devout Muslim, was quoted telling Obama Jr. "What your grandfather respected was strength. Discipline. This is also why he rejected the Christian religion, I think. For a brief time he converted [to Christianity], and even changed his name to Johnson. But he could not understand such ideas as mercy towards your enemies, or that this man Jesus could wash away a man''s sins. To your grandfather, this was a foolish sentiment, something to comfort women. And so he converted to Islam-he thought its practices conformed more closely to his beliefs."
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan08/obama_lou%20tribe.htm

Kenya, Islam and Obama Hussein
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/01/obama-islam-and.html

[bdribus]

I refuse to vote for a media-annointed candidate. My vote goes to Huckabee.

[homealabama]

I keep hearing people say that McCain has the best chance of winning in November. History does not support that assumption. Conservatives are a large % of the voting block for Republicans. They DO NOT support McCain. Conservatives have proven that they will sit home if they do not like the nominee i.e. reelection of HW Bush and Dole. HW Bush and Dole look like saints next to the foul mouthed, vendictive traitor McCain. He may have an 80 something % lifetime conservative voting record but I would like to know what his voting record would be for the past 7 years since he got beat by Bush and took his vengence out on the Republican party.

[qstn-it-all]

I''m not a party line guy, but from the title I was hoping to learn how the two parties differ in handling this stage of the process. But no luck. A quick count and I came up with 14 mentions of democrat and 4 of republican. How do the republicans do it? Nowhere to be found. Pray tell, why doesn''t anybody who has the capacity to ask a question trust the mainstream media? Guess I''ll get my political information from YouTube.

[vet_sk]

Sorry, I can''t responsibly vote for anyone who voted for the war. If you would have seen what so many soldiers, Iraqis and journalists have seen up close and personal in Iraq, you wouldn''t either.

For Clinton to say that her vote was to be used to coerce is fully disingenuous. I remember October 2002 and knew then with that vote that we would be going to war in Iraq - taking out eyes off the ball in Afghanistan.

The weapons inspectors were in there. Saddam even gave them helicopters to go whereever they wanted to go. He just did not want them in their palaces. But with all the conventional wisdom of Washington they believed he was developing WMDs in the basements of the Palaces. What a bunch of BU.LL! If you believed that, please never sit on a jury.

[spinster2]

Obama Pastor UnGodly Remark: Natalee Holloway "Gets Drunk....Gives It Up"

http://www.gambling911.com/Obama-Pastor-Natalee-Holloway-Gives-It-Up-012808.html

[kaliveotin]

SLICK MITT, I don''t trust him. Theres something about his proven ability to throw people out on the street
and not worry about it, that bothers me. I cant get my fathers words out of my head, NEVER TRUST Anybody whos hair never moves. He would be easier for Hillary to beat though, and STILL no-one has brought up the book of Mormons version of Cain and Abel (blacks are inherantly evil and to be kept at bay, being of evil seed and banished by God.) It wouldn''t be so bad except that Romney said he believed in "ALL" the principle teachings of mormonism. He also said (on CNN last October) that it is not governments role to help people "just because they need help". Mormons help their own. If theyve been regularly paying the 10% tithe, but NEVER help anyone else, like the Catholic Charities, Gospel Missions and salvation army.

[pakaal]

It looks like McCain''s got the best chance - on the Republican side - of winning the nomination. Should be an interesting matchup. Wouldn''t want to be him facing either Hillary or Obama though.