SUPER TUESDAY

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

Move over Monday Night Football , March Madness, Survivor and Dancing with the Stars ! It’s time for “Super Tuesday”! No, it’s not a sport, most times it’s not even “sporting”, but it’s a game of high stakes with only 4 major players remaining.

In the United States, “Super Tuesday” refers to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated. More delegates can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day of the primary calendar, and, accordingly, candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their party's nomination. In 2008, Super Tuesday was February 5; 24 states held primaries or caucuses on this date, with 52% of all pledged Democratic Party delegates and 41% of the total Republican Party delegates at stake. The 2012 Super Tuesday will be March 6, 2012. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Tuesday)

Since Super Tuesday primaries are held in a large number of states from geographically and socially diverse regions of the country, Super Tuesday typically represents a presidential candidate's first test of national electability. Convincing wins in Super Tuesday primaries have usually propelled candidates to their party's nomination. The particular states holding primaries on Super Tuesday have varied from year to year.

The “Survivors” on the Republican island are Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. On March 6^th, voters in 10 states will head to the polls for the busiest primary day so far.
The stakes are as high as they are clear. For Romney, coming off victories in Michigan and Arizona, the mission is to keep amassing more delegates than his rivals, and polls suggest he will win the most delegates on Super Tuesday.

Exit polls showed Michigan voters' top priority was the economy, a benefit to Romney, who has argued that he has stronger business credentials than Santorum, his chief rival. Romney's perceived electability against President Obama also persuaded some voters to choose the former Massachusetts governor over Santorum, polls showed.

Santorum needs to recover from some missteps that occurred earlier. Some controversial statements by the candidate on birth control and the separation of church and state have left mainstream Republicans concerned the former Pennsylvania senator is too far to the right to win in November. Ohio will be a key state for Santorum and is where he currently leads in the polls.

 Newt Gingrich still has an opportunity for yet another rebirth, partly because of Santorum’s missteps.GIngrich needs to show he remains a viable option, and he knows it. Speaking on Thursday at a campaign event, he acknowledged, "I have to win Georgia," his home state.

As for Ron Paul, he states that he’s pleased to be outperforming his 2008 results.  He has 18 in the latest Associated Press tally, which includes a projection of how many unpledged delegates he’ll collect from caucus states that have not awarded them yet.

 Super Tuesday will prove to be an interesting “challenge” for the Republican “survivors”!

Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008