COLORADO SHOOTING: WHO IS TO BLAME?

                            Marion Pellicano Ambrose

Ever since the first word of the tragic shooting at the Colorado theater hit the air, conservatives and liberals have been pointing fingers and crying “their fault”.

ABC News was just itching for a right wing connection, so they found one of the many people named “James Holmes” in the Denver area who happens to have a Tea Party connection even though they didn’t know for sure if it was the murderer. Here’s the conversation:

Stephanolpoulos: I’m going to go to Brian Ross. You’ve been investigating the background of Jim Holmes here. You found something that might be significant.

Ross: There’s a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year. Now, we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it’s Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.

Stephanolpoulos: Okay, we’ll keep looking at that. Brian Ross, thanks very much.

Of course, it was a middle aged different “James Holmes” which ABC must have known, but they couldn’t resist taking the shot.

Conservatives have jumped on the band wagon saying that the liberal media have allowed violent, dark movies like Batman to mentally damage young people like James Holmes, and that’s what caused him to go on his shooting spree.  While I have to  agree that movies are way too violent and filled with sex and deviant behavior these days, I don’t think that was the single ,deciding factor that made this man murder 12 people and injure many more.

 As I switched from channel to channel, I heard about the need for gun control and how NRA was to blame for the tragedy, how the school system has let society down and caused the situation, how parents have failed in raising their children. There were so many fingers pointing I couldn’t keep track of who was blaming who! (or is that whom?)

Anyway, I finally saw one person on TV who was making perfect sense. He wasn’t pointing a finger or placing blame, although more than almost anyone, he had that right. He was the boyfriend of Jessica Ghawi, an aspiring young sportscaster who was killed in the theater shooting. When the reporter attempted to have him take a stand on the gun control issue, he refused and said all he wanted was for everyone to concentrate on the victims, on Jessica. He’s right. This isn’t a time for politics.  As both President Obama and Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney stated, this is a time for prayer and reflection. They both had the good sense and sensitivity to put politics aside to mourn for the dead and comfort their families and the injured.

Perhaps in a few days, we can talk about gun control, violence in movies, and all the rest. But not today, today is for remembering.

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

FLORIDA VOTES: PRIMARY DAY IN KEY STATE

OK Florida, it's your turn! GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!
Mitt Romney will be campaigning in the Tampa area today and will be at the Tampa Convention Center when the polls close tonight. Newt Gingrich will spend primary day in the Central Florida area, waiting out the results at the Rosen Center in Orlando. Each of the candidates is confident and predicting that he will take Florida.

Florida is a crucial state in this primary, as in every Presidential year. Every four years, U.S. citizens elect a new president. And every four years, candidates, the news media and political consultants head for Florida. Florida is perennially important in presidential politics because of its large number of votes in the Electoral College, and because the voters in the state, at least in recent memory, are sharply divided.

"Electoral College

•      The Electoral College isn't an institution of higher learning.
  

  U.S. presidential races are decided by the Electoral College. Each state has electors to the college based on the number of representatives it sends to the Senate and House of Representatives. There are 100 senators, two for each state; 435 members of Congress, apportioned according to population; and three electors from the District of Columbia for a total of 538. Candidates need 270 votes in the Electoral College to win.

Winner Takes All

•      You don't get any points for coming in second in softball.
  

  In 48 states, the candidate with the most votes wins all of that state's votes in the Electoral College. Two states, Nebraska and Maine, send select electors according to votes in the Congressional district. Florida, with 27 Electoral College votes, contains 10 percent of the winning total.

Swing States

•       Some states are red states.north carolina .
  

  Many states vote reliably for one party or the other. Utah, for example, is reliably Republican. New Jersey votes predominantly for Democratic Party candidates. Florida is not one of those states. It has, historically, been a swing state. According to 270toWin, "influxes of Cubans, retirees, service workers to the theme park economy booming near Orlando and other groups have resulted in a state much more diversified -- both economically and politically -- than many of its southern brethren." As a result, although still leaning slightly Republican, Florida is today seen as perhaps the ultimate swing state, with its population a microcosm of the country as a whole. Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan are also considered swing states. Florida, however, is the largest swing state. It trails California, which has trended Democrat in recent years and has 55 Electoral College votes; Texas, with 34 votes and mostly Republican; and New York, with 31 votes.

Electoral Math

•       Any way you count it, it must get to 270.
• A credible presidential candidate must find a way to come up with 270 votes. Both sides typically start with a batch of states widely considered to be safest for its candidate. Then, the candidates use polls to tally which "lean" toward their candidate--states that aren't a sure thing, but can be won with minimal effort. Next are the toss-up states, which require more significant investment. The math, according to one Los Angeles Times article, can sometimes fill a classroom blackboard. But in the end, a handful of states are truly contested. These are the swing states."

http://www.ehow.com/about_6603394_florida-important-presidential-elections_.html