The Democrats duke it out in South Carolina primary tomorrow and then the Florida primary comes three days later when both parties will surely only have three candidates alive (though a couple barely breathing) for the Super Tuesday sweepstakes. The new primary format had been set so that both parties could choose a candidate by February 5th. We"re now ten days out and it looks like neither party will have given enough votes to a candidate to wrap it up.
In Super Tuesday, more than 20 states will go to the polls on the biggest day of the primary campaign, and thousands of delegates will be at stake. The race for delegates is so close in both parties that it is mathematically impossible for any candidate to lock up the nomination on Feb. 5. The second round of big, delegate-rich states such as Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania are definitely now looking to play a much larger. But, could both parties see something that"s not been seen in a long long time?
Could both convetions see brokered condition.
Hillary Clinton leads the race for delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer. She has 236, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as super delegates, giving her a 100-delegate lead over Sen. Barack Obama who is gaining popularity.
There will be nearly 1,700 Democratic delegates at stake on Feb. 5, enough to put a candidate well on his or her way to the 2,025 needed to secure the nomination. But even if somehow either Clinton or Obama won every single one of those delegates, it wouldn"t be enough. And with two strong candidates, the delegates could be divided fairly evenly because the Democrats award their delegates proportionally.
So, watch for both candidates to criss-cross the nation in the next ten days going to states where they feel they have the best chance and leaving the other states to whatever amount of advertising dollars that are available.
The biggest prizes among the Democratic states are California (370 delegates), New York (232) and Illinois (153). All three states award Democratic delegates proportionally, with most delegates awarded according to the popular vote in individual congressional districts, and the rest based on the statewide vote. Barack Obama"s growing popularity is making things more difficult for Hillary to gain a major advantage.
The Republicans have a better chance to produce a clear front-runner because several states, including New York, New Jersey, Missouri and Arizona, award all their GOP delegates to the candidate who wins the popular statewide vote. But a Republican candidate would have to attract support across the country to build a formidable lead.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the race for delegates to the Republican National Convention with 59. He is followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 40 and Arizona Sen. John McCain with 36. There will be more than 1,000 Republican delegates at stake on Feb. 5, enough to give a candidate a substantial boost toward the 1,191 needed to win the nomination - but only if one man emerges victorious in numerous states.
So when all the hype of Super Tuesday has come and gone, we"ll then get down to the really nasty and dirty work of political campaigning.