Sunday, February 03, 2008

National Primary Day Ahead

More minds, ink, attention, web sites, TV and radio are focused on the giant, nearly national primary election day this Tuesday than ever before. (Jack Lail breaks down how the Knox News Sentinel and Publish2, aided by yours truly and several other bloggers are furiously providing coverage on the state primary and much, much more.)

Unlike, say, today's Super Bowl battle where you have a pretty clear idea of who is likely to win - the election is still an unknown. And even with never-before-seen 24 states holding elections on the same day, a clear leader may or may not emerge.

Tennessee offers more delegates for Democrats (85 total) than for Republicans (just 55 total for them). Worth noting too - voters in Tennessee have for 11 presidential elections gone with the eventual winner of the national race.

In-state fundraising efforts so far have given the more dollars to Romney than McCain or Huckabee and for Obama rather than Clinton.

Typically in the past, a state's governor got the state election machines rolling for a candidate - less so this year. Gov. Bredesen, for example, has not endorsed a candidate, and he has had some conflicts with Hillary Clinton. Nationwide, Governors in the Republican Party have shown little support for Romney (getting only 3 of a potential 22 endorsements).

But the usual guides to who might have an edge - campaign fundraising, endorsements, earlier primary results, etc - still point in many directions.

Some things, however, do not seem to change --while teaching some students (ranging from 5th thru 8th grade) yesterday, the topic of the primaries came up and they all agreed that the politicians only do one thing consistently: lie.

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