Finally, the presidential candidate primaries have reached California and 21 other states in what shapes up to be a deciding moment next Tuesday. Unlike some other states, voters who declined to state their political affiliation in California can vote in both the Democratic and Republican elections.
The Democratic race consists of three players–Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. Not trying to state the obvious, but the chances of Edwards winning this thing is almost nil. The other candidates negative ads don’t even bother attacking him. This race will be between Clinton and Obama, both have won two caucuses each.
The Republican race is also a three-player race now that Rudy Giuliani has dropped out of the running after losing horribly in Florida. John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee are the big names contending for the Republican nomination. Here, there are also two major candidates in McCain and Romney. Huckabee is the third wheel in this race. He’s there, you see him make a speech once in awhile, but he seems to be just a bit player spreading the word on abolishing the IRS.
When I registered to vote, I did not state my political affiliation on the form. I like to keep my options open for instances such as these. As long as the candidate supports the issues I believe in, their political affiliation does not matter at all.
In the next few days, my eyes will be glued to the television set waiting for the deluge of political ads and speeches. I am especially interested in the negative ads. They remind me of professional wrestling in the 90s when they would do those short segments with each wrestler as they talk smack to the camera. I could totally picture one with Huckabee:
Huckabee works himself into a frenzy, rips his speech in two, and screams into the camera, “Whatcha gunna do, brotha, when the millions of Huck-a-maniacs descend on you!!”
I am actually leaning towards Huckabee right now since I understand his platform the most. The other candidates have so far either been throwing dirt at each other or flip-flopping on issues.