Domestic:

McCain beats out Romney in Florida in the Republican primary that took place on Tuesday, January 29th. The media has almost unanimously prescribed this close contest in Florida to be a grudge match of sorts. McCain took the vote over Romney 36% to 31%; Guiliani looked on from a distance at 14% in a state he had staked the hopes of his presidential run upon. Former New York Mayor Guiliani has since dropped out of the race, endorsing Senator McCain. McCain carried this momentum though the preceding days and should also pick up the key endorsement of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Romney and McCain spiced things up in their debate on Wednesday in California, in a contest where both candidates aimed to draw contrast between them. They both questioned and scrutinized each other’s record and by the end of the night Romney and his people were claiming McCain was using “dirty tricks” to lie about his position on Iraq. McCain’s people brushed it off, nevertheless, Romney’s insistence on the issue has led many to paint him as a copycat candidate. There were reports of him using Clinton dividing tactics earlier in the election, he has increasingly framed his campaign message to that of Barack Obama’s, and again last night tried to appeal voters by lifting the plot right out of the democratic primary and make it his own story. To be frank, he sometimes borrows from the Clinton’s (his campaigning behavior in S.C. then subsequent accusal of McCain of dirty tricks) and then also from Obama (his appeal to voters, the way Obama did last week in S.C. by saying his record was being lied about). McCain seems to be the front runner in the Republican party right now, but with super Tuesday approaching there is sure to be more going on in the news cycle this week.

On the Democrat side, Senator Clinton won the Florida primary on Tuesday however the victory did not matter at all – yet. Florida, like Michigan, was stripped of its delegates because it broke party rules to hold their state primary early. All Democratic Party candidates agreed not to campaign in both states during the primary; so on a technicality, Clinton visited Florida last night after polls closed to contrive a victory after being routed in S.C. by Obama. There, she vowed to the voters in Florida that she would do everything she could to get them seated, also making a similar plea for Michigan. She then began to make her case by invoking horrific memories of 2000, reminding voters that Florida is a key swing state in the general elections that Democrats need to carry. The tactics of each campaign are becoming more apparent in differences approaching Feb. 5th as the campaigns begin to embrace the reality of the race moving beyond Super Tuesday onto other state primaries. Clinton is obviously trying to squeeze every last voter she can to get the nomination; if this already tight race does move on past the 5th, the race could come right down to the convention. This is important because Hillary could win the nomination merely based on seating the delegates of Florida and Michigan (if she can actually get that to happen). Another point to contemplate is the fact that because none of the candidates were able to campaign in those states, most voters were going on name recognition and familiarity (Clinton being the biggest name in both Party’s election). The outcome in these states, would have no doubt been different had voters been enabled with opportunities to know the candidates and their issues better. The Florida primary means zero as of now because no delegates were awarded. If Hillary does get her way….there will be a whole different discussion…

Obama handled this by raising $32 M in just the month of January and visiting states whom delegates will actually be reflected in the convention; Edwards dropped out of the Presidential race after his second attempt to capture the nomination. There has been a lot of speculation on who he will support or what that will mean, but nothing as of now is concrete. Once again, these issues will be dominating the cycle for a few days.