Today is primary day and 3.5 million Flori

Showing posts with label Texas Two-Step. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas Two-Step. Show all posts

Monday, March 03, 2008

Tomorrow's Texas Two-Step Primary-Caucus

Here's what happens:

1. Texas registered voters vote in the primary either early or on Tuesday March 4 (tomorrow)
2. Voters who voted in the primary are then allowed to vote in the Tuesday Caucus at 7pm after the polls close

Texas uses a "primacus" system brought about after the 1968 Dem convention in Chicago as a reform called the "McGovern rules".
  • Texas will send 228 delegates to this year's Democratic National Convention in Denver. Of those delegates, 126 will be assigned to vote for candidates based on election results.
  • An additional 35 will be superdelegates, made up mostly of high-ranking officials, who may back whichever candidate they choose.
  • The remaining 67 delegates will be chosen through the caucus system -- with 42 being rank-and-file Democrats and 25 being party leaders and elected officials, according to a Lone Star Project report.

If a precinct has 10 delegates and 50 people show up -- with 30 for Clinton and 20 for Barack Obama -- then six delegates for Clinton and four for Obama will move on to the senatorial convention. That's why volunteers for Clinton and Obama will not only be pushing locals to vote -- but also to show up for the caucus on election night. "There are thousands of precinct conventions that will elect 25 percent of the delegates without respect to the primary results," said Jason Smith, a Clinton volunteer in Tarrant County.... (Star Telegram)

If you are an independent voter in Texas and would like to connect with other independents, go to Independent Texans or independentvoting.org -- Tell them The Hankster sent you!

Sunday, March 02, 2008

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

  • INDEPENDENT VOTERS
    So far, election breaks conventional wisdom (Detroit Free Press editorial)
  • Urban Perspectives: Obama's success taking this skeptic by surprise (By Acel Moore, Philadelphia Inquirer)
  • The Tin-Eared Talk Show Wing's Declining Influence (Pajamas Media) Independent voters hold the balance of power in American politics, now and even more so in the future.


OHIO
'Cross-over' voting has baggage (Cincinnati Enquirer) Local African American talk show host Lincoln Ware switched from Repub to Dem to vote for Obama... Dems and independents can vote in the Ohio Dem primary with no questions asked, but Repubs have to say they want to become Dems.... but who cares?



TEXAS TWO-STEP -- Vote Early, Vote Twice!
The Texas Democratic Primary is a two-step process: 1) vote in the Primary -- vote early anytime before and including Tuesday, March 4 and then, 2) go to your local caucus site and vote again. This is important because your primary vote is worth 2/3 of your vote, and the caucus vote is worth another 1/3.

  • East Texas may hold key to Democratic primary (Houston Chronicle) independents favored Obama by at least 13 percentage points.
  • Dem Voting and Caucus Problems in Texas on March 4th (OpEdNews)
  • Clinton’s fate in hands of Texas, Ohio (News Tribune Tacoma WA)
  • Why are voters confused about Texas primary-caucus system? (The Beaumont Enterprise)


RHODE ISLAND

  • 10,000 turn out at a campaign rally for Sen. Barack Obama in Warwick (Providence Journal) Lincoln Chaffee endorsed Obama
  • In R.I., Obama Makes Inroads/Tiny State Seen as Clinton Stronghold (Washington Post)
  • In ’08 Politics, Rhode Island Defies Its Size (NY Times)

WEST VIRGINIA



The Race Card (By ALEXANDER COCKBURN, CounterPunch)



BLOOMBERG