Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Mostly focused on local politics these days and watching the Presidential primaries from afar. Still undecided! I am finding the fact both primaries are so all over the place quite exciting. There are states where the media declared winner (based on popular vote) actually came in second or tied for number of delegates. Hillary is the clear Dem frontrunner when you include superdelegates, but Obama is definitely well in the running. Edwards is holding on, though needs to pick up some states or at least more superdelegates! You can see the breakdown to date of delegates for Dems here.  Notice how in most states where there has already been a primary or caucus, the delegate counts come close to evenly split between 2 or 3 candidates. The voters seem to be split evenly among the main Dem candidates in each and every state.

Romney is ahead among Republicans. You can see the breakdown of delegates for the Repubs here. McCain is solidly second and the guy I still am kind of predicting will win, Huckabee, is third. Well, if my prediction is to come to pass, Hucakbee better start winning. I was sure he'd win South Carolina. The fact that he didn't may mean he is far weaker than I expected. Thompson, once considered the savior of the Republicans this year, is a distant fourth. Ron Paul, the outsider, comes in fifth. Mr. 9/11, the man who was once thought inevitable, lags behind even Ron Paul. Very interesting.

What is interesting about the Republican candidates is, whereas each state seems to evenly split delegates among 2-3 Dem candidates, each state heavily prefers one of the Republican candidates with the second way behind in terms of delegates. Not sure what this means! It is as if all the Dems are similarly popular in each state, but each state heavily prefers one Republican over all the others. How does that work? Does this mean the Republican primary is more divisive this year? Is there a difference in how delegates are allocated? Not sure.

Here is this week's newsletter:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

BILL O'REILLY INSULTS HOMELESS VETERANS

REPUBLICAN TREASON: Former Congressman Indicted for Money Laudering for al-Qaeda

NYC ACTION AND EVENTS

NORTH CAROLINA FOCUS: Democratic Candidate Takes on Blackwater

CALIFORNIA FOCUS: Climate, Groups and Events

FLORIDA FOCUS: Groups and Events

TEXAS FOCUS: Alternative Energy, Groups and Events

INDIANA FOCUS: Phonebanking, Groups and Events

NEW JERSEY FOCUS: Blue Jersey Radio, Groups and Events

PENNSYLVANIA FOCUS: Groups and Events

VIRGINIA FOCUS: Impeachment, Groups and Events

NEW HAMPSHIRE FOCUS: Groups and Events

IOWA FOCUS: Alternative Energy, Groups and Events