I’ve been thinking about Hillary Clinton and why she’s not dropping out of the race for the Democratic nomination for President. The longer she stays in the race, the more divided the Democratic Party remains, making it easier for John McCain to win the general election. She knows this, and surely she knows she can’t possibly win the nomination. I think she’s staying in at this point because she wants Barack Obama to lose in November. If he becomes President then she can’t run again in 2012 and I doubt she’d be elected in 2016.

If Hillary ran in 2016, she’d be 69 years old and would be 73 years old if she ran for a second term in 2020. People already have issues with John McCain’s age, and others have a problem with electing a woman. Combining the two issues would probably not go over well.

Today is the Michigan Primary. I’m very curious to see how Mitt Romney does. His father was the governor of Michigan, so if he doesn’t do well here, it will definitely hurt him. Stay tuned for updates when they become available.

I just saw on CNN that they are projecting that John McCain will win the GOP Primary in New Hampshire. He has 37% of the vote, with only 25% of precincts reporting. How can they possibly call the election with only a quarter of the precincts reporting? They have 26% of precincts reporting for the democrats, and Hillary has 40% of the vote, but they haven’t projected her as the winner. I guess that maybe Obama, with 35%, is very close to her. Maybe no other republicans are close to McCain, but I can’t believe that they can call an election with 75% of the vote still out, especially when McCain and Romney were extremely close in the poles leading up to the election.

The Iowa caucuses were last night. Here’s my take on it.

Barack Obama won the Democratic Caucus by about 8 points. He was in a virtual three-way tie with Clinton and Edwards going into the caucus, so it was interesting to see who would come out on top. I’m a bit surprised that his lead was as large as eight points, but even more surprised that Edwards finished second, beating out Hillary by one point. Hillary had 29 compared to Edwards’s 30. Edwards has the strongest chance to win in the general election, so it is good to see him in the top two so early.

Mike Huckabee, with 34 points, came out on top on the Republican side. He is the former minister/governor of Arkansas who wants to completely get rid of the income tax and switch completely to a spending tax. Finishing second was Mitt Romney who claimed 25 points. Thompson and McCain each claimed 13, although Thompson had about 280 more votes than McCain. Rounding out the top five was Ron Paul.

You may be asking, “What happened to Giuliani?” The answer is simple. He did not campaign in Iowa because he knew it was a lost cause. He is too liberal of a Republican to do well in the conservative race, so he spent the night elsewhere (in Michigan, I believe).

So what’s next? The calendar shows New Hampshire on January 8, where it will be exciting to see the outcome of Clinton/Edwards/Obama round 2. The other race to watch is Romney vs. McCain, who are the Republican frontrunners. However, Iowa begs the questiion, can Huckabee come out strong again?

For years, the Indianapolis area has been represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Julia Carson. Many Indianapolis area people were unhappy with her, but somehow she kept getting elected. It was announced that she passed away on Saturday morning. She’s been working for Indiana since the early 70s. Although I didn’t support her as a politician, she definitely served the Hoosier state for many years. Many will miss her.

CNNPolitics.com reported today that presidential hopeful Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts) is in a very close race for South Carolina’s nomination. The top three candidates (Romney, Giuliani and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee) are in a dead heat. This is good news for Romney, whose strong showing in South Carolina adds to his already hopeful numbers in Iowa. He is slowly but surely gaining ground in his race for the Whitehouse. It is especially impressive that Romney has been able to impress voters in this southern state because he is a Mormon from Massachusetts who is a former supporter of abortion rights. His shift to being an opponent of Roe v. Wade has many questioning his sincerity, wondering whether or not this is simply a political tactic to apeal to Republican voters. His ability to overcome these obstacles and appeal to southern voters shows his staying power in this election. As far as the other 48 states, including the key state of New Hampshire, only time will tell.

Many U.S. news sources are saying the the Kentucky gubernatorial race is a good indicator for what will happen in the 2008 election. I must admit that I completely disagree. This race featured incumbent Republican Ernie Fletcher and Democrat Steve Beshear. Fletcher was the first Republican governor in Kentucky in several decades, and he won his race a few years ago because his campaign promises were to remove corruption from Kentucky government. However, he was soon caught facing his own corruption scandal when it was uncovered that Fletcher was giving top state positions to Republicans and not considering any potential Democrats. Fletcher admitted his wrongdoing before the charges were dropped. On Tuesday, voters in the Bluegrass State ousted Fletcher, electing Steve Beshear who has not held office in twenty years. He was previously the Lt. Governor.

Ultimately, Kentucky voters ousted Fletcher because of their lack of trust in him, not because he is a Republican. This is evidenced by the voters’ decision to re-elect the Republican Secretary of State, who won his election by approximately 14 points. It is my opinion that the Kentucky election has absolutely nothing to do with the 2008 national election.

I can’t believe it. It seems like yesterday I was working in the house and the Republicans were commenting about how it was almost impossible for a Republican to beat Indianapolis’ Democrat Mayor Bart Peterson, who was running for his third term. Many people believe that Indiana is solely a Republican state, but that’s not the case. We have one Republican and one Democrat as our U.S. Senators, a Republican controlled state Senate, a Democrat controlled state House, and our U.S. Representatives are split almost evenly. One of the most heavy Democrat areas is Indianapolis, which is why it is amazing that Republican Greg Ballard has won the race for mayor of Indianapolis. Moreover, the GOP has taken control of the City-County Council, capturing 17 of 29 seats.

I am cracking up. Over the past week, the President of Miami University in Oxford, OH, and the Vice President of the United States have both made some pretty stupid geographic mistakes. In Oxford, an art display that included nooses and a tire swing was quickly taken down after it was suggested that it was related to the Jena Six travesty. President Hodge, in an email sent to the entire Miami University population, essentially told students that they should be ashamed of their ignorance of the events in Jena, Mississippi. There’s just one problem with his statement. It happened in Jena, Louisiana, not Mississippi. If President Hodge is going to patronize his students, he should double-check his facts.

Vice President Dick Cheney was criticizing Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, saying that Chavez spends too much time worrying about the United States and not enough time thinking about his own country. According to Cheney, “The people of Peru, I think, deserve better in their leadership.” Um, Mr. Vice President, Peru is about 500 miles south of Venezuela. I know what you mean, but I really think the Vice President of the United States should know who leads what other countries. It’s kind of a big part of the job.

CNN announced today that Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts) is leading his opponents by more than 20 points in Iowa and New Hampshire, the two states that kick-off the primaries early next year. Paul Steinhauser, deputy political director for CNN states in his article that although Romney is showing a strong showing, he could be in trouble further down the road because he may lose his support from evangelical Christians. Their support could very easily swing to Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas), a Baptist minister. Hans Nichols and Christopher Stern state in their article on Bloomberg that the best way for Romney to keep the evangelical vote is to stop trying to assimilate himself with their faith. Representative Bob Inglus (R-South Carolina) told Romney, “…you cannot equate Mormonism with Christianity.”

At some point, Romney will have to explain his faith to mainstream America, and will then have to say how his faith will impact his presidency. JFK did this during his 1960 presidential run, but as a Republican who depends on the Christian vote, Romney can’t afford to use JFK’s tactics; he can’t say that he will uphold separation of church and state. Many on the right believe that this has resulted in the social problems we see today.

Utlimately, only time will tell how Romney will fare in the primaries. Battling against celebrity politicians like Giuliani and McCain will present a difficult challenge. His success will depend on his ability to keep the Christian vote, so he must start doing a better job of explaining why he is the better candidate when compared to Huckabee and stop worrying about Giuliani and McCain.