Ohio Primary Final Results

Hillary Clinton did manage to make a strong showing in Ohio. According to Real Clear Politics (RCP), which presents average percentage results from various news agencies, Clinton averaged around the 50 percent mark overall, with Barack Obama trailing by about 7 percentage points behind. Because Ohio splits their delegates, Obama remains on top overall. These results give some much needed juice to the flagging Clinton campaign after a series of strong wins from the contender. The big conservative push for Clinton paid off with an extremely close win down in Texas. Some news services show Obama the winner, while the overall average favors Clinton. Who knows? My brother-in-law and his wife may have cast the decisive votes in their early write-in ballots! Certainly Clinton should call Limbaugh and Coulter, thanking them for the surge.

Over on the other side of the aisle, McCain emerged a decisive winner, garnering enough ballots to seal his win for the Republican Party Convention. Today, he's flying into Washington D.C., to receive the endorsement of President Bush. RCP reports that his win was far more decisive than Clinton's, with an average of a 26.2 percent lead over Candidate Huckabee. Because McCain won enough delegates for the nomination, Mike Huckabee announced he was concluding his bid for the White House run.

Be sure to check out Real Clear Politics' website at www.realclearpolitics.com for the final numbers, which are presented in an easy to read graphic format.

Conservative media powerhouse Rush Limbaugh has made a concerted effort to bring Republicans into play by encouraging them to vote on the Democratic side of the primary voting in Texas and Ohio. By keeping the two liberal leaders in a hotly contested deadlock, Republican activists might weaken the opposition for the long-term presidential election process. With Michigan's early primary results in question, is Ohio the last stand for Senator Clinton? Meanwhile, John McCain has emerged as the leader on the Republican side, but Mike Huckabee refuses to give an inch. Hard to believe, but this early March round of voting is key to both sides of the ticket. Who will find their way to the final ballot in November?

Well, let's start at the top, with the person who has the most to lose: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Campaign tactics and personnel that worked well for her husband seem to be failing Hillary. President Bill Clinton himself, a charismatic vote getter, motivational speaker, and Democratic wonderboy has had his own effectiveness called into question. Personally, I thought Bill was her best hope for getting votes, but some reports indicate he was reigned back after questionable showings in the South Carolina primary. Well, even if he's being censored, President Clinton stated that Hillary needed to "sweep" Ohio and Texas. Hillary concentrated her best efforts on Ohio, and according to the Houstin Chronicle reporters Richard S. Dunham and Bennett Roth, preliminary exit polls indicate that Senator Clinton should edge out a victory in Ohio. The candidate herself noted, as she was exiting Texas enroute for an election-night celebration in Columbus, "You don't get to the White House as a Democrat without winning Ohio."

According to the Ironton Tribune, Mrs. Clinton's only publicized campaign event in Ohio on Election's Eve, was at Hanging Rock. "The guests, mostly women and many with tales of hardship, came by invitation only. The name of this hamlet, with its large rock outcrop from the cliff above, only served to reinforce the perilous nature of Clinton's campaign." (Linda Feldman of the Christian Science Monitor) The town boasts a tiny population, and the townhall meeting, held the day before the primary, is closed. Area experts speculate it's the demographics of the meeting (women, Catholics, and low-income voters) that resulted in Hillary's appearance. Check out my links for the latest results, but it looks like Ms. Clinton won by a landslide.

Now, let's move on to Barack Obama, the "contender." Obama's made huge gains in Ohio, and is favored to win in Texas, where he's expended the bulk of his time and effort. If you've read my other articles, you might have picked up on the fact that I enjoy reading the foreign press, particularly the reviews of American News from the British and Canadian perspectives. According to the UK Guardian, which has already released their March 5 issue, Alan Fram reports that Obama, "The senator from Illinois was doing best among voters who have been with him from early on in this year's voting. He was getting backing from nine in 10 blacks, two thirds of voters who are under age 30, and just over half of college graduates."

In the same report, Fram notes that Obama's competitor seems to have shored up her support in other areas. "But Clinton, the New York senator who saw her rival win 11 straight contests in the run-up to Tuesday, was showing renewed strength among groups she has relied on heavily. She was even eating into some groups that usually are behind Obama, evenly splitting independents and young white voters with him. Preliminary data from interviews with Ohio Democratic voters showed she was getting the votes of two in three white women, a group that has generally supported her heavily but with whom she had slipped to thin margins recently in Virginia and Wisconsin. She also had the backing of almost six in 10 white men, a group in which Obama had forged solid advantages in recent voting."

I can't see Clinton throwing in the towel, even if she loses Texas (as predicted.) I've been wrong before; after all, I was an enthusiastic Romney supporter and have been left without a candidate! Obama seems to have won Vermont by a good margin. It looks like Texas will roll over for Obama, even though I know my brother-in-law and his wife both crossed party lines to vote for Hillary. Their objective: Keep the opposing party fighting amongst themselves. As an aside, you'd be surprised by Senator Clinton's latest (tongue-in-cheek) supporter, another notable consevative by the name of Ann Coulter. Be sure to Google her recent columns if you have any doubts. Ann actually refers to Clinton as "My Girl Hillary." I'm not too upset by the conservative move to garner support for the "other" candidate. In Michigan, while working as a voting inspector, I noticed many folks crossing party lines to vote for John McCain, in a successful attempt to garner the nomination for a more "beatable" Conservative candidate.

Speaking of McCain, he's been noted as the winner in all of Tuesday's primary elections. What a big surprise! (Sorry, I can't help the sour grapes.) I'm very sorry to report my total disgruntlement with the entire Republican Party. As an increasingly staunch conservative for the past 30 years, I'm absolutely disgusted by partisan politics in 2008. With a wide array of viable candidates, the Republicans seem happy to accept a man that's been groomed and polished by the mainstream media. I'm ashamed that I didn't vote for Huckabee, back when it would have made a difference. My prediction? Just wait. As soon as the dust on the other side settles, John McCain will become mincemeat under the same pens that propped him up to win over the course of the primaries. My personal bias is related to what got him into the Academy and kept in flying after a slew of crashes in his early career. Just goes to show you how friends (and relatives) in high places still make the difference.

Well, this is supposed to be an article about exit polls, so I'll dutifully report that John McCain (at least according to CNN,) appears to have soundly trounced his opponent(s.) By a wide margin, he's not only won in Ohio (63 to 22 percent,) but he's beaten Mike Huckabee in Vermont, Rhode Island, AND Texas. I just hope that the Arkansas conservative has more fortitude than the rest of the pack. What a sublime waste of money to run these primaries, when they're decided by a bunch of newspapers and a few early primaries. Well, check out the CNN links for the latest reports from the "front."

The final part of this assignment was to predict what these polling numbers mean for the various candidates. My prediction is that Hillary Clinton will remain in the fray. Either she's got a hidden blast with which to confront her competitor, or she's simply willing to carry on her bid for a return to the White House. I think her ego is too grand to allow her to concede defeat.

Anyone in their right mind would fold at this point, but personally, I'm hoping Mike Huckabee has the fortitude to stand his ground and oppose John McCain through this entire process and onto the Republican Convention. I'm about to the point of jumping on the Ron Paul bandwagon, or jumping ship entirely to support Barack Obama. Who knows? Stay tuned for further details. At press time, the only question is whether Hillary Clinton will remain in the contest after this set of preliminary results.