The Republican Presidential Primaries are well under way and as climacteric as ever. The first phase will be ending with the ten states that vote this week on Super Tuesday. As usual, it’s been about money and getting the message across to voters these past few months.
According to the overall Caucus polls, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is in the lead, winning 37.6% of votes, followed by Ron Paul of Texas with 24.8% of votes. (http://elections.nytimes.com /2012/primaries/calendar) Even though Romney failed to secure the nomination during the first two months of voting, he’s coming out strong, possibly because of his change in campaigning strategy, according to NY Times article. Romney’s advisors are turning to the “slow-but-sure-delegate-accumulation”, ironically devised by President Obama’s team back in 2008. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/us/politics/mitt-romney-focuses-on-delegate-tally-in-race-with-santorum.html?_r=1&hp) He’s expected to win most of the delegates in Massachusetts and Virginia because Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich failed to appear on the ballot. However, if Santorum wins the popular vote in Ohio, he may beat Romney by a few more delegates since they are allotted proportionally in that state. Responsively, Ron Paul avoided campaigning in Michigan and Arizona altogether because Romney and Santorum are battling fiercely there. His strategy is to gain as many delegates as possible by campaigning exceedingly in caucus states.
Earlier in the GOP Elections, Mitt Romney had said that he’s “not concerned about the very poor” because of an alleged “safety net”. He suggested that poverty in America is not a big issue for him and he’s more concerned with the working class. (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57369707-503544/romney-says-hes-not-concerned-about-the-very-poor-because-of-safety-net/)
Here is an infograph depicting the prominence of poverty in America:
(If you hover over a state, you can see the entire breakdown of statistics)
(If you hover over a state, you can see the entire breakdown of statistics)
Because there are so many controversial topics and standpoints amongst the candidates, I’d like to focus on the issues presented at the final debate in Arizona. Surprisingly, the economy was not a primary topic during the debate. Instead, the highlights were social issues such as healthcare, immigration, and controversial voting records (specifically associated with Mr. Santorum for supporting George Bush’s No Child Left Behind policy), earmarks like Romneycare, and war issues. Interestingly, all candidates except Ron Paul support war. Mr. Paul wants to scale back on American military presence abroad, and many of his Tea Party conservative supporters are not on board with this belief. He was also booed by the audience when he condemned the idea of nuclear weapons in Iran, saying that “Iranians couldn’t possible attack anybody.” (http://frontpagemag.com/2012/02/23/candidates-supporting-syria-coup/) Furthermore, Romney and Santorum ridiculed Obama for failing to support the Iranian position.
Santorum was heavily criticized during the debates for his earmarks which included his vote for a provision that aided Planned Parenthood and his support for Bush’s No Child Left Behind law. His statements disproving his actions didn’t stop the boos from the audience, especially when he said he voted for the law even though “It was against the principles I [he] believed in”. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23 /us/politics/cnn-arizona-republican-presidential-debate.html?ref=jimrutenberg ) He continued to defend his actions by saying he was “taking one for the team.” It makes his leadership skills questionable. Wouldn’t we want a resolute President that advocated for his or her beliefs instead of consenting to what others believe?
There are many more questionable comments that arose at the debate. CNN asked each candidate to describe themselves in one word. Mitt Romney said “Resolute”, Rick Santorum said “Courage”, Ron Paul said “Consistent, and Newt Gingrich said “Cheerful.”
Video of some of the controversies during the debate: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/arizona-debate-republican-debate_n_1294997.html
Video of some of the controversies during the debate: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/arizona-debate-republican-debate_n_1294997.html
There was also a lot of false information stated at the debate regarding President Obama. It was said that Obama was cutting Medicare by $500 billion, (but the cuts are for overpayments to Medicare Advantage, not regular Medicare). It was also stated that Obama is not doing anything to secure the borders. However, statistics show increases in border agents, arrests, deportations, and crossing.
Clearly, there’s a lot at stake and many of the candidates’ comments concerning social issues are debatable. Nonetheless, Romney is in the lead and Santorum may have a chance if he wins enough popular votes.
For information on the standpoints and goals of each candidate:
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