Current Delegate Counts!

Here are the current delegate counts about one week away from the Texas and  Ohio primaries. It’s almost over. Well, almost half over.

Democrats:

Pledged Delegates:

• Obama – 1,193
• Clinton – 1,038

Super Delegates:

• Obama – 184
• Clinton  – 281

Total Delegates:

• Obama -1,377
• Clinton – 1,279

Republicans:

Total Delegates:

• McCain – 1,019
• Huckabee – 254
• Paul – 14

Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton is a frontrunner for the nomination of the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential election. Her experience ranges from interpersonal levels to workings inside the Whitehouse itself. She is a representative of New York in the Senate, First Lady of the United States, and spent years as an attorney representing abused children. Her campaign platform seems to be very similar to her advocate Barack Obama. However, she is distinguishing herself from him in her level of experience.

Higher Education:

“One of the keys to a strong and confident America is a system of higher education that is acceptable to all who are motivated to seek it out . . . And yet as I travel across our country, I have confirmation every day about how much more difficult it is for many students to afford to start college”

-Hillary Clinton October 11, 2007

Some of her plans to make higher education more affordable and available for American citizens include:

• Lowering the cost of college through a $3,500 tuition tax credit, enough to cover more than 50% of the cost of tuition at the average public institution for
• Strengthen Community Colleges and make it easier for students to transfer to four year universities or obtain their degree.
• Create a more simple federal financial aid form
• Hold college costs down and hold colleges accountable for results.

Economy:

Hillary’s opinion on the recent economy slump is that the middle class has been hit hard by the housing market problems, health care premiums and rising college tuition. Some of her spans to help support the middle class include:

• Lower taxes for middle class families
• Investing in a new innovative job market. This includes creating more “green” jobs, providing health care for every American thus creating more jobs, and  “restoring integrity to a scientific policy.”
• Return to Fiscal Responsibility, downsizing the country’s debt

Health Care:

Mrs. Clinton has successfully established a plan that would succeed in providing all American’s with affordable health insurance. Click  here to read her full plan. Her main other objectives in improving America’s health include:

• Combat all forms of cancer by eliminating insurance discrimination and funding more research
• “Doubling the U.S. Contribution Towards Researching a Vaccine for HIV/AIDS and Increasing Commitments to Research” and to help the world by “providing at Least $50 billion for global HIV/AIDS by 2013”

Environment:

Hillary has also created another full plan to make the United States “green.” To read the full plan click here. The main objectives of her plan include:

• Cut foreign oil imports by 2/3 from projected levels by 2030
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050.
• These government efforts will in turn create at least 5 million jobs ensuring the United States is invested in global action to prevent global warming

Sources: http://www.hillaryclinton.com

Barack Obama

Whichever Democratic candidate wins their party’s nomination will be historic because it will either be the first woman or the first African-American nominee for President from a major political party. Barack is a United States senator from Illionois and the current delegate leader for the Democratic nomination. Obama Obama’s major campaign slogan has been for “Change” and that he is the candidate of such “Change.”

Environment:

“Well, I don’t believe that climate change is just an issue that’s
convenient to bring up during a campaign. I believe it’s one of the
greatest moral challenges of our generation.”

- Barack Obama (October 14, 2007)

• Reduce harmful carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 through a cap/trade system.
• Invest in clean energy ($150 billion over ten years), increase energy research budget, transition towards renewable energy, clean coal technology.
• Expand biofuel research and implementation and reduce oil dependence by increasing fuel economy standards.
• Improve engery efficiency by 50% by 2030 and restore the U.S. leadership on climate change.

Healthcare:

• Obama is a supporter of a nationalized healthcare system that makes it easy for any American to have healthcare regardless of current health.
• Reform the privatized healthcare system to make it more fair and balanced.
• Mandatory coverage of all children and expansion of Medicare.
• Lower costs of and modernize the current health system to increase productivity.
• Increase funding to biomedical research and all forms of medical research to fight AIDS, help improve the lives of the disabled, and other health issues.

Education:

• Implementation of a “Zero to Five” early-age education system through voluntary, universal pre-school system.
• Increase Math and Science focus in school, reform No Child Left Behind by funding the program, and recruit/teach/retain/reward teachers for their services.
• Simplify the financial aid process for higher education and cover up to $4,000 of college through a tax credit.

Economy:

• Provide middle-class Americans tax relief
• Fight for fair trade, reform NAFTA, and support job creation to invest in U.S. manufacturing.
• Invest in future forms of Internet and wireless communication.
• Protect the openness of the Internet with net neutrality.
• Encourage labor unions and fight for worker’s rights.
• Protect homeownership and create a universal mortgage credit.
• Reform bankruptcy laws and address predatory credit card practices.

Barack Obama has gathered the support of countless college students not only because of his appearance but because of his beliefs. Many feel he truly is a candidate that could change Washington forever, a message that has obviously been accepted nationally as he is the current delegate leader for the Democratic nomination, followed closely by Hillary Clinton. Many feel that because he is both a new and different candidate from the norm that he would make a good president. He is not only an excellent public speaker, but he has a charisma that no other candidates posses. While he definitely lacks in the area of experience in politics, Obama has an amazing following that could very well earn him the Democratic nomination and maybe even the office of the President of the United States of America.

Barack Obama – Total Delegates = 1,374

- Super Delegates =181

- Pledged Delegates = 1,193

Sources:

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/