Delegates

Looking at Huckabee's delegate count for each state so far raises a few questions in me about how the election is going to play out from this point. First off, I see that he won in Louisiana primary with 69,665 votes but received no delegates from that state. I didn't even consider this as a possibility but apparently it is one. So where do all the delegates go, thats my question. I'll look that up later I guess. Secondly I see states like Oklahoma where only 6 delegates pledged to support Huckabee and even worse other states where only 1 delegate pledged to support Huckabee. This is odd to me because if I were a delegate I would reflect on the affect the number of delegates has on a candidate and would incorporate this through taking action and voting on the candidate that has a real chance of being elect. This raises worries for me because if there are really delegates who think like that then there is even less of a chance for delegates to pledge to support Huckabee in upcoming key states like Texas.

Super Tuesday

Today is the day. Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island and Vermont are holding their primarys today and Texas and Ohio are the big ones to worry about. Whenever I look on the news it seems like they are always talking about the democratic race and how Hillary should drop out and all that craziness. The democrats still have more than 600 votes to go until its over for them and Hillary and Obama are only 100 votes apart. It makes me laugh because in their view Huckabee should drop out but he isn't, so why should she? I guess there are things in play like tax dollars and such for her which makes that seem all the more stupid. I don't know there are pros and cons. Pro's are that a candidate who is a good one who might not have enough money to run himself would be able to with tax payers money. Also it gives us more of a hand in the elections I suppose, using the voters money to run for president. That can also be looked at negatively, especially when your money is going to a candidate you don't care for. More con's are people like Huckabee who want to be totally honest and run with what he has himself for money have less of a chance. I'm unsure about it. Today is the day though that McCain could win for sure. I'm still praying against it though. We know a guy who had a dream and in the dream he saw the letters OT like overtime and the letters stood for Texas and Ohio. I believe that God gives his people dreams to reveal what is to come so that encouraged me to pray that God does a miracle in Texas and Ohio. Amen.

Texas and Politics

Huckabee has posted on his site a last ditch effort as he says for the election. It's a 5 minute video about how texans are courageous and don't listen to what anyone tells them to do but always do what they decide to do. He mentions things like the Alamo and other parts of texas' history that would indicate that they are headstrong people who stand for freedom, family and faith-basically celebrating the many achievements of Texans. He also uses the idea that texans are headstrong people who stand for freedom as a way to incorporate the lessons of fighting for freedom they've learned in the past to fight with Huckabee for the same freedom. Of the 137 possible delegates for the republican party in Texas, John McCain needs only 120 of them to clinch the election. So this would seem to be the clincher and some might even say the end of the road, but I guess I'd side with Huckabee and hope and pray against all hope that a miracle happens. The next set of primaries are happening on a Tuesday again in a 8 days. They will include Ohio, Vermont, Rhode Island and of course Texas. The other three states make up 125 delegates total with Ohio having the most at 88. I would hope Huckabee is putting some effort in at Ohio. His running without tax payers money I am seeing is truly a leap of faith. I didn't even realize until this year how much of a role tax payers played in the elections or that they even played a role at all. I'm finding out there is alot about Politics that I don't know. I'm glad I'm finding all this out now though when I have just turned 18 and actually have a possible part to play. Before I was too young to give a second thought to it but now I can actually play a role and so I want to know what role I play.

Cinderella Man

When Mike Huckabee first announced that he was running for president early in 2007, he was consistently voted to be unlikely to win with early gallup poles that showed 2 percent popularity early on with more than 20 percent behind the popularity of any of the other of the candidates. However, Huckabee began rising in popularity with Iowa victories with crowded rooms cheering for him as polls began to show that Huckabee's popularity was greater than anyone anticipated. As his popularity rose, so did the criticism against him. Research done on his tax policy's suggested voters should question him. I already mentioned his fair tax proposals and so I agree with his tax policy but people often surprise. It's the classic politic trick though, say what the voters want to hear and then never mention it again after you get elected. I guess I can't assume just because he is a Christian that he will be the best possible president. I am for the Cinderella man idea, I believe God can do anything and Huckabee winning the election certainly seems up to divine intervention. That would be me reimaging the probable future of America according to my values,

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
Ephesians 3:20

Huckabee Not Quiting

Romney dropped out of the election this last week but Huckabee stayed. I'm very glad that huckabee is still in and perplexed as to why Romney, who had more delegates than Huckabee or Ron Paul for that matter, dropped out. With that I want to know where the Romney's delegates will go. I really hope they go to Huckabee. Huckabee is quoted as saying for the reason why he did not drop out "I didn't major in Math, I majored in Miracles and I still believe in them." I think that is amazing and that by some move of God Huckabee will continue to run this race and become the republican front runner. I realize that in the natural McCain has around 700 delegates versus' Huckabee's two hundred but by I'm praying for a Miracle. I also voted in the Primarys the other day, it was the first time I ever voted for anything, kind of cool. It made me think about the whole party issue though since you have to check which party you are part of and I really don't want to be a part of any of the parties. They need to make a purely christian party. lol. I guess republican will have to do for now.

Energia

Huckabee's stance on energy is not a very creative one but this issue is a topic that I think is crucial to the continued economic survival of America. We have too much polution and gas prices are too high to continue using the energy we use now in our cars. When I first went to the CNN website to see where Huckabee stood on the energy issue all they showed was a very please all "We need to use every source of energy that exists and quite wasting our time on oil" statement. They also told me that he plans to end our energy dependance by his second term. When I went to his site I learned that President Nixon first declared that we would become Energy Dependant in 1980. That was 28 years ago! Huckabee also answers the objection that our buying of oil from the middle east only supports the terrorists. He wants to have a self sustained energy dependence which would include renewable environmental friendly energy sources like solar and biomass. He says if he became president he would "use the bully pulpit" to get congress to address this issue and solve the problem. This sounds good, especially if it is really possible to end our dependence on oil.
When compared to someone like Hillary Clinton I can see that all her proposals have a due date of 2030 or 2050 or something like that. I don't know how she is going to in force those after she is out of office. It is therefore nice to hear Huckabee say that he wants to stop our energy dependence by the end of his first term.

Huckabee's Status and FairTax

So after six states have had their primarys, Huckabee has the third most amount of votes with Mccain and Romney ahead of him by atleast 15 votes. I was looking at an article on Comcast that mentioned Huckabee's support of the FairTax which was a new term to me. I think I've heard it before but it didn't stick in my head. I did some active searching out of the meaning and looked it up and it seems to be a good deal. I'm still trying to understand it all but what I got out of it so far is that instead of the 30 percent sales tax that is currently in place, there would be a 23% sales tax as well as lots of other nice rebates. It also says that those below the poverty line will not be taxed at all. Also FairTax would supposidely make US products worth more on the international market making the US more competitive in the international market. I'm honestly not sure how to understand all this but this is what fairtax does. It seems like a good thing since it seems to lower the amount of things we are taxed on, for example on my pay checks, that would be nice.

Research and some Political Imagination

So I've done some research by looking on Huckabee's site and I've found that he does a lot of talking around the subject. I guess this is what any good politician would do which would explain why politicians are so hated by some many people. Anyways, he does have some ideas of what do to with issues like health care and education; for example he pushed education of the arts and music while governor of Arkansas. He also imagines preventive health care instead of just health care itself and says that if he were elected president he would input major reforms in our health care system. Sounds good but would he really do it? I don't know, history says no. Also he is in favor of tax cuts and proudly states that he cut taxes and fees 100 times as Arkansas Governor and he says that taxes aren't the problem nationally but it is more that our government has an overspending problem. Also on a religious note, he supports Israel which I think is really good.

Elections: Huckabee

So since Mike Huckabee came on the scene a few months each and everyone of mine and my moms conversations have been centered around him. I must confess to never having been interested in presidential elections and I still grab most of what I believe to be true from those around me, namely my parents. Nonetheless I know I need to make a concerted effort settle down into my own opinons and views and not rely on the opinions of those closest to me. Having said all this, I really like what this Huckabee has to say. I have watched a few of his public dialogues in the debates that he has been a part of on youtube and seen what his core beliefs are and they sound really good. All that said, talking to others around me they would point out how his economic and budget plans for this country are less than good. All I have been looking at so far are his core beliefs, I guess I need to see where he is on certain politcal policys what kind of political imagination he has invisioned for this county. Sadly I don't know enough about any of these topics. Blah, here we go research.