Super Tuesday - Presidential Primary Election (Event Over)

"Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves, and the only way they could do this is by not voting."

FDR

That's a list of candidates on the ballot, and they remain on the ballot even if they've stopped campaigning.

Also, some other candidates, such as Mike Huckabee, Mike Gravel, and Ron Paul, are definitely still running. I don't want to make this posting an implicit endorsement of anyone, even if there are a few candidates who I think are both crazy and completely lacking any chance of winning :) (though I think Huckabee will get a significant percentage in a number of states, and still has a ghost of a chance...)

So we are really talking about Hillary vs. Obama and John McCain vs. Mitt Romney. Why not just update your event posting?

R

On the Democratic side, I know these people have ended their campaigns:
Chris Dodd
Bill Richardson
Dennis Kucinich
John Edwards

On the Republican side,
Tom Tancredo
Duncan Hunter
Rudy Giuliani
Fred Thompson

I don't know who of the Green candidates were actually campaigning to begin with, and who if any have dropped out.

Am I missing anyone?

that is SO cool brian! thanks!

Huh, that quiz seems to come from Fox?

I tried it and got weird results, but the questions didn't seem that good.

I tried this other quiz: http://www.gotoquiz.com/candidates/2008-r...

I think its questions were better (though some were flawed), and the results I got made more sense based on what I know of the candidates.

Not that I think anyone should pick their candidate based solely on a menu of issue positions, but it is a useful thing to consider.

This little matchmaker should help you find the right candidate.

http://wnyw.4wmt.com/cmm/

...or at least put you in the right direction.

If you register in a party, you can vote in that party's primary.

If you register "unenrolled (no party)", you can pick any primary you wish to vote in. Which sounds like a better option, but isn't necessarily, for this reason: If you register in a party, you can also participate in that party's own governance elections and activities. For example, you can vote for delegates to the state convention, which happens every year. You may not think you'd want to do that... until a friend of yours runs for delegate and only needs 20 people to show up to vote for her and asks you to help and you can't.

So basically, if you know which primary you intend to vote in, it's better to register for that party, just in case. It keeps your options more open. If you *don't* know which primary you plan to vote in, unenrolled makes sense.

Keep this in mind, too: In most places in Massachusetts, the most interesting contested primary elections are Democratic primaries for state rep and state senate. Interesting contested Republican & Green primaries are rare around metro Boston - the presidential primary being the main exception, and that only happens every four years. So the option of being allowed to vote in other party's primaries is mostly pointless, if you intend to vote in the Democratic presidential primary. Registering Democratic doesn't prevent you from voting for any candidate you want in the general election.

Correct me if wrong, but to vote in the primary, must one be enrolled in a party? Or can one cross over at the poll, say, from democrat to green?

Also I presume that 1/19 is the last day to change political party affiliation?

Party politics is confusing!

The Green-Rainbow party did lose ballot status. I believe Presidential Primaries follow a different set of rules, though I'm not sure. However, I do see the Green candidates listed on the ballot for this primary, on the Secretary of State's web site:

http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ELE/elepres/pr...

That's where I got the lists of candidates.