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While President Bush may be “the Decider” of American politics, Super Tuesday may have been the crucial decider in the race for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations. As candidates traversed the country in a rapid attempt to get out the vote, Americans turned out in record numbers to support their candidates. Candidates that appeal to the youth, like Barack Obama, helped to make the 2008 primaries one of the most trafficked in recent history. Tsunami Tuesday, as some called it this year, featured the highest density of primaries in one day in the history of the political system in the United States.

The Straight Talk Steamroller

John McCain, favored by most as the future Republican nominee, scored big wins across the country. The surprise of the day, however, came as Mike Huckabee swept across the South with dozens of victories, blocking a viable candidacy from Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. In prior debates, and throughout the news media, Romney and McCain had attempted to transform the Republican race into a two candidate contest. Romney, however, may be squeezed out of a system of his own doing as Huckabee’s victories catapulted him back to the spotlight he basked in following the Iowa caucuses. Pundits like FOX News’ Sean Hannity believe that the McCain campaign transpired to throw Huckabee back into the limelight by throwing some of their delegates to him in crucial states. West Virginia, for example, was handed to Mitt Romney after the first round of caucusing. The second round, however, produced markedly different results. Huckabee, bolstered by the support of McCain’s voters, quickly became the victor. It’s tactics like these that seem to have blocked Mitt Romney from successfully winning the conservative votes he needed.

  Republican Frontrunner John McCain

  [Photo Credit: VictoryNH]

As McCain wins victory after victory across the country, conservatives keep attempting to block the Straight Talk Express on its route to the Republican presidential nomination. Dr. James Dobson, director of the conservative organization Focus on the Family, said in a statement yesterday that he would never support a McCain candidacy. Similar statements by conservative pundits like Ann Coulter (who said she’d actively campaign for Hillary Clinton in the general election if McCain was the Republican nominee) haven’t quite put a dent in the perceived viability of a McCain presidency. Commentator Sean Hannity remarked upon McCain’s reported party flip-flops in prior years, noting that he debated running with John Kerry in 2004. McCain is reminiscent of Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, the Independent Democrat who has endorsed his run for President.

  Does Anyone Else?

  [Photo Credit: jaquina]

Romney’s withdrawal from the race the other day truly makes McCain the only viable candidate. The Huckabee campaign is still active, even if it may be fighting a race it cannot win. When asked why he was going to stay in the race the other day, Governor Huckabee made some comments typical of his candidacy thus far,

I didn’t major in math. I majored in miracles.

Luckily, that’s what Huckabee will need to win the Republican nominations. McCain has a tough task ahead of him in uniting the Republican party, but he has months to do it.

Decision Time for Democrats

The Democrats, meanwhile, have no such candidate. Opinion polls are locked between the two candidates, and the primaries show similar results. When contrasted with John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, Barack Obama is the candidate who fares far better. Yet within the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton still maintains a large following. So, come the Democratic Convention, will Democrats choose the candidate who fares better nationally, or better within their own party?

Retribution for Republicans?

The Bush Presidency will leave the next president with a mess to clean up. Yet it seems as if most Americans aren’t taking out their anger on Republicans. McCain, it seems, is able to separate himself far enough from President Bush. Super Tuesday painted Obama as viable, Hillary as beatable, and McCain as the inevitable candidate. Still, Americans are indecisive. The coming weeks, and coming primaries, will help to narrow the field for the inevitable two person campaign coming for November.

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The Surprises Abound in a Stunning Super Tuesday by New School Politics, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.