After John McCain won the South Carolina primary, he looked different. My mom wondered if he hired a better make-up artist. He looked younger, stronger and confident enough to take the lead for the republican nomination and hold onto it. It will be very interesting to see if McCain can gain the full support of the republican regulars when he is positioning himself as an “outsider” and independent thinker. His position on the war in Iraq will be a tough sell for a nation that is tired of a conflict that is dragging on with on end in sight, despite the apparent effectiveness of the most recent surge.
On the democratic side, Hillary Clinton has survived the Obama win in Iowa and has made it clear that she has enough support from the democratic base to surge back into the lead. Her win in Nevada was solid and showed that women are still supporting her. Obama looked like he was ready to push past Clinton, but the voters applied the brakes in New Hampshire and Nevada.
New Jersey’s participation in Super Tuesday is looking more interesting every minute as the 22-state super primary takes place two days after the Super Bowl. But first up comes Florida. It’s wonderful that everything is so up in the air. Recent primary elections have been decided in the past long before New Jerseyans voted, but not this time. Best of all is the news that voters are turning out in record numbers for the primaries. That is the most important consequence of these tight races; voters really feel like they can make a difference this time around.