Hanging chads close

Once more, an election in Florida is crucial to the future of America. If John McCain wins here today then he almost certainly will be the Republican nominee. If not, then this contest will go on beyond Super Tuesday on February 5th, when more than 20 states vote, and that helps Mitt Romney who has the money to compete in every state. The polls show that the race is far too close to call. Indeed, it will be a major surprise if either candidate wins by more than a point or two.

Perhaps, the most amazing thing about this contest though is how irrelevant Rudy Giuliani seems. He is currently in a distant third and it is widely expected that he will drop out after this contest. It is remarkable how a politician with pretty much 100 percent name recognition and a reputation as an American hero for his response to 9/11, has been such a bust in the primary process that he is set to drop out after failing to win a single contest.

The mistake that the Giuliani campaign made was to come up with a half in, half out strategy for the early states. They tried to have it both ways by tipping their toes in the water in these states and then leaving them claiming they really weren’t that interested in them. This gave Giuliani the worst of both worlds as he couldn’t claim he wasn’t competing in them but he also wasn’t going to do well enough to garner any momentum or positive media coverage from these contests.

Much more on the primaries at Americano.