Super Duper!!

I haven't blogged about the US elections in a while, it had kinda gone a bit quiet as far as news reaching the UK was concerned. Couple of things caught my eye today though.

I got an email from Barack last night (he likes to write to me), telling me that he'd raised $25m so far, all from individual supporters (it's a big part of his campaign that politics should be a conversation with the people, and he's not taking contributions from corporates or lobbyists). Quite impressive considering Clinton has raised just $26m, and hasn't made such a pledge. Whether that means Clinton still has that card up her sleeve, and Obama will run out of cash, I don't know.

Then, I read about Super Duper Tuesday. "Super Tuesday" has been around for 30 years or so now; synchronous election days in multiple states, which usually cause the minnows to drop out, but often cause upsets or unheard-ofs to suddenly become heard of (think FA Cup giant killings, but with politics). This year, tired of the demographically-misrepresentative and smaller states like Iowa and New Hampshire shaping the beginnings of all the campaigns, the other states have decided to, practically speaking, make the primaries a general election. 25 states (and maybe more) will now be holding there primaries on February 5th, in what has been dubbed (it could only be so in America) Super Duper Tuesday. This includes California and Texas, who are the most populous and have the most electoral college votes. So, it could all be over and the tickets decided on Feb 5th 2007. This could be a bad thing - those small players without a voice used to rely on the gradual build up through the small states to gain momentum (Bill Clinton for example), and some commentators are suggesting this move will only be a good thing for the well-funded big candidates.

Finally, in a nod again to my working life, Joe Biden's website www.headtohead08.com is a smart use of YouTube video. Pick a candidate, and you can hear what they have to say about Iraq alongside what Joe has to say. It seems to be only about Iraq, but I'm sure that will change. Neat idea, and another example perhaps of an outsider candidate trying to quietly build support via the interwebs.