On January 26, 2008, former President Bill Clinton said, “Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in 1984 and 1988.” Here is a video of him saying that:
Clinton’s statement has caused most people to believe that Jesse Jackson won presidential primaries in South Carolina in those years. Actually there were no Democratic presidential primaries in South Carolina in either of those years. Jackson’s success in that state was in caucuses (Jackson was born in South Carolina).
At 8:45 pm eastern time, with 73% counted, the results are: Obama 201,171; Clinton 99,824; Edwards 68,422; Kucinich 405. For CNN’s election returns page, which is being continuously updated, see here.
As courts continue to support the idea that political parties may run their nominations process as they see fit (even when that conflicts with state law), more observers are starting to question why taxpayers pay for party primaries, especially presidential primaries. Here is another such commentary from Laurence Reisman. He writes for a series of newspapers in Florida’s Treasure Coast (the area north of Palm Beach).
Nevada State Senator Dina Titus, leader of her party in the State Senate, says she will soon introduce a bill to give Nevada presidential primaries. She and some other Nevada observers feel the caucus method is not a good idea. See this article.
On January 22, a committee to recall one particular Michigan state legislator filed a lawsuit to strike down a law that says only district residents may circulate that type of petition. The case is in Kent County Circuit Court. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
