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US Elections Update: February 5's Super Tuesday Might Determine the Strongest Among the Candidates

February 5 may be the date for the fulfillment of the destiny of any of the Democratic or Republican Candidates. It is a rendezvous with destiny for close rivals Barrack Obama and Hilary Clinton, as well as John McCain and Mitt Romney. It is a hope for Republicans Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. Super Tuesday could well be the seal of nomination for Republicans but it might be a different scenario for the Democratic Nomination as the fight is close to call it quits on Tuesday.

Currently 24 states are scheduled to hold caucuses or primary elections on Super Tuesday, 2008. Blue denotes Democratic-only caucuses, Red denotes Republican-only state conventions, and Purple represents states holding elections for both parties .

The Republican candidates are on a steeper hill as most of the states holding primaries or caucuses has a Winner Takes All delegation status wherein the winner takes all the delegates. A single winner in those states will eventually be a good seal for the candidate

Super Tuesday (2008), Super Duper Tuesday,Giga Tuesday, Tsunami Tuesday, and The Tuesday of Destiny are names for 5 February 2008, the day on which the largest-ever simultaneous number of state U.S. presidential primary elections will be held. Twenty-four states and American Samoa are scheduled to hold either caucuses or primary elections for one or both parties on this date.

The large number of states holding elections on February 5 could shorten the period between the first caucus in Iowa, on January 3, 2008, and the de facto selection of a party's nominee to just a few weeks. By comparison, only about 1% of nominating convention delegates had been selected by early February in the 2000 election cycle, whereas Super Tuesday 2008 shall see 52% of the Democratic and 41% of the Republican delegates awarded.

As of February 2007, eight states were scheduled to hold primary or caucus elections on Super Tuesday, 5 February 2008: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Missouri, New Mexico Democrats, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia Republicans. However to increase their importance in the candidate selection process, several states moved up their contests, which some pundits criticized as being "pure self-interest."

The following states have changed their elections to February 5: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho Democrats, Illinois, Kansas Democrats†, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana Republicans, New Jersey, New York, and Tennessee.

In an attempt to keep states from moving their primary or caucus elections even earlier, the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee have established penalties for states holding elections earlier than 5 February 2008. As a result, the Democratic National Committee has stripped the states of Michigan and Florida of all convention delegates. The Republican National Committee has reduced by half the number of convention delegates from five states: Wyoming, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, and Michigan.

Reference: Super Tuesday (2008). (2008, February 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:35, February 3, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Super_Tuesday_%282008%29&oldid=188674439