Today is “Super Tuesday” in US politics

No matter what President Duterte says in trying to distance away from America, the destiny of our nation and people are essentially intertwined with US politics and American economy. There are no less than 10 million Filipinos in the US and whatever comes out of the US elections will definitely impinge on all of us.

Today, 14 of the 50 US states shall go to the polls for their primaries. I opt to focus on the Democrat primaries and consider these political exercises as very crucial for the fight among the five top contenders, namely Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar. Up for grabs are 1,357 pledged delegates out of the 3,979 total, in preparation for the Democratic National Convention from July 13 to 18 in Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina, the emerging top three contenders appear to be Biden, Sanders, and Buttigieg.

Although the Biden camp keeps claiming that the former vice president of Barrack Obama (from 2008 to 2017) has the best chance to beat President Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, the self-confessed socialist democrat, appears to be leading in California (with 415 pledged delegates up for contention), and also in Texas with 228 delegates up for grabs. If Sanders wraps it up in these two largest states (based on number of delegates and popular votes), then Joe Biden's dream may turn from hopeful to dim. With due respect, there is no way that Buttigieg, a 38-year-old mayor from the remote town of South Bend, Indiana, has a real chance to make it in the Wisconsin national convention.

But if Sanders gets the nomination in Wisconsin, the Democrats may find it hard to beat Trump because Bernie is too liberal and more socialist than democrat. The general voters' ideological mode may not be prepared for Sanders. Sanders is 78, Biden is 77, Elizabeth Warren is 70, and Amy Klobuchar is 59. The problem with Sanders is not age but ideology. The Californians love him because of his pronouncements about medical care and writing off student loans, as well as his views on immigration. But these issues are not important in New York, Massachusetts, and Chicago. Sanders is an extremist, while Biden is moderate.

The other states and their number of pledged delegates that are being contested today are: Alabama, 52; Arkansas, 31; Colorado, 67; Maine, 24; Massachusetts, 91; Minnesota, 75; North Carolina, 110; Oklahoma, 37; Tennessee, 64; Utah, 29; Vermont, 16; and Virginia, 99. The American Samoa, which is not a state but a US territory, will also have their own primary election with only six Democratic delegates to be contested by the Democrats. Whoever will win today will definitely be ahead in the national convention in Wisconsin come July.

I am not an American but my parents were when they were still around, and my brothers and sisters are Americans and mostly Democrats. I am leaning towards Democrats too, but I cannot vote. There, you should take my views with a grain of salt. I am not unbiased when it comes to US politics. Not because of personalities, but because of the issues and the ideology.