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January is the month whose name indicates
reflection and planning. The first calendar month is named after
the two-faced Roman god Janus. It is a month when we look back at
the past year and forward to the year to come. It is a time when
more than 70 percent of us make New Year's resolutions. We
remember what worked or didn't work for us in the past. We take
stock of ourselves and assess our need for change in the new year.
We remember past relationships and we assess potential new ones. We
contemplate our future course. We either like the path we are on or
decide a fresh new path is our best answer.
Therefore, it seems to be very appropriate
that the start of voting in Election 2008 is within forty eight
hours of New Year's Day. The early voting start in the new year is
due to the fact that many states have moved their primary election
dates forward into the first six weeks of the new year. Indeed,
more than fifty percent of all delegates in each party will be
chosen by the conclusion of voting on Super Tuesday, February 5,
2008.
This year, in addition to personal New
Year's resolutions, voters will also have a political resolution
to make. The voters decisions in this Presidential election primary
are similar to the type of choices that are made with all personal
resolutions on New Year's Day. We review our lives based on our
past choices and decide if anything needs to be changed or improved
to better prepare us for the future.
Consider that the candidates from our
past, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, are currently in trouble
in the latest public opinion polls. Although both have campaigned
on a platform of change, their credentials and profiles are very
well known to voters. Both have been visible in American politics
for the last two decades. The voters must decide if they want to
continue their past relationships with both these candidates for at
least the next four years. The current polls indicate that these
old acquaintances could soon be forgotten by voters in favor of
fresh new faces. The polls, especially in the last month, would
indicate that voters are not in a great Auld Lang Syne mood at the
moment. Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani hope that the voters'
mood changes soon after New Years Day.
Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee are the
beneficiaries of the voters current resolution for a new political
face in the New Year. Each candidate is surging in the public
opinion polls. Obama and Huckabee have campaigned as candidates for
change in Washington D.C.. Both candidates hope that the voters
continue to move toward their campaigns and do not reconnect with
the familiar political faces of the past after New Year's Day.
In late December 2007, the polls indicate
the races in both parties are very close. In the Democratic party,
Obama and Clinton are in a statistical dead heat in the first four
state primaries and caucuses. The Obama campaign has surged in the
last month to narrow a large lead that Hillary Clinton held
throughout 2007. Clinton has been running a campaign similar to an
experienced incumbent. Her husband has been on the campaign trail
reminding everyone who will listen of his two term presidency. Will
voters find comfort in the New Year in these familiar faces or is
it time for the new political relationships provided by Barack
Obama or John Edwards?
In the Republican primary election, the
surge of Mike Huckabee to the top of the national polls in the last
six weeks has been nothing short of remarkable. The public opinion
polls indicate that Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney will be the
winners in the early primaries. Republican voters currently appear
ready to embrace new political relationships as their resolution
after the new year. However, remember that that over 90% of New
Year's resolutions, although well intended, do not get
accomplished. If this is the case, the voting in the later
primaries in January and February may well favor a return to Rudy
Giuliani and John McCain.
After the countdown and the New Year's
ball falls at midnight on December 31, 2007, in Times Square, we
will enter the year of 2008. People will make resolutions for the
new year about diets, smoking, finances, health, relationships,
exercise and many other things in their personal lives.
This year the American voter will also
make a political resolution early in the New Year in the process to
elect the next President in November of 2008. The real unknown is
whether the voters will be in a mood for Clinton and Giuiliani and
Auld Lang Syne or prefer a new and different political
relationship? Will it be a New Year's resolution for a fresh new
face and a vote for change or the comfort of the familiar candidate
with a back to the future resolution for the new year?
Indeed, the political campaigns of the
major parties Presidential hopefuls, Clinton, Obama, Edwards,
Giuliani, Huckabee, Romney, Thompson and McCain await this New
Year's resolution from the voter in early 2008.
About the Author
James William Smith has worked in senior
management positions for some of the largest financial services
firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has
also provided business consulting support for insurance
organizations and start up businesses. Mr. Smith has a Bachelor of
Science Degree from Boston College. He enjoys writing articles on
political, national, and world events. Visit his website at
http://www.eworldvu.com
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