Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise
Precinct captain Curtis Sprott-Sharif (center) gives brochures to Patricia Johnson, a Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School teacher, (left) during the Texas primary election at the school in Beaumont on Tuesday, March 4, 2008.
Lou Richard of Beaumont (center) talks with precinct captains Alvin Allison (left) and Curtis Sprott-Sharif (right) during the Texas primary election at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Beaumont. The results from today's Texas primary may decide the Democratic presidential nominee.
William Bairamian of Los Angeles answers questions at the Clinton campaign headquarters in Beaumont. Both camps have recruited operatives from other states to secure a win.
Junior Ambeau of Gainesville, Fla. helps out at the Obama campaign headquarters in Beaumont.
Volunteers work a phone bank to get out the vote at the Obama campaign headquarters in Beaumont. Primary elections produce 4/7ths of the Texas delegates to the Democratic party national convention. Superdelegates account for 1/7th of the delegates.
A mass of Democratic voters wait to caucus at Rosedale Baptist Church in Beaumont. Although 2/7th of the state delegates come from the caucuses, they are typically a Democratic party-insider event with sparse turnout. This year's primary was different.
Hillary Clinton won the Texas Democratic primary election. Locally, Barack Obama won Jefferson County while Clinton won the remaining counties in Southeast Texas. Due to the population of Jefferson County and the "Texas Two-Step," Obama actually gained more deligates from Southeast Texas than Clinton.
Clinton earned four net delegates in the state-wide primary. She also has 12 pledged superdelegates to Obama's nine (14 remain uncommitted). However, Obama is currently ahead 37-30 in the caucuses (they're not all counted yet).
So, after all the work and millions of dollars spent in Texas, the two candidates essentially earned zero net delegates and there's still 14 Superdelegates up for grabs.
That's Texas politics y'all. :-)
To understand what happened (and is still in play) in Texas, please read "Neither Clinton nor Obama can win enough delegates before the convention" by Richard S. Dunham / The Houston Chronicle.
Please also read, "Record numbers of voters..." by Ryan Myers and "Why are voters confused about Texas primary-caucus system?" by Jemimah Noonoo.
4 comments:
Haven't the last couple of weeks been a blast? I love election nights. Good times.
This election made me feel good about the democratic process. I don't recall ever seeing this kind of interest and activity in an election.
Great coverage of the primary. Technical question...are you bouncing your flash off the ceiling in the shots at each of the primary headquarters?
Thanks,
Jamie
It's available light indoors. Both offices had directional shadow light (blue) plus fluorescent (greenish-yellow) and tungsten (reddish-orange) lights. Since the light is red, green and blue (RGB) simultaneously, there's no way to completely correct it on deadline.
I could have taken the easy route and posted the images as B&W, but I believe images should be displayed in the mode they're shot when possible.
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