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Talk the Vote: McCain is the Republican nominee.

Big wins for Clinton in Ohio and Rhode Island.  Obama wins in Vermont.  Clinton also wins the popular vote in Texas, but Obama is winning the Texas caucus.

Here is CBS’ delegate count:  Obama 1512 Clinton 1423.  Clinton would win the rest of the primaries, but still not win enough delegates.  The question is, how hard will she fight for the super delegates?

Iran supports Iraqi militias.

Venezuela puts troops on the Columbia border.

An Israeli  researcher says Moses was high on something when he talked to God on Mt. Sinai. Okay buddy.

Glendale American Idol contestant, David Hernandez, used to be a male stripper at Dick’s Cabaret in Phoenix.  Idol says he is staying put.  Yes, the clients were men.

More and more immigrants to Canada are keeping their native tongues and not adapting.

Poll:  Mesa wants their police to enforce immigration laws.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has suspended his campaign to become the next President of the United States.  Hear Mitt Romney’s full speech to CPAC.

Since the Democratic race is so close between Clinton and Obama could the 2008 convention be brokered?  John McIntyre from RealClearPolitics.com will join Ankarlo at 11am to chat about this possibility.  Could it mean trouble for the Democrats?

A Tempe man was denied a liquor license a few months ago.  The FBI says he planned a massacre at the Super Bowl.  Thankfully, the man turned himself in.

Shaq is coming baby.

More and more Americans are being kidnapped and being held in Mexico for ransom.  Is it still isolated or is it enough to start worrying?  Safe to say this is another product of illegal immigration.

Before the liberals start attacking Exxon Mobil’s record profits last year, they might want to look at how much money is taxes they paid.  In fact, liberals should LOVE Big Oil.

TOTAL VOTES CAST

Clinton: 50.2% (7,347,971)

Obama: 49.8% (7,294,851)

McCain: 43.1% (3,611,459)
Romney: 35.4% (2,961,834)
Huckabee: 21.5% (1,796,729)

Delegate Update:

I am getting delegate updates from 3 sources:

Candidate:    CNN:        Politico.com:        NBC News:

Clinton            811                845                    838

Obama            720                765                    838

McCain            616                613                    720

Romney           269                269                   256

Huckabee        170                190                    194  (updated 12:00pm (mt))

Obama dominates with blacks (82% to 16%).  He won independents by 21%.  Voters who chose the Iraq war as their number one issue favored Obama by 15%.  Obama also won college graduates, 54-42%.

On the Republican side McCain was strong among independents holding a 2-to1 advantage there.  He was also strong amongst self-describes moderate conservatives (52 to 24% McCain over Romney).  For the second time, McCain was the favored candidate on the economy beating Romney 9 points.  Romney excelled when illegal immigration was the top issue for voters and also beat McCain among very conservative voters.  Huckabee did manage to capture 21% of the conservative vote, mostly in the south.

Yesterday’s results show me how different this country really is.  We are voting for who is most like us.  White women are voting for Hillary, blacks for Obama, the elderly for McCain, Mormons for Romney and the southern conservatives voted for the southern conservative in Huckabee.  The northeast has a completely different set of values than the south.  The midwest is different from the west.  America is truly a divided country.  We are divided on the issues, divided by region, and divided by race and gender.  Can anyone political candidate represent all of us and bring us together?  Not so far.

The other divisions exists among the parties.  Republicans are going through an identity crisis.  The conservatives doesn’t like McCain.  The moderates, liberals and independents love him.  On the Democratic side they love both of their candidates.  Their love is causing a major split along racial and gender lines.  There are more Americans stuck in the middle than on the right or left.  In this election, we are suffering an identity crisis and can’t figure out who we want to represent us.

On one other final note, something else has stood out to me about McCain’s ascension.  He is supported by Republicans who aren’t happy with the Bush administration.   Ironically, McCain is the Republican candidate who is most like President Bush.  Think about that.

Democrats:      Sen. Hillary Clinton won a total of 8 states; Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Tennessee.  She has a total of 783 delegates.

Sen. Barack Obama won 13 states; Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Utah, Illinois, Deleware, Minnesota, Colorado, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas and North Dakota.  He has a total of 709 delegates.

Republicans:    Sen. John McCain has become the clear front runner in the Republican race.  He won 9 states yesterday; Arizona, California, New York, Oklahoma, Connecticut, New Jersey, Missouri, Illinois and Delaware.  McCain has a total of 559 Republican delegates.

Gov. Mitt Romney won six states last night; Massachusetts, Utah, Minnesota, Alaska, Colorado and North Dakota.  Romney has 265 delegates

Gov. Mike Huckabee did well in the south winning 5 states; West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia.  Huckabee has a total of 169 delegates.

Scott Rasmussen will join Ankarlo later this morning. He is predicting a huge win for Sen. John McCain today. Fritz Wenzel from Zogby international will also join Ankarlo. The Zogby numbers show a huge lead for Obama and Romney in California.

McCain and Romney continue to fight over who is the real conservative. McCain told NBC’s Matt Lauer this morning that he will have to convince people he can carry the conservative mantle. Listen to the audio: McCain says he is the real conservative

Conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan says McCain’s support is a mirage. McCain even took some shots from Sen. Barack Obama. Check out the video.

Bush’s budget brings spending up to a record $3.1 trillion dollars, but he is going to spending your money to secure the border. So is it worth having another $400 billion in deficits?

A middle school has banned farting. No, I’m not kidding.

The Giants win.  Wow.

Super Tuesday is tomorrow.  Arizona gets to vote with 21 other states to try and figure out who our parties nomineess will be.   Here is a look at the latest polls in some key states.  Romney is fighting for his political life in California and it looks like another close one.  Clinton and Obama are neck and neck.

Bush’s budget is going to be over 3.1 trillion dollars.

Malanga also offers up some immigration solutions in an interview with Front Page Magazine.

To read more from Steve Malanga click here.

Vietnam Veteran Ted Sampley disagrees.  Sampley is a former Green Beret that served in combat for two years during Vietnam.  He was a guest on Ankarlo Mornings today, saying McCain’s Naval Career has been helped out by his family name (both McCain’s father and grandfather were four-star Admirals).  Sampley also says McCain has been working hard to normalize relations with Vietnam despite the fact that several prisoners of war haven’t been returned to America.  Read more of what Sampley says here.

For full disclosure’s sake, Sampley is behind a group called “Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain.”  Sound familiar?  It should because Sampley had a significant role with the “Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry” in 2004.

You won’t hear me questions either Kerry or McCain’s war record.  They served and served well.  Sampley served.  He has raised his issues with McCain.  I have my own.  But, they are based on his legislative records.  I can site three examples:  McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy and McCain-Lieberman.   McCain-Feingold is a serious attack on the free speech portion of the first amendment.  McCain-Kennedy was the failed immigration “amnesty” bill from 2007 and McCain-Lieberman pushes the federal government to get more involved in the global warming debate.  That being said, McCain has a lifetime 83% conservative rating from the American Conservative Union (though his 2006 rating was only a 65).  Doesn’t that count for something?

Here are some pictures from the John Travolta party.

And this is one quick shot from John Travolta’s 12 second appearance.  Thanks to Sam Youmans  for the photos.

There are a couple of other interesting notes from last night’s Florida primary:

Mayor Rudy Giuliani will drop out of the race and endorse McCain later this afternoon.  Giuliani said if he wasn’t running for president he would be supporting John McCain.  Could this bring a McCain-Giuliani ticket?

Florida is a closed primary state that doesn’t allow independents to cast a ballot unless they re-register as either a Democrat or a Republican.  McCain wasn’t supposed to be able to win a closed primary state.  He did.

McCain won the following groups of Republican voters:

Liberal and moderate Republicans

Hispanic Republicans

Voters over the age of 60

When the economy is the #1 issue, McCain beat Romney (40% to 32%)

When the Iraq war is the #1 issue, McCain beat Romney (45% to 19%).  However, when terorrism was the #1 issue Romney bested McCain (29% to 26%).  Romney was also the choice for voters picking illegal immigration as their #1 issue (43% to 25%).

Voters at the Florida polls were asked about their feelings on the Bush administration.  They rated Bush in four categories: enthusiastic, satisfied, dissatisfied, and angry.  Republican voters who were dissatisfied and angry with the Bush Administration overwhelmingly chose McCain.  Republican voters who had a more negative opinion of the economy also chose McCain over Romney.  Bush fatigue has extended to much of the Republican party as well and McCain has capitalized on that.

Based on the Florida exit polls either the conservative Republicans stayed home or are outnumbered by moderates.  Romney won voters who described themselves as very conservative over McCain.  But, those voters only made up 27%.  Moderates and self-described “somewhat conservative” voters made up 62% of the electorate.

Here is the run down:

Somewhat liberal (8% of voters), McCain-55%, Romney 24%

Moderate (28% of voters), McCain 43%, Romney 21%

Somewhat conservative (34% of voters), McCain 35%, Romney 32%

Very conservative (27% of voters), Romney 44%, McCain 21%

Romney’s support lies with conservatives; McCain’s with the middle.  It’s a battle for control of the Republican party.  Super Tuesday is less than a week away.  But, can anything stop the Straight Talk Express?

McCain promises he won’t give social security to illegal immigrants and he won’t allow anyone illegal to come into this country. Remember, he got the message…secure the border first.

But, it was the other Kennedy that made Ankarlo cringe. Senator Ted Kennedy is also endorsing Barack Obama for president. Now that is scary. Sen. Kennedy was ranked as the third most liberal member of the U.S. Senate by the National Journal in 2006. The same Journal pegged Kennedy as the most liberal Senator three times. Liberal is a badge many Democrats run from, but not old Teddy. He loves it.

Watch Kennedy’s endorsement speech:

While out stumping, McCain has been saying Romney supported a timetable for withdrawal. Romney says McCain is being dishonest and owes him an apology. McCain is referring to an interview Romney did with Robin Roberts on ABC’s Good Morning America back in April of 2007. Listen to the exchange here

Here is a clip from McCain on “Meet the Press” yesterday talking about Romney with Russert.

Romney never said timetables. Let’s be honest.

Here is the press release:

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Fiestas McCain

Dear Amigos,

Saludos!! As you may have heard, we are organizing “Viva McCain Fiestas” all over the nation on Dec. 9^th at 7:00-9:00p.m. ET to watch the Univision Republican Debate and support John McCain. (See flyer below.)

To “Host” a Fiesta simply:

1. Register (by sending me an email to jhernandez@mccain08hq.com letting me know names of those watching, email addresses and cities);

2. Watch the Univision TV Debate;

3. Have a computer on to Watch/Hear Senator McCain LIVE through our web site; and

4. Donate $25 through web page (not required but needed!!)

Over Thanksgiving I singlehandedly signed up 75 family members and friends to participate. Please send me MUCHOS and forward the flyer to all your amigos!

Gracias!

Juan Hernandez

Hispanic Outreach Director

In a 2001 interview with Nightline, Hernandez said “We are betting that the Mexican population in the United States will become more and more like the Jewish communty in the United States and the Puerto Rican community in the United States, that they will think Mexico first. And they will invest in Mexico. They’ve already been doing it to great extent…but now I want the third generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think Mexico first. ” Remember, this guy was born in America. Listen below.

In 2006 on the Fox News Channel, Dr. Juan Hernandez said, “let me remind you the people using false social security numbers are putting in money for you and for me into the social security administration.” So does that make identity theft okay? The bottom line is Hernandez wants more immigrants to come to the United States. On his own website, he writes an article calling for a fix to the broken U.S. immigration system. Hernandez wants temporary guest workers, work visas, a path to citizenship for those who came here illegally, and a reuniting of close family members.

So is this guy working for McCain. Again, no comment yet from the McCain camp. But, here is a photo of Hernandez with McCain advisor Mark McKinnon and McCain’s daughter Meaghan. The photo was taken on December 10, 2007 backstage at the Univision Republican Debate. At the very least, Dr. Hernandez was present inside McCain’s green room at the Spanish language debate. This doesn’t just happen by coincidence.

That is him on the right. Here is a picture from Hernandez’s website. It’s from 1996. And yes that is then Governor of Texas George W. Bush, Hernandez and then Mexican President Vincente Fox.

There is plenty to like about Sen. John McCain. He is an American hero. He has served this country well. He is a leader and proponent on the War in Iraq and he is adamant that government cut spending. But, there is the other side of McCain. The McCain who worked with a very liberal Senator Russ Feingold on legislation to limit political free speech. There is also the McCain who worked with Sen. Ted Kennedy on an immigration reform bill that pretty much amounted to amnesty. Ankarlo asked McCain about the “amnesty bill” in Iowa back in November. McCain responded by saying “I was never for amnesty” and then went on to say most people who ask me questions are better informed. McCain continues to say he hasn’t changed his position on the border, but if he has hired Dr. Juan Hernandez, an amnesty advocate, one has to wonder what McCain really believes.

Listen to Ankarlo ask McCain about amnesty below.

AnkarloMcCain

Is Clinton pandering by breaking out the si se peude?

Did you see Hillary and Obama verbally beat each other up during last night’s Democratic debate? Ankarlo did and thought it was straight out of the Jerry Springer show. Wow. Seems pretty obvious they don’t like each other. Ankarlo also wonders if you should be able to sue a realtor because of a bad assessment. And you have to hear Diane’s restaurant story.

Here the audio below.

Here is the translation:

(translation by UNITE HERE):

“Hillary Clinton does not respect our people. Hillary Clinton’s supporters went to court to stop working people from being able to vote on Saturday. That is disgraceful. Unforgivable. Hillary Clinton does not respect our people who work hard. Hillary Clinton’s supporters want to stop people who are working on Saturday so they can’t vote. Disgraceful. Unforgivable. Hillary Clinton has no shame. Hillary Clinton should not let her friends attack the right of our people to vote on Saturday. Disgraceful. Unforgivable. No respect. Senator Barack Obama is defending our right to vote. Senator Obama wants our votes. He respects our votes. He respects our community, our gente. Barack Obama’s campaign theme is ‘Si Se Puede.’ Yes we can. Vote for a President who respects us and our right to vote. Obama for President. Yes we can.

Obama’s spokesman, Bill Burton, denied Obama’s campaign has anything to do with the ad, but also didn’t denounce the campaign.  “Sen. Obama believes, and has said clearly, that campaigns should fund themselves and discourages supporters from spending outside the campaign.  Coming from a campaign that is repeatedly launching absolutely false attacks against Sen. Obama, it takes some chutzpah. The facts is their camp clearly would like to have worker’s voices silences and they need to live with that unfortunate position.”

Mitt is a proven brilliant mind as a CEO and the people reacted.  This is a guy who took the US Olympic program from an almost $400 million deficit to a $100 million windfall.  He helped take his state of Massachusetts to the number one New Economy city in the United States and, last but not least, he founded a little company called Bain Capital with $37 million in borrowed money twenty years ago and turned it into a $15 billion enterprise.  Yes, the Billion with a “B.”

The number one issue in Michigan and almost all other states is the Economy.  Iraq scores half the number our finance concerns do when it comes to the polsters and Mitt needs to hone in on it.  I’m not a Romney supporter–yet.  But, if he could show me how he can save my job, house or life style and/or keep this country from a deep dark recession then CEO Romney might get a nod from me.

Now, if only his handlers could get him on to a message that he knows well and has no need to abandon in the next state where he campaigns–which sadly has become his M.O.

Would you want to eat her?  The FDA says “meat and milk from cloned animals is as safe as their counterparts bred the old fashioned way” (Associated Press).  But, isn’t it weird?  Doesn’t it freak you out a little bit?  You might be eating a fake animal.  Yummy.

Is it appropriate for airing on KTAR?

As the producer of Ankarlo Mornings, I know Darrell very well. Not only do I work with him, but he is a friend as well. He swears less than anyone else I know. He very rarely utters cuss words (and when I say rarely, I have heard him swear only a handful of times and it’s never the worst words). Though, sometimes in the heat of a discussion certain words will come on the air when it’s relevant to the story. Is this going too far? Or does it help tell the story? Feel free to comment on this (and any) post.