OPINION
7A
TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2008
THE UNIVERSITY HAILY KANSAN
COMMENTARY
Dems'indecision may cost them
Back in the fall before any primary elections had taken place, I wrote a couple of columns about the wide, zany field of presidential hopefuls.
There was a glut of seemingly legitimate contenders and a few head-scratching dark horses, and it was great. That many people, even if it was obvious early on that most of them wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in Hawaii of getting more than their mothers to vote for them, made it interesting early.
However, many of the primaries are now out of the way. All of the fringe hopefuls from both major parties have faced reality and dropped out of the race.
The Republicans have found their candidate in a revitalized John McCain, and the Democrats have theirs in Barack O...
Wait a second. Okay, scratch that, apparently the Democratic Party has found their candidate in Hillary Clin... What, not her either?
But they are both still in the race. And it's late April.
The other party has their guy, and they are already speculating on who his running mate will be.
By now, both parties would usually have their candidate set and ready to go. The remaining primaries, as well as the official announcement that this person is the party's new candidate at the National Convention would be formalities. The real campaign could begin.
The magic number for a Democrat to automatically have the party's nomination is 2,025. That's in both delegates and super-delegates.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Party still has two people in the race, and apparently voters have found plenty to like about both of them.
For those who are confused by the term, a "super-delegate" is just like a regular delegate, but super-delegates wear brightly colored tights and capes. Either that or they are elected officials and representatives from various organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party.
But it's April. This ordinarily does not happen this late in the campaign.
Even though Obama has the lead, it is relatively small, and there is still the potential that Clinton could surpass him.
Combining the two kinds of delegates, Barack Obama has 1,719,following the Pennsylvania primary,and Hillary Clinton has 1,586.
As an Obama supporter myself, I'm crossing my fingers
DELEGATE COUNT
that he'll be the one to make it out of the contest, and the delegate margin is just big enough that he could survive in the lead until the Democratic National Convention in August.
There is still room, however, for Clinton to pull ahead, with upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. The likelihood that she would pull ahead because of them seems slim, though, as according a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, Obama has the advantage in North Carolina, and the two are neck-in-neck in Indiana.
He and the Republican Party can come up with a catchy slogan, a campaign song and all the various shallow things that seem to get people to pay attention to political campaigns.
Even after Clinton's win in Pennsylvania, she took only three more delegates from that contest than Obama did. Unless Clinton can pull off a landslide victory in one of the two aforementioned upcoming contests, it is likely that Obama will hold onto his lead. Neither can get to the magic number at this pace, which leaves open the dreadful possibility that it really will take the Party until its convention to settle on a candidate.
More importantly, he can line up a running mate, so by the time the Democrats will figure out whether they are pairing someone with Obama or Clinton, the Republicans will have a head start on promoting the McCain and Romney/Huckabee/Thompson/Giuliani/Rice/Mark Mangino (come on, you know you'd vote for him) ticket.
Meanwhile, John McCain has all the time in the world to promote his candidacy now, no longer having to compete with the likes of Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney, who have made it a point to get behind him.
I can't just say the remaining states need to get on with it and pledge their delegates to Obama. Democracy is a funny thing like that.
Unfortunately, if the remaining primaries continue to be split, with only slight advantages to one candidate or the other, the Democratic candidate will only be finalized when there is very little time left to work.
This will hurt the chances of whoever that candidate is and, ultimately, the Party itself.
This delay practically guarantees McCain a victory in November.
Cohen is a Topeka Junior in political science and English.
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FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
Max Rinke
COMMENTARY
What happens when we cut the cheese
Editor's note: This was a blog post that originally appeared on mediaenvironment.wordpress.com, the blog for Simran Sethi's Media and the Environment class.
Carbon dioxide soaks up the limelight as the big bad wolf of global warming, but its partner-in-carbon-crime, methane, might huff and puff and build up in our atmosphere first.
Every day, one cow farts and burps 240 liters of methane. That's 120 two-liter bottles filled with silent-but-deadlies multiplied by the world's 1.3 billion cattle.
Cows, cows, the musical food. The more you eat, the more we're screwed.
A large source of atmospheric methane is from the world's cattle.
It's the most inconvenient truth of all, Al Gore: Eating steaks and hamburgers is killing the planet
Keith is a Wichita sophomore in journalism and environmental studies. She is the Kansan associate opinion editor.
Whatever the solution, we can't keep farting around with such a serious problem.
Not once in his 96-minute presentation did Gore mention methane. But methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and emissions have increased by 240 percent since 1994, when carbon dioxide has increased only 30 percent in the same time.
(among other things).
Scientists are attempting to correct the problem by altering the bacteria in the cow's stomach. But we are failing to address the real problem: our increasing consumption of meat.
Not to toot my own horn, but becoming a vegetarian is a more sustainable lifestyle. I wouldn't dare suggest that everyone become a vegetarian, but saving meat for certain occasions may save the planet. All food can be made with meat substitutes or without meat.
Global warming is playing its own version of natural selection by changing the types of plants found in Kansas. Plants resistant to droughts survive while native species die. If grazing animals refuse to eat these new plants, companies would move north to find suitable plants again, taking a devastating portion of Kansas' $7.3 billion agriculture industry with it.
water-stressed aquifer.
Feedlots, especially in western Kansas, forget that global warming will hurt them from rising temperatures but no extra rainfall. Warmer temperatures will force them to pull water from the already
Eliminating beef from your diet may seem a little un-Kansan, but making up for that by eating locally grown produce should keep farmers in business.
editorials around the nation
Disaster relief will keep rural communities alive
A well-designed housing bill crafted by state lawmakers was signed into law by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius recently. Originally prompted by the disaster in Greensburg and flooded areas of southeast Kansas, the legislation will allow communities to compete for $28 million over the next seven years to build homes.
The program will concentrate initially on those areas struck by natural disasters to boost home-construction efforts. This in and of itself is enough to praise lawmakers who passed the bill. Anything that can be done to rebuild devastated communities is the right thing to do.
While the financial aid is not staggering in its total amount, that expansion targets a perennial problem in small-town Kansas. It's not just enough to attract and retain businesses where residents can work. The communities also need to retain those workers — and affordable housing is a critical component of those efforts.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
housing bill is a sign of government in action.
We agree that it's a step in the right direction. We also need to commend, again, both the legislative and executive branches of state government for making this happen. Too often it is easier to single out inaction or misguided efforts coming out of Topeka This
Faith forum illustrates another side of politics
The Hays Daily News
Voters should be wary of politicians speaking about their faith. They're running for public office, after all, not Sunday school teacher.
That said, religion is central to the lives of most Americans, and the candidate forum held recently at a Pennsylvania Christian college offered the two Democratic presidential contenders a chance to speak to issues of faith.
It was thought-provoking to see the candidates grapple with moral questions that weigh on public policy, such as, "When does life begin?"
why she's pro-choice. She was appropriately humble on other questions, such as why God allows innocent people to suffer.
Hillary Clinton said she believed that "the potential for life begins at conception," although she went on to explain
Barack Obama spoke to the need to welcome religious values in the public sphere, although he also argued that a president must recognize the diversity of faith in America.
It was interesting that Obama said he would continue President Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which has enlisted churches to help government tackle problems from hunger to teen pregnancy. But faith-based initiatives aren't a priority for most politicians, except at election time.
If nothing else, the forum encouraged a little more compassion, humility and tolerance — values sorely lacking of late on the campaign trail.
The Wichita Eagle April 15
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If you want to ride your bike in the road,follow the same rules as the cars.
--the power.
Facebook Chat is not for people with jobs, and it is for people who are lazy. If they are online and you are online, you should just call them.
To the girl walking in front of Wescoe wearing the "I Should Be In The Kitchen" shirt: Will you marry me?
According to Mash, I'm marrying Sasha Kaun. And Mash is legit.
We have three weeks left. Time to make that last push for some action.
To the boy in the library who was listening to the song "Happy Ending" nine consecutive times with the volume on high: Not everyone shares your appreciation of Avril.
--the power.
Get the sports off the pages that aren't in the sports section.
Last night, I saw a cop with a headlight out.
--the power.
End of semester projects can eat my poop.
You know what? That one time when I said I never cheated on you? Well, I lied.
--the power.
It's kind of surreal to walk through Anschutz and see your Facebook on someone's computer screen.
It's the end of the semester, why can't the professor figure out how the hell to use a microphone in a lecture hall?
Dear allergies, please stop turning my eyes red.
Why are people climbing the sides of buildings beside Anschutz on a Sunday night?
Librarians are like a cult. Like Scientologists except they believe everyone should shut up and not play games on the library's computers. So they're not in it for the money, just for
---
I just went camping in 35 degree weather over the weekend, I'm badass!
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