Jessica Fisher, Dylan Maynard and Samuel Rusch
Secretary Clinton's and Senator Sander's delegate count across the United States.
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Voters will go to the polls to cast their vote for the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees in six states including Ohio, Florida Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and The North Marianas Islands Tuesday.
Tuesday’s vote is known as Super Tuesday 3. Georgia joined eleven other states to cast their vote in the presidential primaries on March 1, also known as Super Tuesday or the SEC Primary in this election cycle.
Looking back over the SEC Primary Zach McDowell of Kennesaw State University for Bernie expressed disappointment as well as optimism.
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| Zach McDowell hard at work for KSU for Bernie |
“I can’t say it didn’t sting a little bit just because of all the work we have put in here in Kennesaw and the things I’ve done through the campaign office while I was here,” said McDowell. “The fact that we won four states is amazing, considering where we were a year ago. We were down sixty points nationally, we weren’t relevant in any state at all.”
Dr. Andrew Pieper of Kennesaw State University (KSU) noted that politics are brutal.
“Democrats have varying rates of approval in the South,” said Pieper. “Even if Sanders wins this state [Wisconsin], he probably won’t achieve greater numbers in this category.”
Pieper believes that Sanders will continue to have a hard time among black voters.
“Addressing issues that the black and African American communities face is something that is clearly against how he [Sanders] operates.”
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| Dr. Andrew Pieper working in his office |
African American vote or no, McDowell says that Sen. Sanders will make it to the general election.
“I will always reaffirm that no matter what happens Bernie Sanders will make it to the general election, it’s just a question of how and when that decision is made.”
When asked about Sen. Sander’s poor performance in the south McDowell believes that he could perform well against a Republican in the region.
“Head-to-head with the Republican candidate I have no worry about him doing well in the South,” McDowell said. “Once you force the hand of Republicans and Democrats into voting, are you going to vote for Sanders, or for Trump, Cruz or Rubio? I think that decision is a lot easier than what a lot of people are being faced with [between] Bernie or Hillary.”
The election gets more bleak for McDowell if Sen. Sanders doesn’t win the Democratic nomination.
“With the general I can only say what I’m going to do, I’m not going to tell anyone else what to do,” McDowell said. “I’ll either write Bernie’s name in on the ballot or I won’t vote. I will not be voting for Hillary Clinton if she’s the nominee because to me she’s the extenuation of establishment politics and that’s not going to cut it. I’m a registered independent.”
McDowell and Pieper feel similarly about superdelegates. Superdelegates are a part of the Democratic Party nomination process. Party officials as well as elected democrats get a vote at the convention for their choice of which candidate they would like to see as their party’s nominee.
“I almost don’t count superdelegates,” said Pieper. “The superdelegates will do precisely what they did in 2008. If someone secures the majority of the other delegates, they’re going to vote that way because it would be a break in the Democratic Party if they overturned the will of the voters.”
McDowell thinks that superdelegates will make their way to the support of Sen. Sanders.
“The superdelegates have had their allegiances pledged for over a year now,” McDowell said. “Hillary had 400 delegates pledge a year ago, before the campaign even officially started. But they’re changing, don’t let anyone tell you that the campaign is over because she has all the super delegates. They haven’t voted and they can change their vote any time. Here in Georgia, State Senator Vincent Fort has already changed his stance.He is the example that many superdelegates are going to follow.”
If Secretary Clinton ultimately wins the Democratic presidential nomination the Benghazi scandal may follow her into the general election.
“Objectively it’s a non-issue,” said Pieper. “I think most of it’s made up. Regarding her emails, she did what she did before it was classified, but it’s still a political issue. It feeds into a narrative that kind of already existed. She’s untrustworthy. She’ll do anything to get elected.”
Tyler Gonzales, a Clinton supporter, is fearful of a Trump presidency.
"One side of my family is Mexican, his bigoted remarks really woke me up to my laziness in regards to pursuing political representation that looks out for me and my family."
"Equality," said Gonzales. "Simple. The Republicans don't hold the same definition. Equal opportunity. Opportunity is everything."
Pieper spoke on what may be considered Sen. Sander’s biggest vulnerability, his stance as a Democratic Socialist.
“Sanders is pretty much your typical European liberal,” Pieper said. “Hillary has been called a socialist, and so has Bill, Obama too. Socialism is a really bad word in this country. It’s so strong that people don’t think about it and say it’s easy to use. The reason socialism has such a bad connotation is because it’s about the Cold War and communism and Bernie Sanders is not a communist by any stretch of the imagination.”
McDowell ended on a positive note.
“Going forward what I would say is to Bernie’s credit and to his campaign’s credit he really has started a political revolution, there are people all over the country, people slightly older than me running for local and state office,” McDowell said.
Clinton has 1,223 delegates, Sanders has 574 delegates, Trump has 456 delegates, Cruz has 359 delegates, Rubio has 151 delegates and Kasich has 54 delegates as of March 10.
In Georgia Clinton won 72 delegates, Sanders won 28, Trump won 40, Rubio won 14 and Cruz won 18.
The Democrats need 2,383 delegates in order to secure their party’s nomination, the Republicans need 1,237 delegates.
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