Students, faculty react to Oklahoma's Super Tuesday results
Carrie Cronk
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Front Page
Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain won the Oklahoma presidential primaries on Super Tuesday, and UCO students had similar reactions, whether democrat, republican or undeclared.
Clinton had 228,425 votes and won 24 of the state's 38 democratic delegates, 24 percent more than Senator Barack Obama's total of 130,087 votes and 14 delegates.
On the Republican ticket, McCain brought home 122,748 votes to Mike Huckabee's 110,486 and Mitt Romney's 83,018. McCain received 32 of the state's 38 republican delegates, with Huckabee taking the remaining 6.
Loren Gatch, political science professor said although the Oklahoma democratic primary went as expected, he feels the republican primary was not as decisive going in.
"While I don't think there was much doubt that Hillary Clinton was going to win in Oklahoma, the surge for McCain that has happened nationwide is clearly present in Oklahoma as well.
"Remember that people who participate in primary elections are not the same people who vote in the general election. In Oklahoma, only registered democrats and republicans could participate. Independent voters are not allowed to vote, and their priorities may be different from voters who already identify with one party or another," he said.
Gatch said previously withdrawn candidates had little influence on the election.
"For the Democrats, voters who would have gone for Edwards might have favored Obama, but Edwards was still on the ballot and got over 10 percent of the vote. Under the Democrats' rules, though, 10 percent wasn't enough to win any delegates.
"Even if all of Edwards' voters had been Obama's, Clinton would have still had a higher percentage. For the Republicans, Giuliani polled less than one percent - even Ron Paul got more than he did--but I suspect that Giuliani supporters went to McCain."
Kayce Martin UCO public relations junior said that she voted for McCain.
"I was very happy … he has experience especially with the war and economy. He is good with cutting wasteful cost. He does not beat around the bush," she said.
Clinton had 228,425 votes and won 24 of the state's 38 democratic delegates, 24 percent more than Senator Barack Obama's total of 130,087 votes and 14 delegates.
On the Republican ticket, McCain brought home 122,748 votes to Mike Huckabee's 110,486 and Mitt Romney's 83,018. McCain received 32 of the state's 38 republican delegates, with Huckabee taking the remaining 6.
Loren Gatch, political science professor said although the Oklahoma democratic primary went as expected, he feels the republican primary was not as decisive going in.
"While I don't think there was much doubt that Hillary Clinton was going to win in Oklahoma, the surge for McCain that has happened nationwide is clearly present in Oklahoma as well.
"Remember that people who participate in primary elections are not the same people who vote in the general election. In Oklahoma, only registered democrats and republicans could participate. Independent voters are not allowed to vote, and their priorities may be different from voters who already identify with one party or another," he said.
Gatch said previously withdrawn candidates had little influence on the election.
"For the Democrats, voters who would have gone for Edwards might have favored Obama, but Edwards was still on the ballot and got over 10 percent of the vote. Under the Democrats' rules, though, 10 percent wasn't enough to win any delegates.
"Even if all of Edwards' voters had been Obama's, Clinton would have still had a higher percentage. For the Republicans, Giuliani polled less than one percent - even Ron Paul got more than he did--but I suspect that Giuliani supporters went to McCain."
Kayce Martin UCO public relations junior said that she voted for McCain.
"I was very happy … he has experience especially with the war and economy. He is good with cutting wasteful cost. He does not beat around the bush," she said.
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