Super Tuesday Voting Totals Show Uphill Battle Against Pro-Abortion Candidate

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 7, 2008   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Super Tuesday Voting Totals Show Uphill Battle Against Pro-Abortion Candidate Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 7,
2008

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The Democratic party will ultimately be represented by Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama — both abortion advocates — in the general election. Whichever Republican candidate takes on the winner will have an uphill climb given the number of voters in both parties who went to the polls on Super Tuesday.

As has been the case throughout the primary elections, the number of Democrats turning out to vote has far exceeded the number of Republicans despite close races on both sides.

Some political observers say that reflects both a lack of excitement on the Republican side with the candidates running but also a lack of excitement overall.

On the Democratic side, pundits say they are motivated to replace President Bush, who has been a pro-life stalwart while in office.

On Super Tuesday, 14.6 million Democrats went to the polls while just 9 million Republicans showed up.

The disparity was, not surprisingly, seen Democratic states like California, Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.

But, a concern for pro-life advocates, it was also seen in tossup states like Missouri (820,000 Democrats to 584,000 Republicans) and in states pro-life Republican presidential candidates normally carry like Georgia (1.04 million Democrats to 954,000 Republicans), Oklahoma (401,000 to 329,000), and Tennessee (614,000 to 547,000).

The numbers weren’t lost on Bob Novak, a pro-life nationally syndicated columnist, who says John McCain, if he becomes the GOP nominee, must work to rebuild the Republican Party’s enthusiasm.

"The overriding story is that twice as many Democrats as Republicans voted on Super Tuesday, and the gap in enthusiasm was even larger. McCain as nominee faces a massive task ahead," Novak wrote on Wednesday.

Mort Kondracke, a leading political observer on the Fox News Channel and a Roll Call columnist, also noted the voting number disparity.

Kondracke says McCain "has every right to declare himself the Republican presidential front-runner, but he has miles to go in getting himself and his party in shape to face his Democratic opponent."

He said the voting numbers represent a "vast enthusiasm gap between the parties" because Democrats have more incentive to win in November than do Republicans.

Ultimately, that spells trouble for the pro-life movement as both Clinton and Obama have vowed to appoint pro-abortion judges to the Supreme Court who will keep abortion legal another 35 years.

Primary voting totals don’t necessarily reflect what turnout will be like in November and polling data shows presumptive Republican nominee John McCain ahead of either Obama or Clinton, but the early figures should motivate the pro-life movement to start talking more about what’s at stake this election and motivating people to show up.