Posted on 02/12/2008 9:15:30 AM PST by fightinJAG
After losing the Jan. 26 South Carolina primary to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton pledged to continue her fight for the White House. She said, "We now turn our attention to the millions of Americans who will make their voices heard in Florida and the 22 other states as well as American Samoa who will vote on February 5." Wait a second, what kind of voting rights do they have in Samoa?
Very few. The 57,000 residents of American Samoa, a tiny group of islands near Australia, cannot vote in national elections, but they do hold presidential primaries and send nine delegates to the nominating conventions for each party. Most years, this handful has little effect on the outcomes at the conventions. (For comparison, Florida sends 114 delegates.) But in a tight race like that between Democrats Obama and Clinton, every delegate might come into play, so candidates reach out to smaller and smaller constituencies for votes.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Interesting stuff to learn about the nominating process.
Plus there’s a beautiful beach pic at the link!
Just like Puerto Rico...
Didn’t Pelosi exempt the American Somoa fishing industry from the minimum wage increase?
It does look like a beautiful place though.
And I love your sig line, “The way things ought err...used to be”...LOL!
Puerto Rico sends Offensive Linemen to BYU?
I do recall something about Pelosi and American Samoa.
Hildy won big in Samoa. She may need those 9 delegates after all!
How come the poor Samoans don't get a "living wage"? Why are they consigned to "virtual slavery" at the hands of the Rats?
From the link:
Over at The Corner, Kathryn Jean Lopez reported GOP Reps. Eric Cantor and Patrick McHenry have found there's a loophole in the new minimum-wage increase: no hike for American Samoa. Why? Star-Kist Tuna is a major employer there, with its headquarters in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district.
Will the media notice? FNC did. But so far, the rest of the political media have treated the minimum-wage as about as controversial as a post-office naming bill. But in 2005, we reported the media's Tom DeLay bashers had a fit about DeLay's Abramoff-lobbied coziness with low wages on the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific.
PBS's Bill Moyers show "Now" (handed off to the suitably smarmy David Brancaccio) devoted a show to how DeLay was supporting "virtual slavery" in the Pacific. The slavery charge came not only from Brancaccio, but from liberal Rep. George Miller -- Pelosi's across-the-bay neighbor.
Where's the media asking: what about the children of Samoa? Will PBS and George Miller throw a fit about the "virtual slavery" left untouched in Tuna Land?
Remember the "virtual slavery" charge?
make Samoa part of Hawaii, make PR part of NY, make DC part of Maryland. don’t give these liberal bastions any new Liberal Senators....but give them representation.
Talofa!!! Fa’a Samoa. Beautiful place. But, sadly, major government corruption, shabby infrastructure, and depressed economy. Really heartening to drive around and see all the American flags proudly displayed.
I was just looking at hotels and it’s not cheap!
I don’t agree that citizens of non-states (other than DC, which has electoral votes) should have delegates in the GOP convention. We need to get to work fixing our party, and this is another small matter that needs attention. As bad as the current process is, giving NY and NJ say in selecting the GOP nominee it is unconscionable that these citizens-of-no-state are voting.
The election of the President is serious business and should not be treated like a multicultural teach in by the GOP leaders.
How true, and there are only a few to choose from. Hospitality is great. Large Christian population. Going to the beach on Sunday is frowned on and, in some cases, you will be gently asked to leave as any beach is privately owned by a family.
Short answer, they can vote in the primaries but not in the general election.
We do some offensive things, fo’ sho’
There was an article posted here last week about some American Samoans in Arkansas who have leprosy. The article mentioned that there are thousands of them in the state, brought in to pack chickens—presumably by Tyson.
I bet they vote, and if I know Tyson, they vote for clintons.
And in return, grant upstate statehood. Now that would be a nice deal.
No public beaches? What is public access to the beaches like?
Since political Parties are totally extra-Consitutional and are mere Corporations, they could be running their campaigns anywhere including the former USSR or Iran if those states allowed the Corporations to do business in their countries. Samoa? Why not.
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