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 ...
Heck, the Democrats give delegates for “Democrats Abroad” too. How crazy is that?
Hillary won 52% of the vote, Obama got 47%, but Hillary gets 4 delegates to Obama’s 2..
The Tuna industry was not exempted from the minimum wage increase, but our Congressional rep has filed a bill in the House to exempt American Samoa from further increases beyond the initial 50 cent increase.
In the end, this is all moot, as American Samoans cannot vote for President in the general election..
Wow. I was sort of kidding, but there is no reason that couldn’t be done except other countries would take a dim view of it.
I'll drink to that....
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