February 5, 2008
Elections inspector drops some 'hints'
When asked who she voted for in today's primary, Veronica Guerad of Levittown let out a hearty chuckle.
"Do you want the truth or a lie?" she said, moving her hands onto her hips. "I voted for the lesser of two evils."
As an inspector for the elections at Eisenhower Park, Guerad legally can't say who she voted for, but was able to drop some hints. "I supported former [New York City] Mayor [Rudy] Giuliani when he was in the race," she said. "After 9/11, he was down in the dirt."
After growing up through the Great Depression and World War II, she believes the New York Primary is a crucial vote.
The generations before this--your mothers, fathers and grandparents fought for this country. We established unions. We picketed in the streets. We can't have that slip."
(Jacqueline Hlavenka/The Chronicle)
Student: Sen. Obama 'impressive'
"Number one, Obama is very promising," said Landeric Perric, a junior drama major at the University. "The issues about health care, education and immigration are important. I feel he is equipped to tackle these issues in the upcoming presidential race." Perric came out to the polls in the morning at the California Avenue School in Uniondale, three blocks away from C.V. Starr Hall at the University. (Jacqueline Hlavenka/The Chronicle)
OPINION: Fearing McCain
By Nicholas Bond
John McCain scares me. He scares me a lot.
It is not because he is an exceptional public servant over the last twenty years. It is not that he is a war hero whose record cannot be brought into question. It is not because he has shown time and time again an unwavering moral compass and a steely strength in his convictions.
It is that whomever the Democratic party, my party, chooses to challenge him in the general election, will do that which McCain could not do in a thousand years with a thousand speeches that had a thousand references to Ronald Reagan each:
they will make him Republican enough.
To this point, the only potential chink in the McCain armor has been that he is seen by many Republicans as “not Republican enough” because of his willingness to reach across the aisle and do what is required of his lofty position and even loftier ideals; but now this open wound on McCain’s body of work has been assuaged by either Democratic nominee.
This is not the fault of the Democrats but rather of the American people, who, despite what they say in polls and what they say in interview, fear so greatly change of the necessary grandeur and fear the work that must be put in to make this society equitable for all.
McCain is a fine candidate, and would be an obvious upgrade to the current administration, but it is the belief of myself and many others, that we must take this election by the horns, we must not just settle for “better than before” we must reach for that brass ring on the never-ending carousel of American life, and hopefully, Tuesday will be the day that we can make this happen.
I have faith in you, America. Now, go vote!
Nicholas Bond is the president of the College Democrats, and the Chronicle Sports Editor. You can e-mail him at
John McCain scares me. He scares me a lot.
It is not because he is an exceptional public servant over the last twenty years. It is not that he is a war hero whose record cannot be brought into question. It is not because he has shown time and time again an unwavering moral compass and a steely strength in his convictions.
It is that whomever the Democratic party, my party, chooses to challenge him in the general election, will do that which McCain could not do in a thousand years with a thousand speeches that had a thousand references to Ronald Reagan each:
they will make him Republican enough.
To this point, the only potential chink in the McCain armor has been that he is seen by many Republicans as “not Republican enough” because of his willingness to reach across the aisle and do what is required of his lofty position and even loftier ideals; but now this open wound on McCain’s body of work has been assuaged by either Democratic nominee.
This is not the fault of the Democrats but rather of the American people, who, despite what they say in polls and what they say in interview, fear so greatly change of the necessary grandeur and fear the work that must be put in to make this society equitable for all.
McCain is a fine candidate, and would be an obvious upgrade to the current administration, but it is the belief of myself and many others, that we must take this election by the horns, we must not just settle for “better than before” we must reach for that brass ring on the never-ending carousel of American life, and hopefully, Tuesday will be the day that we can make this happen.
I have faith in you, America. Now, go vote!
Nicholas Bond is the president of the College Democrats, and the Chronicle Sports Editor. You can e-mail him at
OPINION: McCain poised to win nomination without Heart of the Party
By Akeem Mellis
Can a candidate for their party's nomination for President of the United States actually win that nomination without the support of the base of the party? John McCain may surprisingly pull that off.
That is the ugly scenario GOP voters are looking at right now as Super Tuesday is here.
McCain, boosted by victories in the key primary states of South Carolina and Florida, has attained close to unstoppable momentum, a surge of support, votes and delegates that may once again give him the power to thwart the very group he has let down and stabbed in the back for the past seven years in order to get to this point in time:
Conservative Republicans.
They make up the majority of the base of the Republican Party, yet because of a series of misfortunes and surprises, have once again found themselves run down by the Straight Talk Express. But it is not entirely their fault.
One cannot blame them for the fact that the Senator from Arizona has done nothing but ignore them when it mattered the least, and has tried to cozy up to them when it mattered the most.
A cursory look at who in the Republican Party supports McCain is startling. In every primary state that McCain has been competitive in, he has not won the largest share of votes from self-identified conservative Republicans. Not even once.
Instead, it has been liberal to moderate Republicans carrying the day for him – including using Independents in open primary states like New Hampshire – with conservative Republicans doing one of two
things: split their support among the other numerous candidates in the field, or sit and wait for a "truly Reaganesque" candidate to save the day.
For diehard conservatives, the latter was lost when popular GOP Senators Rick Santorum and George Allen lost their Senate seats in 2006. And the former cost them when they failed to see the beginning of McCain's second rise from the pre-Iowa primary ashes to claim victory in New Hampshire.
We as a party knew how bad McCain was, and yet we waited and divided ourselves, especially when we saw that McCain's campaign was imploding in the late summer to fall.
But nobody can count out McCain. The choice is clear, but the time to stop McCain-- who, outside of National Security issues, has consistently failed the party time and time again to curry favor with the media – has passed the Republican Party by.
Some of us now look towards former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as a last hope to forestall a McCain nomination, but if the polls continue to trend against Romney, Super Tuesday could be the knockout blow.
We're now looking at a GOP electorate concerned about electability rather than who can represent conservative values the best. It's exactly what McCain wanted, for he's about to win the Republican nomination without the heart and soul of the party.
Akeem Mellis is the president of the College Republicans. You can e-mail him at amelli3@pride.hofstra.edu.
Can a candidate for their party's nomination for President of the United States actually win that nomination without the support of the base of the party? John McCain may surprisingly pull that off.
That is the ugly scenario GOP voters are looking at right now as Super Tuesday is here.
McCain, boosted by victories in the key primary states of South Carolina and Florida, has attained close to unstoppable momentum, a surge of support, votes and delegates that may once again give him the power to thwart the very group he has let down and stabbed in the back for the past seven years in order to get to this point in time:
Conservative Republicans.
They make up the majority of the base of the Republican Party, yet because of a series of misfortunes and surprises, have once again found themselves run down by the Straight Talk Express. But it is not entirely their fault.
One cannot blame them for the fact that the Senator from Arizona has done nothing but ignore them when it mattered the least, and has tried to cozy up to them when it mattered the most.
A cursory look at who in the Republican Party supports McCain is startling. In every primary state that McCain has been competitive in, he has not won the largest share of votes from self-identified conservative Republicans. Not even once.
Instead, it has been liberal to moderate Republicans carrying the day for him – including using Independents in open primary states like New Hampshire – with conservative Republicans doing one of two
things: split their support among the other numerous candidates in the field, or sit and wait for a "truly Reaganesque" candidate to save the day.
For diehard conservatives, the latter was lost when popular GOP Senators Rick Santorum and George Allen lost their Senate seats in 2006. And the former cost them when they failed to see the beginning of McCain's second rise from the pre-Iowa primary ashes to claim victory in New Hampshire.
We as a party knew how bad McCain was, and yet we waited and divided ourselves, especially when we saw that McCain's campaign was imploding in the late summer to fall.
But nobody can count out McCain. The choice is clear, but the time to stop McCain-- who, outside of National Security issues, has consistently failed the party time and time again to curry favor with the media – has passed the Republican Party by.
Some of us now look towards former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as a last hope to forestall a McCain nomination, but if the polls continue to trend against Romney, Super Tuesday could be the knockout blow.
We're now looking at a GOP electorate concerned about electability rather than who can represent conservative values the best. It's exactly what McCain wanted, for he's about to win the Republican nomination without the heart and soul of the party.
Akeem Mellis is the president of the College Republicans. You can e-mail him at amelli3@pride.hofstra.edu.
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