It was a good week for endorsements – Edward Kennedy, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many others pledged themselves to candidates.
But Barack Obama’s backing from the Murdoch-owned New York Post was a reminder an endorsement of one candidate is an unendorsement of their rival. "Does America really want to go through all that once again?" it asked of what it claimed would be "a return to the opportunistic, scandal-scarred, morally muddled" Clinton years that his opponent stood for.
In a bad week for Rudy Giuliani, who saw his presidential hopes collapse in Florida, some found cause for rejoicing. Ed Koch, a predecessor of Giuliani’s as New York mayor, declared as the results came in that the Florida primary would "drive a stake through his heart. The beast is dead."
Florida once again proved 2008 as the election where nobody really knows anything.
Think Vietnam veteran John McCain is strong on national security and ex-CEO Mitt Romney the best Republican on the economy? Not according to the exit polls. McCain edged out Romney among voters who ranked the economy their top priority, while those most concerned about terrorism broke for the former Massachusetts governor.
The new mantra on both sides is that every delegate counts.
Clinton proved this in her response to Obama’s South Carolina landslide, saying she would now turn to Florida, the 22 Super Tuesday states and American Samoa. The territory sends nine delegates to the Democrats’ nominating convention, 0.22% of the 4049 total.
Clinton-Obama acrimony was absent from their final pre-Super Tuesday debate, but McCain and Romney had a shot at it – sparring over whether Romney had ever wanted a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.
In this Reagan-heavy election year, Romney sought out a less celebrated Republican president in interviews the next day, accusing McCain of using tactics "reminiscent of the Nixon era".
Released as Clinton and Obama made their end of debate embrace, came the presumably embarrassing news from the Romney campaign that of the $27m it raised in the last quarter, $18m was loaned from the candidate himself.
Obama had earlier mocked Romney’s high spend when asked in the debate to rate the Republican’s experience in the business world: "Romney hasn’t gotten a very good return on his investment during this presidential campaign," he said.
"I’m happy to take a look at my management style during the course of this last year and his. I think they compare fairly well."
The action hero endorsements found new highs and new lows. McCain added Governor Schwarzenegger to his Stallone. Obama picked up the (unsolicited) backing of Hulk Hogan, star of Suburban Commando and Santa With Muscles.
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