02 Mar “The Short Version”: Super Tuesday Update

Eight years ago, Telluride Inside…and Out began as a lifestyle webzine. Today, in the full knowledge that Telluride is a window on the world, we continue to bring the “zazz” (short for “pizzazz) of the region to a local, national, and global audience by covering everything from Telluride’s robust cultural economy – major events and festivals – to health and fitness and outdoor adventure. When Telluride travels, we write about places to go, people to meet too. (That’s the “Out” part of our handle.)

And now, we are pleased and proud to introduce a new weekly column, “The Short Version,” which offers simple summaries of issues of national and global importance. (Though we won’t go political, or rather we won’t show bias in the upcoming election.)

“The Short Version” is written by Cleo Constantine Abram, the daughter of Telluride locals Eleni Constantine and Jonathan Abram (and therefore an honorary local and regular visitor) and a digital strategist at Precision Strategies, a political consulting firm.

Why “The Short Version”? Because, though we live in Shangri-La, our bubble is not impermeable and the rest of the world is only a click away. Because there is no inconsequential action; only consequential inaction. And because information is power in a moment so many of us are feeling powerless. 

Yesterday was Super Tuesday. How to interpret the results? 

Cleo addresses the demographics.

Please scroll down to the bottom of the post for more on the deeply informed, deeply insightful Cleo Abram.

Cleo Constantine Abram of the “The Short Version,” offering densely packed spins on issues of national and global importance.

Super Tuesday Update:

The results are in from Super Tuesday: Trump and Clinton dominated their respective races. On the Republican side, Trump continues to lead with 316 delegates to Cruz’s 226 and Rubio’s 106. Among Democrats, Clinton holds her lead with 1,304 delegates to Sanders’ 408.

Super Tuesday clearly demonstrated two voting trends that may have a significant impact on the general election. So far this primary season, voter turnout is at record lows among Democrats and record highs among Republicans. On Tuesday, Democrats cast 5.6 million votes in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia (the states for which we already have numbers). Republicans cast 8.3 million votes in those same states. Trump benefits from the high Republican turnout, while the impact of Democrats’ low numbers varies state-to-state.

It is less clear how exactly these trends will play out in the general. Are Democrats merely waiting until the nomination to head to the polls? Can the eventual Republican nominee maintain the party’s high numbers? One lesson is clear: anyone who opposes a Trump presidency needs to make their voices heard, and soon.

And to recap what Short Version said on Super Tuesday:

What’s Happening?

“Super Tuesday,” March 1st, is the day 12 states nominate their candidate for the presidential race.

The Super Tuesday states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. For Republicans, the 12th state is Alaska. For Democrats, it’s Colorado (and one territory, American Samoa!)

The stakes are high for both parties. 661 delegates will be allocated on the Republican side, 865 delegates on the Democrats’.

But there is another type of voter at these conventions not bound by this or any primary: superdelegates.

Why is it important?

A superdelegate (also called an unpledged delegate) votes at the Democratic or Republican National Convention for any candidate he or she chooses, unbound by primary results.

In both parties, superdelegates are usually appointed party leaders or political officials. Sometimes confused with “faithless electors” in the Electoral College, the role of superdelegate only exists in the two presidential nominating conventions…

Continue reading here and weigh in on Cleo’s question of the day: Should super delegates exist in our primary nominating conventions?

More about Cleo Constantine Abram:

Cleo grew up in Washington D.C., lives in New York City, and loves to visit her parents in Telluride. She authors “The Short Version,” a newsletter that explains each week’s most important issue and both sides of the debate around it.

Cleo is a digital strategist at Precision Strategies, a political consulting firm born of the Obama 2012 presidential campaign.

Cleo’s work focuses on ways to share, educate, and inform using online platforms. While in college at Columbia University, she guided the school’s entrance into online education through her role as the youngest elected representative to the Columbia Senate, which makes university-wide policy.

She continued her work on online education at TED-Ed, the educational branch of the nonprofit, building new programs and online tools to support high school teachers worldwide.

Continuing her work with TED, Cleo founded and led an early TEDx conference, the organization’s community-specific series.

Most importantly, Cleo loves to ski!