Candidates Recover from Super Tuesday

By Pamela Mortimer

Hillary and Obama fought hard to secure votes during the Super Tuesday primary with neither appearing as the runaway candidate. John McCain also put up a fierce battle in hopes of burying his opponent via a voting frenzy.

Each has his or her own strategy, with millions being spent on advertising. Reports estimate $1.3 million a day starting last week, with the expenditure rising to an unreported amount. Obama also sprung for a 30 second spot during Sunday’s Super Bowl, total cost: $250,000. Hillary didn’t go that route but did buy an hour’s time on the Hallmark Channel for a town hall meeting on Monday night.

Despite the close race, Obama remained stoic at a Connecticut rally, saying, "I may be skinny, but I’m tough."

The electoral territory was massive, and undisputedly, so were the stakes on gaining the nomination. Mitt Romney made the most of his 37 hour dash for the Republican bid, consistently branding himself as the "true Ronald Reagan conservative" at every turn.

"I think you’re going to see a growing crescendo of Republican conservatives getting behind my candidacy," Romney said. He conceded: "Right now that hasn’t entirely happened."

McCain fought to close the bid even though he hasn’t seen solid support from his party. "I will preserve my proud conservative Republican credentials" while offering his experience to the Democrats, he stated.

As with all political campaigns, there was mudslinging on both sides. You have to wonder how they find the time. At the end of the day, all the politicians took a breather.

Monday night on The Late Show with David Letterman, Hillary let her hair down to chat it up with the icon of late night TV.

Hillary’s voice showed considerable wear as she joked about her state of exhaustion. As with the rest of the country, she took time out to watch the Super Bowl at a Minneapolis sports bar.

"Every New Yorker has a sore throat after last night," Clinton said.

Dave asked if she had a beer while watching the game. Hillary said that she didn’t dare have a beer during the game "only because I am so tired I thought I might still be there if I had."

Clinton also kept up the sports banter by telling Dave that she was modeling her campaign on the Giants’ fourth quarter victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots.

"I took a lot of heart from that, Dave," said Clinton, who is currently running neck and neck with Obama. "The fourth quarter before Super Tuesday, you’ve got to keep going."

Clinton cleverly avoided a question about whether Obama could go from being her rival to becoming her running mate.

"I’ve been giving a lot careful consideration to that," she said. "It’s really down to you and Regis."