Many Indonesians cheer Obama in Democrat race

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The 2008 U.S. presidential election is being watched closely by millions around the world but few are more fired up than Indonesians, who can lay claim to Democratic hopeful Barack Obama as nearly one of their own.In the capital Jakarta where Obama, 46, spent part of his childhood, U.S. expatriates and Indonesians crowded around television sets on Wednesday to watch the results of nominating contests across 24 states thousands of miles away pouring in.At the end of the biggest day of U.S. presidential voting before the November election, Obama won 12 states to Clinton's eight in a hard-fought duel for the Democratic nomination.On the Republican side, John McCain won nine states but failed to knock out rivals Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney."I think it's exciting being in Indonesia at this time. A lot of Indonesians are fired up about Obama," said Barry Dols, 41, an Obama supporter and teacher based in Jakarta from New Jersey."They think he knows the region."The senator from Illinois spent part of his childhood in Indonesia after his American mother, Ann Dunham, married Muslim Indonesian Lolo Soetoro following the end of her marriage to Obama's Kenyan father.Soetoro brought his new family to Jakarta in 1967 when Obama was six. Four years later Obama left Jakarta to live with grandparents in Hawaii."I prefer Obama because he is from a minority. So far, there is no leader coming from a minority," said Samuel Moeloek, 28, a management graduate at Parahiyangan University in the West Java city of Bandung.In Asia, few events were organised for locals interested in watching the outcome of "Super Tuesday" live, since the final results came in the middle of the working day.Image Americans living overseas could vote at special polling booths set up in selected areas of their countries, or they cast ballots online -- for the first time ever.An estimated 6 million expatriates are eligible to vote.Democrats abroad can vote online through Feb 12 and 22 delegates representing them will go to the August convention in Denver."If this super Tuesday does not generate a clear leader, then going into the convention without a nominee ...That's hardly ever happened," said Lisa Lumbao, a member of Democrat party in Manila. "So if that happens, then our votes, our 22 delegates ...could make a difference. We're like the 51st state."Many expatriates who had gathered at the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Jakarta -- decked out with red, white and blue curtains -- hoped the eventual president, whether Democrat or Republican. would improve their nation's image in the regionand beyond."I think the president has to be incredibly internationally aware and bring global stability and improve relations and the image of the U.S.," said Richard Mau, a hotel marketing executive based in Jakarta, who is backing Obama."He needs think about how the U.S. is perceived. The U.S. is not perceived as well as it could be in this region."Jakarta has close security ties with Washington, but many policies of President George W. Bush's administration, particularly in the Middle East, are unpopular in the predominantly Muslim nation.Ari Bassin, a Clinton supporter, said he was just happy with the strong interest in the election."In a country where apathy runs so deep in politics, it's heartening to see this kind of passion," Bassin told Reuters."You have a lot of first-time voters, especially minority voters, and that can change the face of politics in the U.S." (*)


Source : antara.co.id

Clinton, McCain take early leads in voting

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton scored early "Super Tuesday" wins and Republican John McCain swept to three convincing victories as 24 U.S. states voted in contests that could help pick the presidential nominees of both parties.
Clinton and Obama took two states each in their hard-fought duel for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton won Oklahoma and Tennessee, while Obama won Georgia and his home state of Illinois.
McCain, an Arizona senator looking to score a knockout blow on rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, rolled to easy wins in Connecticut, New Jersey and Illinois on the biggest day of U.S. presidential nominating contests ahead of November's election.
Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor, won in Alabama and at a convention in West Virginia. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, won that state.
All three Republicans were running close in Georgia in early returns, with the result too close to call, U.S. television networks projected.
More than half the total delegates to the Democratic party convention in August and about 40 percent of the delegates to the Republican convention in September were up for grabs. The candidates battle for delegates who vote in those party conventions to pick their candidates for the November 4 election.
Economic worries -- plunging housing values, rising energy and food prices, jittery financial markets and new data showing a big contraction in the service sector -- have eclipsed the Iraq war as voters' top concern, opinion polls showed.
Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, was battling a wave of momentum for Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black U.S. president. Obama has almost caught her in national polls and taken leads in several states taking part in the coast-to-coast voting.


Source : reuters.com

How to untangle the politics of Super Tuesday primaries

By Linda Feldmann Mon Feb 4, 3:00 AM ET

Washington - For the past year, a large field of presidential candidates has lavished attention on just a few early primary and caucus states. Suddenly, on the eve of the biggest primary day in United States history, the calculus is reversed: A handful of candidates are competing in almost two dozen states, spread across the country.

The stakes going into Feb. 5, or "Tsunami Tuesday," could not be higher. In each party, 42 percent of the total delegates needed to secure the nomination are up for grabs. And the system for allocating delegates is even more complicated than that of the Electoral College, with delegates awarded mostly by congressional district. An important exception is the eight Republican contests that are winner-take-all by state.

Never before have the experts on each campaign who know the rules of delegate allocation in every state been so important. The scramble for delegates is on, district by district.

Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, for example, does not expect to win New York. "But do we expect to pick up delegates because we have a strong operation and a grass-roots following in places like Brooklyn and Harlem and the Bronx? Absolutely," says campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Because none of the 22 Democratic states (and American Samoa) or their congressional districts are winner take all, both candidates have reason to compete in every state. District-level delegates are allocated proportionally to the outcome of the vote or caucus result in a congressional district, as long as a candidate reaches a 15 percent threshold, according to national party rules. Statewide delegates are also allocated proportionally.

Another variable is whether the contests are open or closed, whether only registered members of a party may take part. Open contests tend to benefit Obama and Sen. John McCain, who are better at attracting unaffiliated voters and voters from the other party.

Rules are simpler for Republicans. Some of Senator McCain's strongest states are winner take all, including his home state of Arizona, plus New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware. Those five states alone account for 234 delegates, not including "superdelegates," giving McCain a cushion of delegates he can reasonably count on going into Tuesday.

For McCain's principal rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, most of his strongest states are not delegate-rich. With the exception of Mormon-dominated Utah, where he has a lock on the state's 33 delegates, other strong states, including Massachusetts, are not winner take all. Most of Mr. Romney's strong states are holding caucuses, with modest delegate counts and a range of rules on delegate allocation.

One state where Romney could cherry-pick some delegates is California, which awards delegates on a winner-take-all basis by congressional district. The trick there, analysts say, is to identify low-turnout Republican districts that are overwhelmingly Democratic and flood the few Republicans with mail.

But with so many states at stake on Tuesday, Romney will have a hard time using his well-honed organization to win the delegates he needs. McCain, following his victory in Florida, is winning the lion's share of key GOP endorsements.

At this point, "it's not an organization game, it's a momentum game," says GOP pollster Whit Ayres. "There's no way to be sufficiently organized in all the Super Tuesday states."

Even in Florida, Mr. Ayres notes, Romney had a far more sophisticated operation and spent far more money than McCain, but lost anyway. Still, Romney has gone forward with ad buys in key Feb. 5 states, spending a reported $2 million to $3 million, with $1 million in California alone. McCain has relied more on momentum and free media out of campaign appearances in the days preceding Feb. 5, though he is running some TV ads.

Democrats Obama and Clinton have raised far more than the leading Republicans and are spending more on television leading up to Feb. 5. Obama has spent more than $10 million in ads in most of the Feb. 5 states, as well as states holding primaries in the week after � a sign of confidence that he will remain competitive after Tsunami Tuesday. Obama raised a stunning $32 million in January; Clinton has reportedly spent $8 million on ads in 16 of the Feb. 5 states, but had not revealed her January fundraising.

One potential wrinkle out of Feb. 5, given the delegate-allocation rules, is the possibility of a candidate winning more votes in a primary or caucus than his or her main rival, but not winning as many delegates, as happened in the Nevada Democratic caucuses.

"You could have a bit of a disparity between the popular vote and the delegate count, but I think by and large it should be pretty reflective," says Rhodes Cook, a nonpartisan political analyst. "I would be surprised if you had many more examples like Nevada, but I could be wrong."

Video Al-qaeda Tunjukan Penyesalan Polisi

28/01/08 01:25

Dubai (ANTARA News) - Sebuah kelompok di Irak yang terkait dengan Al-Qaeda mengeluarkan rekaman video Internet, Minggu, yang menunjukkan dua polisi sedang menyesali perbuatan mereka pada masa lalu dan menyerahkan senjata mereka kepada gerilyawan.

Video itu dan sebuah pernyataan yang mengatakan polisi-polisi itu "kembali ke barisan Islam" tampaknya menunjukkan perubahan taktik propaganda kelompok Negara Islam di Irak.

Rekaman-rekaman video sebelumnya kelompok itu seringkali menunjukkan aparat-aparat pemerintah yang ditangkap dan prajurit-prajurit yang ditembak mati setelah mereka mengaku bersalah atas tindakan-tindakan mereka.

Video terakhir itu menunjukkan dua orang yang tersenyum dan tidak ada gerilyawan bersenjata terlihat di dekat mereka seperti pada video-video sebelumnya. Kelompok itu tidak mengatakan apakah orang-orang itu ditangkap atau membelot atau bagaimana nasib mereka.

"Saya menolak kepolisian Irak, yang menjadi alat di tangan... pasukan salib dan kafir," kata seorang pria yang mengenakan jubah tradisional Arab yang mengidentifikasi dirinya sebagai Kolonel Ayad Ismail Muhaymid, dan mengatakan bahwa ia menjabat sebagai deputi kepala kepolisian di provinsi Diyala.

"Tindakan yang dilakukan terhadap saudara-saudara kami di penjara Kementerian Dalam Negeri tidak bisa diterima oleh Tuhan dan kemanusiaan," kata seorang pria satunya yang mengaku sebagai Mayor Hameed Hadi Hameed.

Video itu, yang menunjukkan kartu-kartu identitas kepolisian orang-orang itu, dipasang di sebuah situs berita utama yang biasanya digunakan oleh Al-Qaeda dan kelompok-kelompok gerilya yang lain.

Meski sayap Al-Qaeda Irak tetap menjadi pelopor dari kelompok-kelompok gerilya yang memerangi pasukan AS dan pemerintah Irak yang dipimpin orang Syiah, pejuang-pejuang mereka menghadapi perlawanan yang meningkat di daerah-daerah Sunni Irak dimana mereka beroperasi.

Peningkatan jumlah pasukan AS, semakin efisiennya pasukan keamanan Irak dan patroli-patroli di wilayah Sunni telah berhasil menurunkan tingkat kekerasaan dan jumlah kematian sipil dan prajurit AS dalam beberapa bulan terakhir ini. (*)