Alec Bandler
Staff Writer

Are President Obama’s days in the White House numbered? The Republicans think so.

The Republicans started their presidential nominee search with their first caucus on Jan. 3, searching for the most viable candidate to beat Obama in the November election.

Even if you don’t pay attention to politics, this is the year to watch as our future will be greatly affected by this election, which will offer many students their first opportunity to vote.

The Republican presidential contenders are former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum , Texas Congressman Ron Paul, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich from Georgia.

From now until June 26, all the states will have their primaries to decide who they want to be the Republican nominee.

Based on primary results, candidates receive delegate votes at the Republican National Convention on Aug. 27 in Tampa Bay. At that time, the Republican candidate will be officially announced.

The biggest primary day is Super Tuesday on March 6 as 10 states will have their primaries at the same time.
California is one of the last to have its primary, on June 5.

Four states have already had their primaries or caucuses: Iowa on Jan. 3, New Hampshire on Jan. 10, South Carolina on Jan. 21, and Florida on Jan. 31.

According to ABCNews.com, Santorum won Iowa by only 34 votes over Romney. For two weeks they were virtually tied with about 24.5 percent.

The win showed that Santorum has made great strides and is a viable candidate to continue to compete for the nomination.
It was also a win for Romney because the delegates are allocated proportionally.

This means that the amount of delegates won by each candidate depend on the percent of the votes received in each state.
Paul also did well by garnering 21 percent, but it wasn’t enough to top Santorum and Romney.

The second primary was in New Hampshire, where Romney clearly won, with about 39.3 percent, while Paul finished second. The more conservative candidates, Santorum and Gingrich, finished last, which wasn’t surprising because New Hampshire is a liberal state.

In South Carolina’s primary, Gingrich beat Romney, with 40 percent, according to the Associated Press. Gingrich’s win could be very significant because no candidate has ever won the nomination without winning South Carolina.

Despite three different state primary winners, Romney emerged as the front-runner after winning Florida easily.

But Romney’s defeat in South Carolina showed he is not a sure bet to win the Republican candidacy.

Because delegates are distributed proportionally in most states rather than winner take all, all candidates have good chances to win the nomination.

It is important to be more active in learning about the candidates and their policies.

With a better understanding of the campaign, we may find the best candidate for president come November.