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Illinois has a voice in today's primary

BY THE SOUTHERN

Tuesday, February 5, 2008 2:18 AM CST

CARBONDALE -- Think your vote in today's primary election won't matter?  Think again, says one local political expert.

John Jackson, political scientist and visiting professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, said unlike the primaries of 2000 or 2004, in 2008 Illinois voters could make a difference.

"While we are still going to be a fairly small part of the story...we are going to be a factor," Jackson said.

Illinois joins 21 other states today in what's been labeled "Super Tuesday," a day that could create the official nominees for president within both the Democrat and Republican parties.  Election officials in Illinois decided to move the state's primary up from its traditional mid-March date to help Democratic presidential contender, Sen. Barack Obama.

Illinois is a delegate-rich state, with 185 of them to win and 26 alternates for this year's Democratic National Convention.

While he's sure Obama will carry Illinois, Jackson said there should be enough support for opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton to surpass the 15 percent threshold of votes to gain some of the delegates.  Illinois is not a winner-take-all state in terms of awarding delegates.

Less close than the primary race between Obama and Clinton is the race between Republican candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain.  McCain has acquired a commanding lead in the last couple of weeks.

McCain may find even more support among the more conservative of Republicans if he were to choose third-place presidential primary candidate Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, as a running mate, Jackson said.

Despite the anticipation of being a significant player in the primary elections this year, Jackson said the national primary cycle is a mess that allows too many states to change the date of their primaries to satisfy their own interests rather than those of the nation.

Jackson is currently participating in a group studying the scenario of moving primary elections into a regional primary process that would still give Iowa and New Hampshire first bid status in the election year, but split the rest of the primaries among four other elections encompassing four even geographic territories of the country.

-- SIUC University Communications contributed information to this article.