#chasetherace2016

Bernie Sanders really let Hillary Clinton feel the #BERN last Wednesday, and Hillary Clinton bit right back with her infamous Cedar Rapids #CHILL.

Televised on Univision, March 9th’s Democratic Debate live from Miami spoke to several issues, many regarding immigration reform, international disputes, and leadership qualification. Beginning the night, former Secretary of State Clinton was posed with a question by Jorge Ramos regarding immigration.  In response to, “Can you promise tonight that you won’t deport children, and that you won’t deport immigrants without a criminal record?” she replied with a stammering no, that her policies aim to bring families together rather than rip them apart. Clinton continued to further her position by proclaiming that in 2006, Bernie Sanders voted in support of indefinite detention for those facing deportation in the United States.

A stand-out moment of the evening came from a story told by Lucia, a Guatemalan immigrant living in the United States without her husband. She explained that her husband was deported three years ago, and she was supporting her family basically on her own. Translated by Ramos, Lucia asked Senator Sanders and Hillary Clinton how they would tackle immigration and deportation. Sanders spoke to his progressive immigration plan, one that aims to unite families. Clinton added that she wanted to highlight the human cost of government policies in place. Her policies have the goal to protect and unite children and parents from across the border. Both candidates promised not to deport undocumented children, and both denounced Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Sanders called it “a vulgar, absurd idea.”

When posed with a question regarding leadership to Clinton, she refuted, “I am not a natural politician, as you may have noticed, like my husband or President Obama. So I have a view that I just have to do the best I can, get the results I can, make a difference in people’s lives.” But in today’s modern society and national campaign, what constitutes a ‘natural politician’? A white male born to a wealthy upper class family? A college graduate? Someone who volunteers on the weekend? A male or female who represents a district of a state? A politician in the 21st century has been redefined, no longer attached to political party values and ideals. As a young person looking at this campaign, anyone with a genuine interest in state affairs and a voice for the people can be defined as a “politician” today. Bernie Sanders faced the topic of leadership by calling for a political upheaval of sorts. He commented, “I’m the candidate who says no president, not Bernie Sanders, can do it all. You know what we need? We need a political revolution in this country.”

Former Secretary of Clinton was also faced with questions regarding her email scandals and incident in Benghazi. She restated that she refused to drop out of the campaign regarding her emails, promising to release the transcripts if other politicians release their own transcripts as well. To best summarize her conversation about Benghazi on the night of the 9th, she continued to keep the h in Benghazi silent. (Hillary, we have not forgotten and would still like answers.)

At one point, Bernie Sanders lightened the mood with a Donald Trump impression: “Let me answer that question, because it’s a huge one. Well, not a HUGE one...” A phallic joke or an innocent imitation? You can decide…

Bernie Sanders throughout the night faced some tough criticism throughout the night. A tape from 1985 was presented of Sanders praising Fidel Castro’s actions in Cuba; within moments he turned the blame suddenly on the Monroe Doctrine and Reagan’s enforcement of embargos in the 1980s.

And the race to the White House is officially on! Voters across America and people around the world tuned in Tuesday evening to see who might fill the shoes of the Republican and Democratic nominees this coming July at both parties’ conventions. As the residents of Iowa pointed out, a celebrity may not be the most fit for presidency, a governor may have to think of a swan song, and a close call will determine who will call 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home in 2017.

Whether kept informed by CNN app updates, radio announcements, or live television broadcasting, 319 million Americans found out on the evening of Tuesday, February 1st the front runners for each party. With factual evidence and real numbers, voters are no longer left guessing who is in the lead based on biased and unvaried polls. For the Republican Party, Ted Cruz raked in the most amount of votes at 27.6%, closely followed by Donald Trump at 24.3%, and Marco Rubio sitting comfortably with 23.1% of the votes. Hilary Clinton, former Secretary of State, and Bernie Sanders, governor of Vermont, sat in a practical tie for hours on Tuesday while the votes had to be recounted multiple times. Coming out on top for the Democratic Party was Hilary Clinton with 49.9% of votes and Bernie Sanders with only .3% of votes less than Mrs. Clinton.

Just as some candidates solidified their position in the race for presidency, we saw some candidates say goodbye to the campaign trail. Martin O’Malley of the Democratic Party withdrew from the race on Monday evening, having failed to solidify a majority or percent of the voters in Iowa; according to reports from his campaign headquarters and The New York Times, Mr. O’Malley’s offices were completely emptied by Friday morning. Rand Paul and Rick Santorum both also bid the Oval Office ado this past week not having received a concrete amount of votes to constitute their running.

Who votes for the candidates in the caucuses? The residents of the specific state vote directly for their favorite person running.

What do the votes count for? The amount of votes a candidate receives determines the number of delegates the candidate will have voting for them at their respective convention in July.

What happens at the conventions in July? Delegates from each state will convene in the latter half of July to choose who will be the official candidate for the Democratic and Republican Parties.