NBC's Tim Russert dead at 58

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tim Russert, who pointedly but politely questioned hundreds of the powerful and influential as moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," died Friday of an apparent heart attack. The network's Washington bureau chief was 58.

In addition to his weekly program, Russert made periodic appearances on the network's other news shows, was moderator for numerous political debates and wrote two best-selling boooks.

NBC interrupted its regular programming to announce Russert's death, and in the ensuing moments, familiar faces such as Tom Brokaw, Andrea Mitchell and Brian Williams took turns mourning his loss.

Williams called him "aggressively unfancy."

Russert, of Buffalo, N.Y., took the helm of the Sunday news show in December 1991 and turned it into the nation's most widely watched program of its type. His signature trait there was an unrelenting style of questioning that made some politicians reluctant to appear, yet confident that they could claim extra credibility if they survived his grilling intact.

He was also a senior vice president at NBC, and this year, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

The Dream Ticket?

Many call Obama and Hillary a Dream Ticket.   

After all that has been said and done in this Democratic Race throughout the country, are you comfortable with a Barack Obama as Presidential Candidate and Hillary Clinton as the Vice President?

Is there something totally wrong with this?  What do you think, should Barack Obama get a new face as he’s Vice President?

John McCain looks and sounds like George W. Bush (Stay the course!), so voting for him would be like asking for a 3^rd dose of good ol’ Bush.  But at the same time it would be really difficult and up hill for the Democrats to defeat John McCain in November. 

Having 2 super powerful people as the heads of state might be amazing and the sky is the limit, but then again it could be devastating for the country?

What is Puerto Rico?

Many have asked why is Puerto Rico voting in a United States presidential primary?

For those of you who don’t know Puerto Rico is not a country but part of the United States.  Not as a regular “Federated State” but as a United States Territory.  To give you a really brief history on the island, Puerto Rico was first part of Spain and then in 1898 during the Spanish American War the island was invaded by the United States.  As an outcome of the war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with Cuba, the Philippines, and Guam to the U.S. under the Treaty of Paris. 

Puerto Rico began the 20th century under the military rule of the U.S. with officials, including the governor, appointed by the President of the United States. The Foraker Act of 1900 gave Puerto Rico a certain amount of popular government, including a popularly-elected House of Representatives. On 1917, the Jones-Shafroth Act granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship and provided for a popularly-elected Senate to complete a bicameral Legislative Assembly. As a result of their new US citizenship, many Puerto Ricans were drafted into World War I and all subsequent wars and conflicts with U.S. participation.  Puerto Ricans in the island pay taxes, social security, Medicare, and everything else a regular US citizen from any other state would be responsible for.   

After more than 110 years under the United States Flag and laws, the biggest concern by Puerto Ricans living on the island is the current status.  The majority of the residents of the island want to make Puerto Rico the 51^st state of the Union, but at the same time many residents want to keep the current status of US Territory.  Puerto Ricans living in the island can vote on the United States primaries just like any other state would, but can’t vote on the Presidential elections (if living on the island), if the citizen lives in any of the 50 states or Washington DC (Main Land) then his vote would be counted as a regular one.

Puerto Rico is treated 80% as a regular state and 20% as a territory, meaning that all the benefits that are available to regular states are most likely available for Puerto Rico.  One of the few things that would change would be the amount of funds available for Puerto Rico or other US Territories (Guam, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.  For example if New York gets 90% for Medicare, Puerto Rico gets 75% or even less.

Winner takes All?

So the Democratic Circus I mean, primary battle moves down south to the shores of what many call a Tropical Paradise and some of the most beautiful beaches the United States have to offer.  No I am not talking about St. Thomas but Puerto Rico.  Here is a quick curious fact about US citizens living in the island of Puerto Rico, did you know that Puerto Ricans are full natural US citizens but can’t vote for their President?  Interesting huh? So there you can go and impress someone with your knowledge on the matter, knowledge is power!

Don’t get me wrong Puerto Ricans have local elections every four years and they do participate in the US primaries but that’s it.  And that’s what brings me to my point.  This has been one of the most anticipated, grueling and fantastic elections of all time!

Think about it, we may have 2 of a very first.  On the Democratic side we may have, the first ever African American President or the first ever woman President! How cool is that!

But on the Republican side, things are not that hip, modern, or even fresh.  To the point that if you close your eyes real good you’ll swear this would be a 3^rd term for Bush by the looks of the entire McCain operation/camp.

Anyways! Back to the fun in the sun! So far from the Hillary Clinton camp, President/hubby Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton have visited the island to campaign for Hillary.  On the Barack Obama side, his wife Michelle Obama visited the island for a brief campaign before her husband starts his “SI SE PUEDE/YES WE CAN” Campaign this week.  Hillary is set to start campaigning this next week as well, before the voting starts on June 1st. 

Who will win? Some say it’s a “Winner takes All” primary, meaning for Obama if he wins the majority of the delegates and can get more supredelegates as well as votes he could very well have clinched officially the nomination.  After all Obama only needs about 50 delegates to win it all.

But that may be far from reality, as the Boricuas and the Clintons have a deep relationship that makes Hillary the favorite to win the Puerto Rican primary, and may very well have the democratic nomination handed in a silver platter by the Puerto Ricans.  After all Puerto Rico has 63 delegates up for grabs, so it will be extremely interesting to see who the winner is going to be.