WHAT A FABULOUS ELECTION YEAR. If you are interested in politics at all, 2008 will be a banner year; particularly with the action in the race for our new president. A few weeks back I wrote about Democratic Presidential candidate Barrack Obama and his “Oprah” connection. At the time I thought that her endorsement may help him, but probably would not give her any more admirers; she already leads in that category. And if you’re not for Obama, you may now think less of Oprah...or maybe not!

But today there is more to the story. Obama’s BIG win in Iowa a little more than a week ago was remarkable. He not only beat what some Democrats thought was front-runner Hillary Clinton, but she finished third behind John Edwards. Obama’s remarkable rise is due in a great way to his charisma and connection with the voters. He is the man who started talking about “change” first, and it appears that’s what voters want today! In addition, young voters may finally be coming to the polls. If Iowa and New Hampshire are any indication, young voters are very interested in this election this year; and this would be very good news for Obama.

As you read this column, the New Hampshire primary election is history and we know the winners from both parties (I’m writing this column Tuesday morning and there are no results yet. I’m predicting that Obama wins easily and Clinton will be lucky to finish second, less than 10 points down. Obama is surging in that state because Independent voters love him).

In New Hampshire Independents can vote for either a Democrat or Republican, and Obama may take away lots of those voters from Republican candidate John McCain. If he does, and McCain finishes second behind former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Romney will get a big lift for the next primary. If McCain should win over Romney, then McCain will have some momentum; but don’t count Romney out yet.

McCain must win, or he could be finished, since New Hampshire should be a popular place for his Independent strength.

Mike Huckabee, the big winner in Iowa, probably won’t finish high in New Hampshire, but he should do well in South Carolina, a primary coming up this month. California voters don’t know him well today.

And I wouldn’t count out Rudy Giuliani either; he has support in the big states like New York and California, and the Feb. 5 primaries should finally give us a look at who may be the two candidates for president. So we (California) will decide who can still win their party’s battle and be the “man” or “woman” who runs in November.

I’m excited about two things: 1) Young people appear to be more interested than ever, and 2) Record turnout from both Republicans and Democrats could make this Election Year more invigorating than ever.

Take advantage of the momentum at the voter level and prepare yourself for Feb. 5 and the day California decides which Democrat and which Republican they prefer to lead us!

RASH OF HOLIDAY BURLARIES. It used to be an easy life, even on the West Side, where we kept our home doors unlocked and homes open to neighbors. We started locking the doors a year or so back; and now with the rash of burglaries, particularly in Newman, alarm companies are making windfall profits. Alarms make sense if local law enforcement is responsive when they go off, and that will be the million dollar question in coming months.

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