[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/27/art.electionbus1.cnn.jpg caption="Monahans’ mayor is looking to short-circuit the boom-and-bust cycle "]
ABOARD THE ELECTION EXPRESS, MONAHANS, Texas (CNN) – Life is good for Mayor David Cutbirth. The price of oil – the lifeblood of his West Texas city, population 7,000 - is skyrocketing.
The city of Monahans’ economy is booming now, but Cutbirth said he is worried. He has also lived through a bust, and would prefer the cost of oil to come down a little bit more. It is currently priced at over $90 a barrel. Just a few weeks ago, it reached $100.
“A growing concern out here is that energy costs would get too high, and we believe … those types of numbers will tip the economy into a recession,” he said this week during a stop by the CNN Election Express in this city. “So that has been our fear out here.”
Cutbirth said he is not sure what Congress and the White House can do to keep the price of oil within a profitable but reasonable range. But he added that Washington lawmakers need to put an emphasis on developing alternative energy sources.
“Congress and the president have started late on this thing,” Cutbirth said. “But that is what we need to do. We need to diversify the economy in terms of energy, and get away from oil.”
At some point, Cutbirth said he realizes the oil beds beneath his feet will run dry. He is working now to ensure his city is not overly-dependent on oil - which could make for hard times again in the future.
Cutbirth has a political philosophy that would seem unorthodox perhaps outside of West Texas. He votes for Democrats in local and state elections, but Republican in presidential contests.
“A lot of us think of ourselves as social Democrats and fiscal Republicans,” he said.
This year, though, Cutbirth said he is keeping all of his options open.
“If I think they are going to get in there, and they’ll do a good job for our country and make this country strong, then I am going to vote for them,” he said.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) - Even as Hillary Clinton congratulated Barack Obama on his victory Saturday in South Carolina, she was already directing attention to the states that lie ahead.
"Millions and millions of Americans are going to have the chance to have their voices heard and their votes counted," she told supporters at Tennessee State University.
"This a great victory for Barack Obama, but this is not the end of the Clinton campaign," said CNN Analyst and Donna Brazile. "Sen. Clinton has broad support out there."
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, who has remained neutral in the Democratic race, predicted the campaign would not be settled until the August convention in Denver.
"They all have tickets to the convention - not all first class, but they all have tickets," he said.
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - Former Sen. John Edwards urged his supporters on
to the Super Tuesday contests following a third-place finish Saturday in his native state's Democratic primary.
"Now the three of us move on to February 5 where millions of Americans will cast their vote and help shape the future of this party and help shape the future of America," Edwards said in a short speech after finishing behind Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in South Carolina.
"Our campaign from the very beginning has been about one central thing, and that is to give voice to the millions of Americans who have absolutely no voice in this democracy."
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – In a historical shift, South Carolina Democrats turned out in record numbers on Saturday, besting last week's underwhelming Republican vote, which was hampered by bad weather.
In an overwhelmingly red state, that's no small feat.
The state Democratic party estimates that more than 530,000 Democrats turned out for Saturday's primary, as compared with 445,000 voters who showed up to vote last weekend, a marked drop from the Republican record high in 2000.
State party chair Carol Fowler said in a statement that the vote is a "remarkable occurrence."
"Democrats have three excellent candidates who have inspired voters all over South Carolina and our country," she said. "This is a huge rejection of the Republican Party at both the federal and state level."
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – In speeches and in TV ads and pretty much everywhere else, John Edwards has made sure South Carolina voters know he was born in the state.
His roots didn't help much across the state tonight - except in the county of his birth.
Edwards won Oconee County on Saturday, handily defeating Hillary Clinton and primary winner Barack Obama, who finished third there. Edwards was born in the Oconee town of Seneca.
- CNN South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – During the last six months, each of the three Democratic frontrunners made campaign pilgrimages to a series of dilapidated schools along Interstate 95 that make up the so-called "Corridor of Shame."
That strip of run-down, rural schools gained national attention in a 2005 documentary that angered many South Carolinians, who saw the schools as a residual symbol of racial discrimination in rural parts of the state.
Though John Edwards and Hillary Clinton made those schools a focus of many speeches throughout their campaigns, Barack Obama won the counties that encompass them by wide margins.
Marlboro, Dillon, Clarendon, Florence and Darlington Counties all went big for Obama on Saturday.
- CNN South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby
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