This past Tuesday (22 May), former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney swept all delegates up for grabs in the Republican Presidential Primaries held in ARKANSAS and KENTUCKY that day.

But- before I go on to discuss the ramifications (where not also portents) of such Primaries, on both the Republican and Democratic side of things- let us all remember one of the major reasons why this can even be discussed:

This very weekend is Memorial Day weekend here in the United States of America and- while Mitt Romney supporters and Ron Paul supporters or, for that matter, those supportive of President Obama and those opposed to him continue to "mix it up" (in the form of political discussion, hopefully, and not physical confrontation!)- let us not forget that these are all Americans and are able to do just that because of the many sacrifices of the brave men and women- past as well as present- who have served- and, in some cases, still do so serve- in Our Nation's Armed Forces, some of whom have paid the ultimate sacrifice- that "last full measure of devotion", as President Abraham Lincoln himself so well put it.

Even if you happen to be one of those readers who does not at all wholeheartedly support the military missions on which many of those in today's U.S. Armed Forces have been sent of late, you would have to still admit that others just like them, of earlier generations, fought- and, in all too many cases, died- in places with names like (to here mention but a few without at all detracting from such sacrifices in many other similar places) Guadalcanal and Omaha Beach; Chateau Thierry and Belleau Wood; and small, rural New England villages of long ago such as Lexington and Concord so that we Americans of the year Anno Domini 2012 will be able to hold- on (as regards that "first Tuesday after the first Monday in November" on which we hold our various and sundry 'General Elections') a regular (predictable) schedule, no less!- free and fair (we hope!) elections for both our representatives and our leaders at various levels of American governance.

Thus: let us not forget- whether you agree with what I might write for this website or most strongly disagree- just why we are all able to engage in the very kind of discussion of which my own Commentaties are but a small (where not also insignificant?) part and that said Commentaries- if only every so often- tend (or so *I* hope! [vainly? ;-)]) to engender.

Memorial Day in the good ol' USofA is, indeed, a time to more fully reflect on just why we remain free-- indeed, free to debate, discuss and declaim our respective views on the issues (and political personalities) of the day!

However, for purposes of this piece, one must now switch from the sublime to the far more mundane:

While Governor Romney did so well in what we at The Green Papers call our "hard count" of bound/pledged Republican National Convention delegates (as of this typing: were Governor Romney to be kept to just one-half of the delegates yet to be bound/pledged by Presidential Primary results over the next two weeks [here giving Romney all of the delegates in New Jersey's upcoming 'Winner Take All' contest, if only for sake of this argument], Romney would end up just 5 delegates short of the "magic" 1144 needed to 'clinch' the 2012 Republican presidential nomination-- he is now almost certain to gain the formal pledges of significantly more than that over that time: thus, Romney will mathematically 'clinch' that nomination as a direct result of the Presidential Primaries to be held on Tuesday 5 June and then some), he- nonetheless- still has much work to do (those Ron Paul supporters in otherwise Mitt Romney delegate seats [as Ron Paul and his campaign continue to "work" many a State Convention] put aside for now) within his own Party, even as he continues to prepare to take on President Barack Obama this Fall:

for Romney was held to under 70 percent of the popular vote in both 22 May Presidential Primaries-- again, not a significant "protest vote" against the former Bay State Governor, to be sure: yet one that is still noteworthy.

Still, this does not seem to be as much of the proverbial "eyebrow-raiser" as President Obama's not even clearing 60 percent of the popular vote on the Democratic side in those same two States!...

'tis true that none of these States- Arkansas, Kentucky and (two weeks earlier) West Virginia- that have proved to be something of a "speed bump" along the President's drive toward renomination by his own Party are particularly 'Obama-friendly' territory (for then-Senator Obama lost each of them handily to Senator John McCain in the Presidential Election four years ago and, in addition, these were also all States in which then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton soundly trounced Obama in their respective Democratic Presidential Primaries that year)... yet something like this, at the very least, needs to be filed away into the ol' "political database" in one's brain for potential future reference.

At any rate, we now look forward to the Primaries in TEXAS this coming Tuesday (29 May) and then- a week later- what, at one time, was the original "Super Tuesday" (5 June this year) which is still at least somewhat "super", what with two of the larger-populated States (one of them being the largest- CALIFORNIA [the other being my own NEW JERSEY]) voting in delegate selection events that day...

and then we will just have to see where we might be, as regards the race for the Presidency in 2012, as the dust settles after that:

after which, get out the brooms? ;-)