by Ronna Sweeney, KUAM NewsSaturday, March 08, 2008 Subscribe to Ronna's newsfeed
This past week President George W. Bush formally endorsed Republican hopeful John McCain. Now island republicans are also on board pledging their support. Local members of the GOP flooded into the Nikko Hotel earlier today for the GOP State Convention. Top items on the agenda included the election of new state party officers as well as the election of delegates to the Republican National Convention that will be taking place this coming September in Minneapolis.State party chairperson Phil Flores explained, "I think we're important. We're right there. We have a voice on the floor. The governor will be part of our delegation in September. He's well-known amongst all governors in America, so we're going to have a lot of fun." As the Republican presumptive nominee for president since Mike Huckabee bowed out of the Republican presidential race last Tuesday, McCain also now has the support of the Guam GOP, who officially announced they were backing him at today's convention.Continued Flores, "I think we're pretty important because Senator McCain sent us a message today that will be playing at the convention. We're happy he got over the hump on Super Tuesday II. We wish he was just a few votes short, because they were talking to us that we were going to be the ones to put him over the top, but he's already over the top."So if elected as president, just what significance could this have on Guam? According to Flores, McCain has already vowed to help our island with the transfer of troops from Okinawa. He said, "I do know when Governor Camacho spoke to the McCain camp part of his pledge of support came with a pledge of support on their side, that they would help us with the infrastructure to handle the military buildup. So it's very, very important. I don't know where senators Clinton and Obama are on a lot of things, certainly not on helping the island buildup, but I do know Senator McCain has already made a pledge."While Republicans seem to have made their decision in regards to McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton continue to duke it out for delegates. As of earlier today, according to the Wall Street Journal, Obama leads Clinton in the delegate count 1,569 to 1,462.