These days, it’s become almost impossible to ignore the battle for president in both the Democratic and Republican Parties. With that said, it’s sometimes rather difficult to keep track of everything that has happened. This article will hopefully help clarify any confusion that might be present in the midst of all the action.

February was indeed an action-packed month. The month started off with the Iowa caucuses on February 1st. Ted Cruz was able to narrowly edge out Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, obtaining 27.6% of the votes. (Trump had 24.3%, and Rubio had 23.1%). It was clear, even at this time, that these three candidates would become the center of the Republican race. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton edged out Bernie Sanders by only 0.3%. She must have been nervous during this caucus!

From there, the Democratic candidates battled it out in a debate on February 4th, while the Republicans fought each other only a few days later on February 6th. More interesting, however, were the results of the New Hampshire primary. The winner from the Democratic Party was Bernie Sanders with 60% of the vote and a grand total of 151,584 votes. Hillary Clinton finished as runner up with 38% and 95,252 votes. It is significant to note that Clinton was unable to draw support from all of the younger voters and many women voters. Former Secretary Madeline Albright perfectly expressed some Americans’ bafflement with the situation by stating that women are obligated to support each other. Other prominent politicians immediately criticized her comment. On the Republican side, Donald Trump emerged victorious with 35% of the votes. John Kasich came in a far second with 16% of the votes, and Iowa winner Ted Cruz came in third with 13%.

As a result of the New Hampshire primary, two significant events occurred. First, Carly Fiorina, who was just beginning to exert her influence over voters, decided to drop out of the race due to her poor showings in the primaries. Second, Chris Christie was unable to aggrandize his power and also dropped out of the race. Interestingly, he later went on to fully support Trump throughout the rest of his presidential campaign.

On February 20th, both the South Carolina Presidential Primary and the Nevada Democratic Caucuses occurred. Again, Trump pulled through with a surprisingly large number of votes (239,851) and obtained 32.5% of all the votes. Marco Rubio pulled through in second with 22.5% of the votes, while Ted Cruz finished third with 22.3% of all the votes. The Democratic Primary in South Carolina occurred one week later on February 27th. Clinton pulled away with a remarkable 73.5% of the votes over Bernie Sanders in South Carolina.

In the Nevada Democratic caucus, Clinton pulled away with a marginal victory, obtaining 52.6% of all the votes. A few days later on February 23rd, Donald Trump pulled away with a victory in the Republican side of the Nevada Caucus, obtaining 45.9% of the votes. Marco Rubio pulled in second place, while Ted Cruz pulled in third place. By this time, a clear pattern was forming: the frontrunners were Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump. All the other candidates began to realize that their chances for the presidency were slim, and they began to drop out of the race.

With all of this in mind, the candidates exited the month of February and entered into the month of March. Stay tuned for a report on the craziness of Super Tuesday and other updates on the Democratic and Republican race for the nomination!