By Britt Nelson

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.

Watching the developing war of words in the presidential race for the upcoming New York primary from Costa Rica is quite entertaining no matter which candidate you support. Each day we get to watch an eye-popping sunset over the Pacific Ocean from this peaceful nation, but up north the candidates are throwing as much mud at each other as they can, hoping that something sticks in the collective minds of voters.

The denials, backtracking and restating goes on and on like a water balloon fight amongst 10 year-olds.

Republican New York billionaire Donald Trump is defending New York values while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says New York values are not his values, nor those of his supporters. Just what are New York values nobody is really saying, but it’s a fair bet that Cruz will come in last in the April 19 New York Primary while Trump may get more than 50 percent of the vote. Spoiler Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has no chance of winning the delegate count necessary for the Republican nomination for president, is only in the race to drain votes and convention delegates away from Trump and Cruz.

Trump and Cruz are both demanding that Kasich drop out of the race, but he refuses to budge and the three-way split of votes is hurting Trump and Cruz in their quest to secure the 1,237 delegates needed for the Republican nomination for president. For now this situation is what establishment Republicans want – to block both Trump and Cruz, and create an “open” environment for the upcoming Republican National Convention in July.

High political drama is unfolding around the personalities and campaigns of Trump, Cruz and Kasich; the Republican National Committee and their unknown establishment candidate waiting in the wings and the public that participated in all the primary and caucus votes held across the country. Will the people’s Republican choice be ignored? Will an unknown parachute into the convention and fly away with the nomination for president? Will that person be Speaker of the House Paul Ryan?

The Democrats, meanwhile, are producing little political drama in comparison to the GOP.

Both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are now accusing each other of being unqualified to be president of the United States. Sanders says Clinton has accepted millions of dollars in campaign contributions from Wall Street bankers and big oil interests, and that makes her unqualified because she is owned by special interests. Clinton says Sanders is not a real Democrat and the self-described socialist is not qualified to be president. On and on the campaign grind goes — day after day – episode after episode — that seems more like a soap opera than a presidential face-off.

After several weeks of wrangling, Sanders and Clinton have decided to debate again on April 14 in Brooklyn, NY, five days before the April 19 primary. The debate will be sponsored by CNN and hosted by CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer beginning at 9 pm Eastern time.

Clinton has the most to lose even though she’s ahead, by at least 10 points, in all the New York Primary polls. It’s obvious that Sanders must not pull any punches in his criticisms of Clinton in this debate. He must stun her with his words, be relentless and dominate the debate getting her on the defensive and keeping her there. New York is Clinton’s home state, where she served eight years in the U.S. Senate. Even though Sanders is now a senator from Vermont, he was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.

In support of Clinton, she needs to warm up and stop acting like she knows it all. She comes across as snobby and cold as ice while Sanders likeability is through the roof. At 74 years old, Sanders is everybody’s grandfather and so elder statesman like.

During this time of waiting until the April 19 New York Primary, the candidates will continue their attacks on each other and they may stumble as a result. The news media will jump on anything that happens between now, the upcoming primary and beyond.

The drama is high, but the stakes are higher. After the smoke clears from the current election cycle and down the road both political parties are about to realize there is a new kid on the block. The USA is about to witness the creation of a third national political party – The Independent Party – who now represents 43 percent of all registered voters across the nation more than Democrats or Republicans, according to IndependentVoter.org. They no longer can be ignored.

Because the New York Primary is a closed primary, Independent voters will not be voting there on April 19. Their voice will be heard in November from coast to coast.

About the author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years. Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.