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Today is the biggest day in the U.S. presidential primary race so far, and you can follow all the action right here on YouTube. Check out our Super Tuesday platform to see videos from voters, candidates, and news organizations from around the country. We’re featuring some of the best ones on our home page all day today.

Here’s a highlight reel:

Come back to our Super Tuesday channel throughout the day as videos pour in from the 24 states holding primaries. Add your own video to the mix to have your voice heard alongside everyone else’s. If you’re looking for ideas on the kind of video to make, we’ve got some suggestions here. But most importantly — get out and vote!

In the United States, Super Tuesday commonly refers to the Tuesday in early February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party’s presidential candidates are officially nominated. More delegates can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day of the primary calendar, and accordingly, candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their party’s nomination. In 2008, Super Tuesday is February 5; 24 states will hold primaries or caucuses on this date, with 52 percent of all pledged Democratic Party delegates and 41 percent of the total Republican Party delegates at stake.

History

Origins and significance

The phrase “Super Tuesday” has been used to refer to presidential primary elections since at least 1984[2] as dates when a large number of states held presidential primaries. In fact, the 1984 primary season had three “Super Tuesdays,” ending with “Super Tuesday III”, when Walter Mondale finally secured the Democratic nomination.[3]

The phrase “Super Tuesday” was next used to describe the primary elections that took place on March 8, 1988, in the Southern states of Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia leading up to the 1988 election in November. Southern Democrats came up with the idea of a regional primary in an effort to nominate a moderate candidate who would more closely represent their interests. (Their plan ultimately did not succeed as Jesse Jackson, Al Gore, and Michael Dukakis split the Super Tuesday primaries, and Dukakis was subsequently nominated.) Since then, the particular states holding primaries on Super Tuesday have varied from year to year. Subsequent “Super Tuesdays” have taken place on March 10, 1992; March 12, 1996; March 7, 2000; and March 2, 2004. In 2000, 16 states held primaries on Super Tuesday, the largest presidential primary election day in U.S. history.

Since Super Tuesday primaries are held in a large number of states from geographically and socially diverse regions of the country, Super Tuesday typically represents a Presidential candidate’s first test of national electability. Convincing wins in Super Tuesday primaries have usually propelled candidates to their party’s nomination. In 1992, after losing earlier primaries, Democrat Bill Clinton emerged as a candidate “back from the dead” when he convincingly won a number of Southern primaries on Super Tuesday. Clinton ultimately went on to win the Democratic nomination and the presidency. In 1996, Republican Bob Dole’s Super Tuesday sweep sealed his bid for the Republican nomination. In 2000, approximately 81% of Democratic delegates and 18% of Republican delegates needed to secure nomination were up for grabs on Super Tuesday. That year, Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush cemented their nomination bids with Super Tuesday victories, and both went on to win their parties’ nominations.

Increased participation

To increase importance of their votes, many states have moved up their primaries to February 5, 2008. This new, earlier cohort of primaries and caucuses has thus come to be referred to as “Super Tuesday.” (By way of denoting its political magnitude, some pundits have variously dubbed it “Giga Tuesday,” “Mega Giga Tuesday,” “Tsunami Tuesday” or even “Super Duper Tuesday.”[4] “Super Tuesday” is, however, the nominal term and the one most widely used.)
Seven states held caucuses or primary elections on Mini-Tuesday in 2004. Blue denotes Democratic-only contests (4) and Purple represents states that held elections for both parties (3).
Seven states held caucuses or primary elections on Mini-Tuesday in 2004. Blue denotes Democratic-only contests (4) and Purple represents states that held elections for both parties (3).

2004

Main article: Mini-Tuesday

In 2004, several states moved their presidential contests up to February 3, 2004 in order to increase the relative importance of their election results. Ultimately five states held primaries and two held caucuses on this, a date eventually christened Mini-Tuesday or, alternatively, Super Tuesday I by pundits, with the traditional March Super Tuesday date christened Super Tuesday II, or just simply “Super Tuesday.” Arguably, the Roman numeraled names are most consistent with how Super Tuesdays were first christened in 1984, when there were in fact three Super Tuesdays.

2008

Main article: Super Tuesday (2008)

In the spring of 2007, 24 states with over half the delegates to the national conventions moved to change their primary dates to February 5, 2008, creating the largest “Super Tuesday” to date. Newswriters and political pundits have noted that this will dwarf the Super Tuesday primaries in previous cycles, creating a “Tsunami Tuesday,” among other superlatives.[4] With only four states holding elections on this year’s other Super Tuesday of March 4, 2008, pundits in those states left behind have noted that “this year, however, Super Tuesday isn’t so super.”

A fire broke out Friday on the roof of the Monte Carlo hotel- casino on the Las Vegas Strip and quickly spread, forcing guests and employees to flee before firefighters got the upper hand, officials said.

Firefighters contained the fire within about an hour, he said, and no one was injured. Smith said he could not estimate damage to the 32-story hotel.

“As we go out of the danger zone, we’ll methodically check each floor,” Clark County Fire Chief Steve Smith said. “No rooms are burning.”

The three-alarm fire, which began just before 11 a.m., spread from the center section of the hotel across the roof line. Orange flames licked at the hotel’s sign and plumes of thick black smoke poured from the rooftop of the resort. Flaming embers fell to the street below.

Clark County spokesman Eric Pappa said county officials were told welders were working on the roof of the building before the fire, but reports of workers trapped on the roof were incorrect.

The fire chief said once the fire was extinguished, investigators would begin trying to determine how the fire started. There was no immediate indication of criminal activity or arson, he said.

Smith called it an external fire, but said heat and smoke set off alarms and sprinklers inside the building. No rooms burned, he said.

The facade was made of a foam building material that “melted off the side of the building and started a few fires below,” Smith said.

Smith said the fire was being fought inside the building by about 100 firefighters, not with ladder trucks.

Floors 25 to 32 were immediately evacuated, and lower parts of the hotel were still being cleared about 90 minutes later.

Guests were being taken to the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and employees were evacuated to the adjacent New York-New York hotel, said Gordon Absher, spokesman for the hotel owner, MGM Mirage Inc (MGM). Hotel officials said guests would be moved to other MGM Mirage hotels. They estimated the hotel was almost full and about 900 workers were on duty when the fire began.

As the fire burned, huge crowds formed on the Las Vegas Strip, and traffic was gridlocked as streets were blocked off around the hotel. Helicopters circled overhead.

The nearby resorts, Bellagio and New York New York were not evacuated.

The Monte Carlo Resort & Casino, with 3,002 guest rooms and 211 suites in its upper floors, is on Las Vegas Boulevard, near Tropicana Avenue. It opened in June 1996.

The hotel, modeled after the Place du Casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco, was a joint venture between Steve Wynn’s Mirage Resorts and Circus Circus Enterprises.

It is now planned to be linked by a monorail that will connect it to the CityCenter casino complex and Bellagio to the north.

The Monte Carlo is down the street from the scene of Nevada’s deadliest fire, a Nov. 21, 1980, blaze that killed 87 people at the old MGM Grand hotel and led to strict fire codes in Las Vegas resorts.

That hotel was rebuilt and sold in 1985 and renamed Bally’s. It is now owned by Harrah’s Entertainment Inc (HET). The cause of the deadly fire was traced to an electrical malfunction in a refrigerated pastry case in the hotel deli.

Updated, 6:06 p.m. | The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment in Manhattan, according to the New York City police. Signs pointed to a suicide or an accidental overdose, police sources said. Mr. Ledger was 28.

At 3:31 p.m., a masseuse arrived the fourth-floor apartment of the building, at 421 Broome Street in SoHo, for an appointment with Mr. Ledger, the police said. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of the bedroom Mr. Ledger was in. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed, with sleeping pills — both prescription medication and nonprescription — on a night table. They moved his body to the floor and attempted to revive him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities.

The police said they did not suspect foul play. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office of the city’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, said that employees of the office were at the apartment and that an autopsy would be conducted on Wednesday.

Police officials initially said that the apartment was owned by the actress Mary-Kate Olsen. They said they believed Ms. Olsen, 21, was in California and that Mr. Ledger had been living in her apartment. Ms. Olsen attended the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, for the premiere of “The Wackness,” a film in which she stars with the actor Ben Kingsley. It was not clear where she went after the film screening.

A representative of Ms. Olsen said this afternoon that the apartment did not belong to the actress. “It is not her apartment,” said Annette Wolf, a publicist for Ms. Olsen. “She does not own the apartment. She has never owned the apartment. She and her sister have an apartment in New York City but they are not in this building.”

Mr. Ledger, a native of Perth, Australia, won acclaim for his role as a co-star in “Brokeback Mountain” (2005). The film, based on a short story by Annie Proulx about two cowboys who fall in love, won critical acclaim. Reviewing the film in The New York Times, the critic Stephen Holden wrote, “Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn.” Mr. Ledger was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in January 2006.

Mr. Ledger met the actress Michelle Williams while filming ‘’Brokeback Mountain.” The two actors fell into a romance and moved to Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, where their comings and goings were widely noted by the celebrity press. They had a daughter, Matilda Rose, who was born on Oct. 28, 2005. The couple separated last year.

Mr. Ledger’s first Hollywood film was the teenage romantic comedy “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999). He later appeared in romantic-hero roles in films like “A Knight’s Tale” (2001) and “Casanova” (2005).

Mr. Ledger was also cast as The Joker in the latest Batman installment, “The Dark Knight,” set to be released this summer.

In an interview in London for an article published in November, Mr. Ledger told The New York Times, ‘’I feel like I’m wasting time if I repeat myself.” He said in the interview that he was not proud of his latest role, in Todd Haynes’s “I’m Not There,” in which Mr. Ledger was one of a half-dozen actors depicting the musician Bob Dylan. ‘’I feel the same way about everything I do. The day I say, ‘It’s good’ is the day I should start doing something else,” said in the interview.

As news of Mr. Ledger’s death made its way across the Internet, the Police Department issued a fairly terse summary of the death: “ON TUESDAY, 01/22/08, AT APPROXIMATELY 1530 HOURS, IN THE CONFINES OF THE 5 PRECINCT, POLICE RESPONDED TO 421 BROOME STREET AND FOUND A M/W/28 UNCONSCIOUS. THE VICTIM WAS PRONOUNCED DOA AT THE SCENE. M.E.’S OFFICE TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF DEATH. INVESTIGATION CONTINUES.”

Calls by The Times to Mara Buxbaum, a publicist for Mr. Ledger, and Steve Alexander, the actor’s agent, were not immediately returned this afternoon.

Thomas J. Lueck and John Sullivan contributed reporting.

The Patriots [team stats]’ hopes for a fourth Super Bowl title in seven years and an unprecedented 19-0 season certainly hit a major speed bump yesterday, as Tom Brady [stats] was spotted wearing what appears to be a walking cast on his right foot.

Two weeks before a date with the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII isn’t the best time for the quarterback who runs the league’s most prolific offense, not to mention the player the Patriots can least afford to lose, to turn up with an injury problem.

A video taken of Brady in New York yesterday, which is available on TMZ.com, shows the NFL’s MVP returning to girlfriend Gisele Bundchen’s apartment. He’s dressed in dark glasses and a black hoodie with a coat over it, walking gingerly on the sidewalk after emerging from a black SUV parked on the street.

The walking cast clearly is visible below the denim jeans he is wearing. He has a white sneaker on his other foot. The video has him carrying a bouquet of flowers, slowly moving up the steps to Bundchen’s West Village apartment.

During his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “Dennis and Callahan” show, Brady didn’t dismiss the notion he had suffered some type of leg injury during Sunday’s AFC Championship win over the San Diego Chargers.

Brady was asked to respond to reports of an observer noticing that he was a little gimpy at one point during the game, and was examined by a doctor. He paused a bit before answering.

“Ah, you know, there’s always bumps and bruises. I’ll be ready for the Super Bowl,” Brady said, when asked point-blank if he had a leg injury. “I’m not worried about that. I’m not missing this one. I’d have to be on a stretcher to miss this one. There will be treatment this week. In games like this, you get a little nicked up. It’s nothing serious.”

Brady had an uncharacteristically rough game, throwing three interceptions for the first time this season. Despite throwing a pair of touchdown passes, he seemed a bit off all game. Many of Brady’s throws weren’t on target, with receivers such as Kevin Faulk [stats] having to dive or reach backward for the ball.

That’s not Brady.

Some of his problems might have been due to the windy conditions, while the Chargers also may have accounted for some of Brady’s ineffectiveness.

The foot problem, however, adds a new wrinkle, something that is going to cause much worry and concern in the coming week and beyond.

While Brady does have time to recover, the idea of him being hampered or hindered in any way is disconcerting given the upcoming opponent in the Super Bowl.

If he can’t push off that right (plant) foot, he can’t get zip on the ball. A closer look at Sunday’s game footage shows Brady at times appeared to be throwing off one foot, or not getting the proper help from his plant foot.

Moreover, the Giants have one of the better pass rushes in the NFL. If Brady is having trouble with his mobility, that could loom as an even larger problem, especially against an opponent that gave the Patriots one of their toughest games of the year.

During the Patriots’ 38-35 win in the final regular-season game Dec. 29, while Brady was sacked only once, he was constantly pressured and harried by Giants defensive linemen Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck.

Brady has started in 124 consecutive games, the third longest streak by a quarterback in NFL history.

When asked if the problem would flare up around the Pro Bowl, the week after the Super Bowl, Brady cracked: “You can count on that, you can definitely count on that.”