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It's pretty simple- he got the most states and the most delegates. That's it. Sure, Hillary had her voting demographic victories last night, with Hillarykeeping Latino support and Hillary did get New York and California, but at the end of the day those things are only important as the delegates they get you. Clinton's Northeast Sweep didn't pan out as well as hoped, with Connecticut going to Barack. Speaking of Connecticut, Obama had a surprising number of white voters last night, which should put to rest any question about his ability to draw a plurality. The best thing the Clinton campaign could hope for out of this is that the media would take a look at her wins in those two states and declare her the front runner again- but so far, that doesn't seem to be happening.
The race now takes a turn which should -- emphasis on should since absolutely nothing is a sure thing in this campaign -- favor Obama heavily. In the span of four days- 9th to the 12th- primaries and caucuses are being held in Washington, Louisiana, Nebraska, the Virgin Islands, Maine, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii, and Wisconsin. Barack should be able to win a majority if not all of these states, considering how strong his base support -- African-Americans, liberals with college degrees, and younger voters -- is in these places.
Some of these states -- Hawaii, Nebraska, and Washington -- are caucus states. Caucuses favor Barack, considering only dedicated supporters come out for them, and Obama has a more dedicated base then Clinton (she wins more soft support). The momentum out of these states should allow Obama to put up respectable numbers on March 4th in Clinton Country, i.e. Texas and Ohio.
And I haven't even mentioned his significant lead in the money game on Hillary, which comes to the tune of slightly over $20 million. This money is key for Obama, because it allows him to travel at will, and polls have shown the the more voters get to know Obama, the more they like him. Hillary's attempts to get free advertising via weekly debates will probably fizzle, considering there have been already been 18 debates.With money and momentum on his side, all Obama had to do was survive Super Tuesday. But with more states and more delegates, he didn't just survive yesterday -- he aced it.
Photo by Allison Harger via Flickr
