WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama’s dominant coast-to-coast performance over the weekend set a new tone for the post-Super Tuesday phase of an unprecedented struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination.
One day after Barack Obama wrapped up a weekend sweep of four nominating contests and Sen. Hillary Clinton replaced her campaign manager in an effort to regain momentum, both Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls were yesterday gearing up for today’s primaries in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C.
Obama’s overwhelming margins of victory Saturday in Washington state, Louisiana, Nebraska and the US Virgin Islands signaled the start of what may prove to be a rough few weeks for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
On Sunday, pundits wanted to know who would have believed the Maine caucuses would ever prove to be such a pivotal contest in the Democratic race? (Maine also went to Obama.)
Five weeks and more than 30 contests after Iowa, the race for delegates between Obama and Clinton remains a virtual tie.
Both candidates are roughly halfway to the magic number of 2,025 delegates needed to be nominated at the party’s national convention in Denver, Colorado, this summer. CNN yesterday gave Obama 958 delegate votes, and Hillary 904 delegate votes.
Suddenly, the prospect of a brokered Democratic National Convention this August in Denver, Colorado, is no longer being dismissed as an improbable scenario.
The Hillary campaign, meanwhile, has begun downplaying their chances in today’s “Potomac Primary,” when Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC vote.
All appear to be good territory for Obama, containing high numbers of voters who have sided with him throughout this process — blacks, high-income and well-educated.
Virginia may be a state where Hillary can challenge but recent polls show her far behind heading into the primary. A week later, Hawaii and Wisconsin vote, both good states for Obama.
Hillary’s camp and some outside observers, see her remaining strength in some of the big states coming up in March and April. Ohio and Texas vote on March 4th, along with Rhode Island and Vermont. Mississippi is a week after that and then Pennsylvania takes its turn on April 22nd.
But political observers say that if Hillary can’t find a win before March 4th, it’s no sure bet that Ohio and Texas will be so keen on her.
Because of the Democratic rules, Hillary will pick up her current share of delegates even should she go 0-for the next couple rounds.
But if Obama continues to pile up 60-70 percent of the vote, he’ll begin widening his overall lead and building his momentum.
Despite his recent wins, Obama said on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday night that he still considers himself the underdog.
“I think there’s a lot of affection for the Clinton brand among Democrats. She still has more institutional support,” said Obama. “Part of what we have to do is to score a convincing knockout. We’re like the challenger and she’s like the champ. And you don’t win on points.”
Meanwhile, on the GOP side, Republican contender Mike Huckabee is crying foul over John McCain’s victory in Saturday’s caucuses in Washington state.
McCain was announced as the winner, with 26 percent to Huckabee’s 24 percent. But Huckabee’s campaign says there were about 1,500 votes that were never counted. His campaign says it is exploring its legal options.
