Barack Takes the Big Mo
CNN has just called Missouri for Obama — a very close vote, but a victory nonetheless. Will he take momentum from Missouri into the next phase of the campaign? Even with the loss of the California popular vote, the answer is yes. When the numbers are crunched, and the delegates tallied, Obama will be close to Hillary’s totals, minus the so-called Super Delegates. He will have won more states than Clinton in the last 24 hours, and will have more money. Not bad for an underdog’s campaign.
But the loss of California still points to a fundamental weakness of Obama with Latino voters, as I’ve noted before. I’m guessing that the final tally in California will show that Hillary won more Hispanic Southern California decisively, while Obama captured San Francisco and nearby communities. Ironically, the African-American candidate is finding other minorities less accepting of his candidacy than the white majority. And this is a problem that Obama — big Mo’ or not — needs to address to move on.