Sweeps of the Potomac
Washington, D.C.–Never mind the icy roads and sleet, voters in the Potomac primary states/commonwealths/districts of Maryland, Virginia, and D.C awarded Barack Obama and John McCain a sweep. The Clinton campaign expects only losses for the rest of the month, putting Mrs. Clinton’s stock in Ohio and Texas.
While the Republicans grant all delegates awarded to the states to the winner, Democrats abide by a more complicated system. After tonight, Obama is likely to be ahead in the total delegate count–determined by proportion of vote cast–whereas Clinton seems to remain ahead, though slightly, in the battle for superdelegate support.
This poses several problems for the Clinton campaign, the first of which is the reference, once again, to Clinton as the “establishment candidate.” It fits in nicely with Obama’s narrative of the “change” and “anti-Washington” candidate, and posits Clinton in opposition to progress. (This is, after all, the Democratic primary.) Clinton, as of now, has yet to discover a formidable counterargument, which is, surely, at least part of the reason for her recent campaign shake-up.
Secondly, and not to point out the obvious, but this is the campaign trail. Obama is a formidable campaigner, excelling in front of the ever-growing crowds, delivering uplifting stump speech after uplifting stump speech. Clinton has more to overcome while campaigning than policy differences. How do you stand in opposition to hope?
If it all comes down to superdelegates, which it might, the Democratic base will be loathe to hear that the “privileged” within the party are tilting the scales in favor of Clinton. As the weeks and primaries progress, and Obama performs well in upcoming Wisconsin and Hawaii, a formidable victory in Ohio and Texas will be essential for the Clinton campaign.
Image: NOAA, http://newweb.erh.noaa.gov/images/ahps2/lwx/gtnd2/ice.jpg