Washington's results, along with those in Nebraska and Louisiana, started a run of 12 consecutive primary wins for Obama. As a result, many super delegates nationwide who had initially declared their support for Hillary changed their minds, and others who had been waiting to declare finally stood up for Obama. Since Feb. 9, Hillary's lead among super delegates has shrunk from almost 100 to only 30.
A Clinton aide responded to these trends by discounting Obama's victories in "boutique" caucus states, saying they were won with "the latte-sipping crowd." Can our state's super delegates imagine a more direct and derisive slap at Washington? Clinton is trying to create a class war within our party, while Obama is trying to unite people of all backgrounds, from every state, with the goal of change in our country's direction.
Meanwhile, Obama's lead in pledged delegates continues to grow, currently standing at over 160 delegates according to CNN. Last Saturday, Obama netted 14 additional delegates over Clinton as some of Edwards' delegates defected at Iowa's county conventions and as the California vote tally was finalized.
Compare this to Hillary's supposed "momentum-changing" results on March 4: Clinton's 10 percent margin in Ohio translated netted her only nine more delegates than Obama; moreover, as the caucus results from Texas are tallied and combined with the primary results in the state, it appears that Obama actually won the most delegates there overall. CNN shows Clinton's net gain in all four March 4 states combined was a whopping six delegates out of the 368 at stake. So much for momentum.
With 10 contests to go, Clinton must win 65 percent of the remaining pledged delegates in order to catch up - a virtually impossible task, especially considering Clinton has never even hit the 50 percent level of nationwide support in the Rasmussen daily Democratic primary tracking poll (Obama did hit the 50 percent mark for the first time last Friday).
Clinton either refuses to do the math, or she knows that nothing short of a disaster for Obama will change the outcome of this primary season - and she is doing everything she can to make that happen, with increasingly negative and manipulative attacks. In the traitorous style of Joe Lieberman, she followed up her fear-mongering, red-phone TV ad with praise for the Republican nominee (are you kidding me???) as being qualified to be commander-in-chief, while saying that Obama does not meet that test. Given her close friendship with McCain, we have to wonder whether she will end up as the VP candidate on the GOP ticket.
Clinton's surrogate Ferraro is trying to fuel racial divisions with the paradoxical claim that Obama's skin color was the only reason Obama is winning (and don't tell me that a veteran politician like Ferraro has suddenly become a loose cannon).
This race is no longer a vetting process. It is rapidly turning into the circular firing squad that is all too familiar to Democrats, with Hillary's hatchet men trying to pull a Tonya Harding on Obama just before he reaches the finish line. While it's a heyday for the news media, why does the Democratic party stand by and let this happen?
The Democratic National Committee has a real mess on its hands now, with Michigan and Florida, who held their primaries in violation of party rules, still trying to figure out a way to hold expensive do-overs before the convention (in all likelihood, these contests would be close to a wash, with Clinton ahead in Florida and Obama likely to prevail in Michigan). With neither candidate likely to reach the necessary threshold of pledged delegates to lock up the nomination before the convention, what a catastrophic endgame we would have should the super delegates overrule the voice of the people.
This is where Washington's super delegates should step in. They have two obligations with respect to this presidential primary season: to represent our state, and to make sure that we get a Democrat in the White House in November. It is clear that these two interests are now aligned. They must put their personal preferences aside, declare support for Obama, and lead a movement in the DNC to ask Hillary to concede to the inevitable. This will make Michigan and Florida re-votes a moot point and unite the party before the damage from infighting becomes irreversible.
Miller Park resident Mike Clarke can be reached at editor@capitolhill times.com.
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