The Pakistani Spectator

News of the primaries in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and RI are pouring in. Voting has been completed in all four states and almost 90% of precincts have reported in the two major states, Ohio and Texas. Hillary Clinton is the projected winner in both states that matter on March 4. Her wins have been narrow but they have been wins nonetheless. It must be a relief for Clinton after she went on a downhill roller coaster ride on super Tuesday (the Tuesday when large number of states vote for nominees). She suffered 11 straight losses to Barack Obama. She has won in the states that matter the most, delegate wise. She won California (370 delegates), then Texas (126 delegates) then New york (146 delegates) then Ohio (141 delegates). Her delegate count stands at 1,175 whereas that of Barack Obama at 1,307. Clinton has seen success today but she has not been able to erode into the Obama base. The numbers still do not favour her. This means she still has to make a strong case in front of the 500 or so un-committed super delegates. Can she convince the super delegates to go against the public opinion and vote for her. After all Obama has support all over the US. He has shown power and progress everywhere. Even her victories have not been convincing.

But in all this hush hush aren’t democrats loosing the big picture. If history is to be any judge, whenever a democratic nomination has been fought this close, the results of the presidential campaign have been in the favour of the Republicans. In the back of their minds Republicans are actually praying that Obama takes the pie away from Clinton. This will make their cause considerably easy. John McCain is a war veteran and a big supporter of war on terror. Americans are scared of the terrorism puppet and they can’t rest their fate in the hands of in-experienced, war naive Obama. So in my mind if Obama wins the democratic nomination it will be a uphill task for an African American to convince the south and the rest.

Hillary has the experience of her husband to back her. She has shown time and agian that she can make a come back and can be a formidable opponent to beat. Her resolve matters and so does her status as a woman _ possibly the first woman president of the US.

Last 5 posts by MK

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