Obama won by an overwhelming margin of victory in caucuses in Hawaii last night, some 76% to 24% for Hillary Clinton. This is not an unexpected result, however, since Hawaii considers Obama a native son. Nonetheless, it is yet another blowout for Obama. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, remained utterly graceless and did not congratulate Obama or even acknowledge his victory.
Sen. Barack Obama won the Wisconsin Democratic primary and the Hawaii caucuses decisively last night, extending his winning streak to ten consecutive contests and dealing another significant blow to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose imperiled presidential candidacy now hangs on the outcome of showdowns in Ohio and Texas in two weeks.
After a week of sparring that included the first negative ads of the campaign, Obama emerged victorious in the critical general-election battleground state of Wisconsin, and was treated to favorite son status with a lopsided win in Hawaii, where he was born. For the second week in a row, the senator from Illinois made inroads into the coalition that Clinton has counted on to carry her to the nomination — women and white working-class voters — while rolling up big margins among white men.
In Wisconsin's Republican primary, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) won an easy victory over former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, moving him ever closer to clinching the party's nomination. In Washington state's Republican primary, with 57 percent of the precincts reporting, McCain had more than doubled Huckabee's vote count, garnering 49 percent compared to 22 percent.
In his speech after the Wisconsin vote, McCain all but dismissed Clinton as a potential adversary, focusing his rhetorical fire on Obama as offering an "eloquent but empty call for change."
Obama celebrated at a boisterous Houston rally attended by an estimated 19,000 people and exhorted them to give him another important push toward the Democratic nomination in Texas's March 4 primary. "Houston, the change we seek is still months and miles away, and we need the good people of Texas to help us get there," he said. "We will need you to fight for every delegate it takes to win this nomination."
Mindful of McCain's attacks, he struck back at the likely GOP nominee. "I revere and honor John McCain's service to his country. He's a genuine hero," Obama told the audience at the Toyota Center. "But when he embraces George Bush's failed economic policies, when he says he's willing to send our troops into another 100 years in Iraq, then he represents the party of yesterday, and we want to be the party of tomorrow."
McCain and Obama both appear to be running more against one another than in the primaries themselves of late. Not surprising, when you think about it. the Hillary Clinton campaign has stopped dead it the water at this point. The entire Clinton campaign strategy is now down to hoping for a miracle.
I no longer think she can pull it off.
