Where We're Headed

As of Midnight Central Time, the projected delegate count runs this way, according to MSNBC.

OBAMA: 841
CLINTON: 837

Tonight's Democratic Caucus proved that we still have no presumptive nominee. Kudos to Obama for closing the gap and kudos to Hillary for holding onto her base of support and winning New York and California. How we perceive of tonight's results will be an exercise in spin. Clinton won the bigger states, but Obama won more states in total. Obama has the right to be proud of himself for closing the gap and living to fight another day. From this point, however, I sense more debates. I sense a growing nastiness between both candidates. The longer this contest drags out, the worst and both of Senators Clinton and Obama will come to the forefront.

However, in Obama's defense, he pulled support from more than the Northeast corridor, one Southern state (Tennessee) , a state where she had been former first lady and where her husband had been governor(Arkansas), California (which might as well be its own country), and one overwhelmingly conservative state in the west (Arizona). New Mexico was not decided as of this writing. He, if any candidate, has the right to claim himself as the candidate of Middle America. His rhetoric runs hand in hand with the sort of populist rhetoric that Edwards espoused. Clinton grabbed the edges of the country and Obama formed a unique coalition of most of the South, the Midwest, the Upper Midwest , one Northeastern state he was not expected to win, and Alaska.

I must say that I am thrilled at this outcome since I was expecting Hillary to win decisively, though I was being cautiously optimistic in my unabashed enthusiasm for Obama. I am always proud with my so-called backwards state votes in its own best interest and appears forward-thinking rather than backward thinking in how it casts its votes. I wish the same could be said for the manner by which GOP voters cast their ballots--opting (albeit narrowly) for Huckabee rather than McCain.

I was reminded of what my mother said when I spoke to her. "My father would be rolling over in his grave knowing I'd cast a ballot for a black man". How far we have come! How far we have to go! I hope Obama's surge continues unabated, I hope he makes no substantial mistakes, and I hope that he can draw more votes from Latino voters in general and more white females. Let us hope that he continues to grasp hold of the momentum and take it all the way to November.

What we are aware of now is that the fight will continue. There are twenty-five additional primaries and caucuses which run from now until June. If no nominee still has a solid majority of delegates, it would come down to a fight on the floor of the convention in Denver, which is going to be held in August. That is six months from now!

The good news of all of this. As a commenter pointed out, the GOP is so fractured at this moment, that it grows increasing more likely (but notice I didn't say definitively) that we will elect a Democratic President in November.