Winning Big

I don't really have too much to say at the moment about Barack Obama's extremely impressive showing in South Carolina. With the field helpfully winnowed down to three candidates (yes, I know Mike Gravel is still ostensibly in the race), it's not as far-fetched to pull out a majority, but Obama had twice as many votes as second-place finisher Clinton. Chasing after the horse race is an extremely popular pastime these days, and Obama's big finish may even vault him back into the position of consensus frontrunner. But what will that mean? I suppose that we can count Florida or not, given that their delegates are not official for the time being and the candidates have promised not to campaign there, but other than that state, with South Carolina out of the way, the primaries just became national. We're less than a week and a half from Super Tuesday, when almost half the states will hold primaries or caucuses, including California, New York, and Illinois. There'll still be speeches and appearances, but none of the candidates can spend the time in each state that they did in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina. And strategy and tactics become much more important all of a sudden. The horse race may be different again after Florida, and it will almost certainly be different in ten days after Super Tuesday, so talking about the snapshot of the race at this moment won't necessarily accomplish much.

Still, it's been very heartening to see so much interest in the primaries. More than half a million people participated in today's contest, and previous states have seen record turnouts, as well. That can't help but be good for Democrats.