Buckle Up, the Democrats Are Far From Over

Hillary Clinton is back in the Democratic primary. With wins yesterday in Texas and Ohio, Clinton was able to stop the Barack Obama winning streak and take the momentum that he had gained since early February.

The one thing Obama has going for him after last night is that he gained a significant amount of delegates to minimize any delegate count gain that Clinton might have garnered after last night. One thing is for sure, this race is tighter now and states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, and others could have a larger say in who wins the Democratic nomination than before.

This race is not going anywhere anytime soon.

So what hurt Obama this week in keeping him from winning in Texas and Ohio? You can look at the Hispanic population in Texas, which went strong for Clinton including the support of Eva Longoria - that would help anyone’s election cause. In Ohio, Clinton was likely viewed as having more experience in dealing with economic issues in a state that is hurting economically. (As a side, we are left to ponder how Clinton has more experience than Obama when it was Clinton’s husband who was the president not her. The amount of experience in the Senate, for both candidates, is only four years difference.)

Obama certainly didn’t benefit from a media that is now starting to dig into him a little more, now that he has front runner status. A press conference the other day where he seemed agitated at answering questions certainly doesn’t help in the eyes of voters, who whether they like to admit or not, enjoy seeing politicians answer questions and made to sweat by the media.

Obama still has the lead in the delegate count, but will have to work hard to gain back his momentum. Any talk of looking ahead to a potential battle with Republican nominee John McCain is premature for either side at this moment.

Look for this race to continue well into April and perhaps even early May.  Clinton just made things very interesting.