10 straight wins in a row for Obama
20 02 2008
Hot on the heels of his routing of Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries in Virginia, Washington DC and Maryland last week, Senator Barack Obama has won the primary and caucus in Wisconsin and Hawaii respectively, giving him 10 straight wins in a row in the race to win the U.S Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. He took 58% of the vote in Wisconsin and 76% of the vote in Hawaii, where he spent time growing up.
Obama’s victories in Wisconsin and Hawaii are less significant than the demographic there that voted for him. Clinton has been carried along by the support of Latino, blue collar, and women voters, but Obama made inroads into the latter two groups this time round. Also, Clinton’s last minute attacks on Obama for allegedly plagiarising the speeches of his supporter, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, appear to have backfired.
Many are now talking of the uphill climb Clinton now faces as the all important Ohio and Texas primaries loom large on Tuesday 4 March. The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza writes:
“All of [the data from Wisconsin] suggests one thing: Obama is building the coalition that Clinton appeared to have built in earlier votes. And without winning back a significant portion of that coalition, it becomes VERY difficult for her to come from behind and claim the nomination.”
However, speaking immediately after the Wisconsin results in Houston, Texas, Obama was keen to play down the momentum which is building behind him:
“Understand this, Houston: As wonderful as this gathering is, as exciting as these enormous crowds and this enormous energy may be, what we’re trying to do here is not easy, and it will not happen overnight.
“It is going to take more than big rallies. It’s going to require more than rousing speeches. It will also require more than policy papers and positions and Web sites. It is going to require something more, because the problem that we face in America today is not the lack of good ideas. It’s that Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die.”
The latest polls in Ohio and Texas give Clinton 9 and 5 point leads respectively over Obama.
