Four Score

So, it may come down to this. Can Hillary Clinton take one or both of the big states up for grabs tonight? Can she take Texas and/or Ohio? Exit polls seem to show that it's going to be very tight in Ohio, but Texas looks like it's going to go for Obama in a big way.

That's not good for Hillary by any stretch. Media outlets are already calling Vermont for Barack Obama, but Hillary managed to take Rhode Island, which puts an end to Obama's winning streak, if only for a night.

The weather may be playing a role in how Ohio turns - storms across the state could keep the turnout low.

Obama remains ahead of Hillary in the total number of delegates, and the talk attempts to seat Florida and Michigan continue to percolate and threatens the entire process.

The DNC punished both states for moving their primaries up, and said that they would refuse to seat them at the convention. The DNC told the candidates not to put their names on the ballot or campaign in the states. All the candidates listened, except one - Hillary. She won both states, and some of her supporters are calling for them to be seated despite the DNC ruling, claiming that to do anything else would be discriminatory and violate the rights of the voters in those states.

This is a mess of the DNC's own making. They laid down the rules, the punishment, and if they go ahead and seat the delegates, it would give Hillary a serious advantage since those delegates would all go to her - more than making up the lead that Obama presently has. Holding a new primary election makes little sense to me, and I'm of the opinion that the DNC should hold to its original ruling not to seat those delegates because changing the rules in the middle of the contest adversely affects Obama, who played by the rules and would benefit the candidate who broke the rules - Clinton.

Over on the other side of the aisle, John McCain clinched the nomination, winning handily, and media reports that Mike Huckabee will be issuing a concession speech tomorrow to officially drop out of the race. That's pretty anti-climatic since he's been pretty much out of the race since before Super Tuesday. He's saying that he fought the good fight? Who is he kidding?

UPDATE:
NBC is calling Ohio for Hillary, and she's leading by 18 points with 55% vote in:

Hillary Clinton 699,014 58%
Barack Obama 485,604 40%

Texas is still too close to call, but Hillary is starting to pull ahead. Will Obama be calling this the buyer's remorse phase of the campaign, as he tries to blame his losses here on Hillary's dirty tricks campaign (the whole series of negative stories that have come out in advance of today's primaries)? I'm sure they'll try, but the sad fact is that until the last few days, the media has treated his campaign with kid gloves and haven't bothered asking him tough questions about his credentials and actual achievements and leadership experience. Saying you're for hope and change sounds great, but they're nothing more than empty platitudes.

UPDATE:
It goes without saying that the show will definitely go on for Hillary given her wins in Rhode Island and Ohio. If she wins Texas, she's in an even better position as she starts to close the gap in delegates. The fight for super delegates will intensify even more, as will the fight over whether to seat the Florida and Michigan delegates.