Weekend Review

With Sen. Barack Obama's win in Sunday's Maine caucuses (59 percent to 40 percent), he now takes a miniscule lead in the delegate count according to RealClearPolitics.com, 1143 to 1138, with 2025 needed to win.

Sen. Obama also won races this past weekend in Louisiana, 57 percent to 36 percent, in Nebraska by a 68 percent to 32 percent margin, and in the state of Washington, 68 percent to 31 percent. The next round of critical voting is Tuesday, with primaries in Virginia (83 of 101 delegates at stake), Maryland (70 of 99), and the District of Columbia (15 of 38). The Illinois senator leads polls in Virginia and Maryland (he is up by high double digits--17 and 21 percent respectively) and will likely win by a landslide in the District of Columbia.

Suffice to say, it was a great weekend and probably will be a great Tuesday for him as well.

While the campaign of Sen. Clinton expected the weekend results, and also expect to lose the primaries on Tuesday, they nevertheless made some changes in leadership. Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle was replaced over the weekend by Maggie Williams. Ms. Williams served as chief of staff to Sen. Clinton when she was First Lady during the administration of her husband, President Bill Clinton.

This followed another development in which Sen. Clinton said she had loaned her campaign several million dollars which has since been paid back.

All of these results led to speculation in Washington that the campaign needed a new approach to the race and some fresh energy.

After the primaries in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia (Feb. 12 marks the end of the primary period for Democrats who live around the world, the so-called "Democrats Abroad" race with seven delegates at stake), Wisconsin (74 of 92 delegates) and Hawaii (29) vote on Feb. 19. They are followed by Texas (193 of 228), Ohio (141 of 161), Rhode Island (21 of 32), and Vermont (15 of 23) which all vote on March 4.

These are states where Sen. Clinton is expected to do well and take back some of the momentum from Sen. Obama.

On the Republican side, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had a good weekend winning caucuses in Louisiana and Kansas. He is contesting the results of the caucuses in Washington which showed him trailing by two percentage points to Sen. McCain, 26 to 24. Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished with 21 percent and remains in the race.

Analysts saw the results as a reminder that Sen. McCain, while the universal choice to be the Republican Party presidential nominee, still has some fences to mend among certain blocs of voters, particularly those who chose Gov. Huckabee in the weekend voting. According to RealClearPolitics, Sen. McCain has 724 delegates to 284 for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (who left the race last week), Gov. Huckabee with 234, and Rep. Paul with 14. To win, you need 1191.

The bottom line for the Democrats seems to be that Sen. Clinton must do well on March 4, otherwise she risks being overwhelmed by the Illinois senator which could lead party officials and the press to conclude that the race is over. She was in a similar situation before the New Hampshire Primary in early January and came back to win in a surprise victory, so many here are not counting her out.

For Sen. McCain and the Republicans, the race continues but he will be more concerned with trying to rally all Republicans around his candidacy and is looking into choosing a running mate. Several names are being floated, but with the convention still seven months away, that decision is probably far off.