O-mentum

Barack Obama won all the Democratic contests this weekend, making for a clean sweep. With the delegate total very close or nearly tied (depending on whose tally you see), it looks like the upcoming contests in MD, VA and DC on Tuesday may open things up a bit. Followed by Wisconsin and Hawaii a week later, and then the March 4th primaries in Texas and Ohio.

Looking at the results from this weekend, it's important to keep in mind that Obama won four caucuses and only a single primary (Louisiana). Before Super Tuesday, he didn't do very well in primaries. Since then, he's won primaries, but he crushes in the caucuses! Tuesday's three "Potomac Primaries" will be an opportunity for Obama to put the "can he win big primaries?" question to rest.

Also, today Hillary Clinton's campaign manager announced she was stepping down, apparently because she wants to spend more time with her family. I don't buy it. This is an old political saw to cover what the real reason is for a person's departure. Nobody, but NOBODY signs on to be the campaign manager for someone like Clinton and isn't fully committed to go the entire distance! It simply doesn't happen at that level.

So there's something going on here that isn't being revealed. Maybe Patti Solis Doyle had significant differences with Hillary about how the campaign was being run, or maybe she wasn't performing up to Hillary's standards. But when you reassign your campaign director to a "senior advisor's" role, it's basically the same thing as someone like you or me getting fired. Sure, you might leave on good terms, and you might even stay on the company's bowling team, but you are most definitely history as far as your job goes.

This has been a brutal week for Hillary. She won not a single thing since last Tuesday; she was forced to open her pocketbook and loan herself five million smackers; and now she and her longtime campaign manager are in splitsville. (Jesus, I'm starting to sound like Perez Hilton)

I won't predict that the wheels are falling off the campaign just yet. However, if Obama wins the VA, MD, and DC primaries on Tuesday, we'll be seeing a few lug nuts on the highway behind Hillary's campaign bus. And the road will get bumpier still in Wisconsin and Hawaii the following week if she doesn't score a decisive win somewhere.

With Obama getting all the good press lately, and Clinton's problems becoming more and more public, it looks like the momentum is definitely shifting in Barack's favor.

I'd even say he has "O-mentum"!

If you need any more convincing that Obama is drumming up some real excitement here, just look at that photo up top again.

That's the line for the Obama rally in Hartford last week (Photo from the Hartford Courant)

(BTW, you do NOT want to search Google images for "omentum". Just trust me on this.)