What now?

Woops! Hillary won in Ohio and Texas (the primary anyways), even though the pundits had already started writing her out of the script two weeks ago. It looks like the voting (and caucasing) dems are split pretty much down the middle on who they prefer. Oh the horror of the Democratic party having two legitimate candidates for President!

Without skipping a beat, the pundits switched the story from "OBAMAMANIA" to Democratic Deadlock; to wit, the dems were going to rip each other apart before the general election. It's plausible, since neither candidate will be able to claim the necessary delegates to win outright. But it's totally wrong.

It ignores the fact that Hillary and Barack are both very popular among democrats. And that, odds are good that outside the campaign they have a cordial relationship. Obviously they are in competition, and so they are competitive. It's inevitable that each camp will have its partisans, but the press blows them up out of proportion. Reporting on a DNC civil war is way more interesting.

My father suggested to me that the party leadership should work with both campaigns to ensure that the message remains "Whichever one of us you chose, you're in good hands." And, in the meantime, both candidates should treat McCain's candidacy as completely superfluous.

I completely agree and I think (and hope) the candidates understand that slinging mud between them will not make the difference. In the days before March 4th, it seems the Clinton campaign found that perfect pitch, in portraying her as the stronger candidate and Barack as not as clean as his press would indicate and without causing a negative "bitchiness" backlash. The Obama campaign, meanwhile, has struggled to regain its balance.

To the question of whether this is good or bad for the Democratic party. Certainly, Barack and Hillary have been campaigning for longer than anyone can believe (they started at the beginning of 2007!) and I think the tendency is to think that they are running out of time. A decision needs to be made now or all will be lost! Oh wait, it's five months until the Nominating Convention and then three more before the general election. And in that time, thanks to this excitingly close contest, voters will get to see the two most dynamic and interesting presidential candidates, the Democratic candidates, at their best while John McCain (occasionally dynamic) is left twiddling his thumbs on the sidelines waiting for his turn to play.

In short, strategically, the Dems are in a perfect position. As long as both Barack and Hillary are competing (which should be all the way to the convention) they get free and overwhelming press coverage and they energize the entire democratic base.