Primaries, As Promised

Pic of Hillary Clinton by Marc Nozell; pic of Barack Obama by Center for American Progress Action Fund. Both from Wiki Commons.

OK. I was surprised and, I gotta admit, pleased that Hillary Clinton won in Ohio and possibly in Texas (BlueOregon argues that it was a tie and the Austin American-Statesman says that actually, Obama may have won more delgates).

Why?

Because so many people are taking an interest in the race. Come on, when I was in Iowa for the caucuses, more than twice the number of Dems turned out than had ever turned out before. Here's a quote from a Texas story about the race:

The Democrats' enthusiastic turnout could be expected, given the high-profile status of the race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois as the Texas' March 4 primary approaches.

For Democrats, shut out of the White House for nearly eight years, the nomination of a female or black candidate will represent a historic moment.

Yep. And that means both candidates need to be viable for as long as possible. Of course, it can lead to bullshit like this and this, but my hope really is that the Dems continue to be energized. And you know what? There's a lot, a lot, more interest in and coverage of the Dems than of McCain right now. Even with that Bush endorsement. How can this be a bad thing? Name recognition, repeated photos of the candidates — and there is the prejudice people feel about McCain being too old.

Of course, a lot of people disagree with me for excellent reasons.

What do you think?