Super Tuesday

The results of Tuesday's primaries in the States are all in, and how fascinating they are.

McCain is so confident of his own ability elsewhere to gain the primary votes he needs, that he is able to suggest to his supporters, in West Virginia for instance, that they vote for Huckabee, so as to deprive Romney of a victory, since he knows he cannot win himself. Hardly the way in which you would expect a lily-white democracy to function.

Then we have the Democrats and this is where the fascination comes. If one looks at Obama's and Clinton's victories, we see that Obama is especially powerful in the south and in the farmbelt, both strongly Republican in recent years, while Clinton's strength is in the Democratic heartland, the East and California. Obama couldn't even carry Massachusetts with the support of both senators, Kennedy and Kerry, and the Kennedy clan. If ever there was a 'dream' ticket it is Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton. There is one big problem.

If the Clinton/Obama contest continues indefinitely then there is the prospect that the Democratic party's fundraising ability is going to be exhausted by the primary battle, while McCain is in the enviable position of increasing his war-chest for the real election in the autumn.