Obama won more states: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Alaska.
[HRC got Mass., NY, NJ, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California. In the south, she carried only Tennessee and Arkansas, which were immediately punished with tornadoes by an offended Deity. New Mexico is still out.]
He got about the same number of votes. (Astoundingly, his margin in Georgia was bigger than hers in New York.)
He will wind up with about the same number of delegates.
He got 40% of the white vote.
He made a much better speech. Not his best: this was not New Hampshire or South Carolina. But plenty good enough, especially by comparison. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek” obviously joins the growing group of Obama catch-phrases.
He has a much better calendar of states immediately ahead.
And he’s going to have a growing advantage in money. Obama out-raised Clinton $32M-$13M in January, and he’s still adding new donors at a furious clip, while much more of HRC’s money comes from donors who are maxed out.
Disappointments? Sure. The margin in Mass. was a disappointment. Not snatching NJ was a disappointment. Losing California was a disappointment. Losing California Latinos 2-1 was a huge disappointment, and among Asians the margin was even worse. So there’s work to do.
Still, I’d rather be playing David Plouffe’s hand than Mark Penn’s.