John McCain Wins Republican Nomination in Texas; Democratic Race Tightens

The March 4 primaries have been looked at as benchmark primaries for both the Democratic and Republican Parties.

On the Democratic side, New York Senator Hillary Clinton needed to win. Simply that. Having lost 11 straight contests to Illinois senator Barack Obama, the large delegate states of Texas and Ohio had become of paramount importance to the Clinton campaign, with many political analysts and Democratic Party officials looking for her to end her candidacy if she did not win at least one of the two contests. Wins by the Obama camp would simply begin closing the door on Clinton's run for the White House.

On the Republican side, Arizona Senator John McCain has been looking forward to March 4 for the last couple weeks and for good reason. All he needed was half the 256 delegates up for grabs in the Republican primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island to secure the Republican nomination for president. Texas was the state that might give him problems, given its evangelical conservative voters and the fact that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee still refused to drop out of the race, despite the fact that he had no way of winning the nomination himself.

But winning over half the delegates would not only put McCain over the 1191 delegate total needed to win the nomination, it would free up the Republican National Committee to begin working for their party's chosen candidate. It would also free up financial assets previously unavailable.

In a campaign that saw its fair share of ups and downs, including talk of McCain even leaving the race when he ran out of money, McCain remained steadfast. Perseverance proved his ally as party rival after party rival fell by the wayside, leaving only the diehard and distantly trailing candidacies of Congressman Ron Paul of Texas and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

And it was early, just barely an hour after the polls closed, that John McCain was announced the winner in Rhode Island and Vermont, followed scant minutes by Texas and Ohio. By 9:00 p.m. EST, the assured number of Texas delegates ensured that John McCain was no longer the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party; he was the nominee.

Ed Rollins, Mike Huckabee's campaign manager, confirmed to CNN that Mike Huckabee would concede the race to John McCain and, likening his run to the All-Star baseball great George Brett, Huckabee did just that a little before 9:30 p.m. McCain walked out to a jubilant crowd and thanked the four primary states, telling everyone to get ready for the coming presidential race. CNN announced at 10:00 p.m. that President Bush had scheduled a meeting with John McCain at 1:15 p.m., March 5, to officially announce his endorsement of Senator McCain.

But as the Republicans were elevating one of theirs to Party Nominee, the Democrats decided to slug it out on a state-to-state level. Clinton stopped the seemingly runaway Obama momentum train cold in Rhode Island, winning that state's primary by double digits. But Obama took Vermont by nearly the same margin. A little later, as polls closed in Texas and Ohio, Ohio began to nearly reflect Rhode Island and by 10:30 p.m. EST, Senator Clinton, with 50 % of the polls reporting held a commanding lead of almost 15%.

But in Texas, the story looks to be a cliffhanger. With barely 21% of the precincts reporting, Texas, according to CNN, was in a dead heat, the candidates tied at 49% of the vote. Texas, however, has a split primary system, with 30% of the delegates chosen by caucus. Early indicators were showing problems with balloting at many of the caucus precincts, causing the Clinton camp to grumble of "irregularities" while the Obama camp cried "disenfranchisement."

Regardless of who actually wins the Texas primary on the Democratic side, Obama will be the overall winner because, no matter how you count the delegates in the remaining primary states, unless Clinton can win by an overwhelming majority, she will still trail Obama at the close of primary season. She will still be behind in pledged delegates, total delegates (including super delegates), number of states won, and total vote count. Many look for the campaign to get increasingly dirty if Senator Clinton remains in the race and dirty infighting is something the Democrats cannot afford as the Republicans begin to close ranks around their chosen candidate, John McCain.

Put simply: Can the Democrats afford a civil war while the Republicans consolidate their voting strength and will such an internecine struggle cost them the general election in November? Could we be seeing the kindling being laid for for a pyrrhic victory in Denver?

Sources:

CNN Televison

"Election Center 2008: Primaries and Caucuses," CNN.com