Pop Quiz, Hotshot

Q: What do Washington State, Nebraska, Louisiana and the Virgin Islands have in common?

A: Not a whole lot...except each and every one of them voted for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton.

The Illinois senator was winning two-thirds support in both caucus states and led by a 53-39 ratio in Louisiana with about a third of the precincts reporting. He was hoping to extend a string of Southern primary triumphs that already included South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia.

Obama also garnered all three delegates in the Virgin Islands caucuses, where he won nearly 90 percent of the vote.

In the big scheme of delegates, it probably isn't quite as decisive in terms of deciding things. (Which is, of course, what decisive things should be. You know, deciding things.) But any way you slice it, that's QUITE impressive.

For those that argue that Obama's success is due to large African American votes, that might play in Louisiana, but Nebraska? Washington? That meme is starting to lose some umpphh.

Remember how Clinton argued that she was the more electable candidate? That she played in red states better than Obama? I don't quite buy the polls that show Obama leading over McCain while McCain leads Clinton -- it's way too early, they don't mean much and McCain has yet to have even a lick of press against his so-called Maverick, hero status. But if there's any grain of truth to any of that, it also favors Obama.

I'm just saying.
One other similarity between those locations is that seemingly all of them rejected the idea of John McCain as the GOP frontrunner, with Mike Huckabee winning in Kansas and looking like a real challenger in Louisiana and Washington.

The Democratic race moved into a new, post-Super Tuesday phase as Sen. John McCain flunked his first ballot test since becoming the Republican nominee-in-waiting. He lost Kansas caucuses to Mike Huckabee, gaining less than 24 percent of the vote.


Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, got nearly 60 percent of the vote a few hours after telling conservatives in Washington, "I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them." He won all 36 delegates at stake.

McCain and Huckabee also were running about even in early caucus returns from Washington state. Huckabee led in the Louisiana primary, but was below the absolute majority he needed to pocket the 20 delegates at stake

There's no real way Huckabee can win, but what a slap in the face to McCain. Lovely.