Obama ahead in crucial race for California as candidates make final appeal for votes
One week ago Obama was trailing in California by double digits but, as we head into a wildly unpredictable Super Tuesday, polls reveal that the potential giant slayer has now edged into the lead over Hillary Clinton.
It just feels like Obama's moment is now. I had lunch yesterday with a largely apolitical friend who was also talking about his feeling - even as someone not particularly following the campaign but simply reading the red tops here in the UK - was that the wind was firmly behind Obama's sails.Everything has gone his way in the past few days, starting with the momentum from his trouncing of Senator Clinton in South Carolina on 29 January and the subsequent endorsement of Teddy Kennedy, who has campaigned energetically for him.
Since then, he has been embraced by the Los Angeles Times, the biggest paper on the west coast, and La Opinion, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the state. Many union leaders and key donors backing John Edwards have come out for him. Senator Obama is fielding a grassroots ground campaign, staffed overwhelmingly by unpaid volunteers, of unprecedented size and reach. And he even won the unlikeliest of endorsements, from Maria Shriver, the wife of California's Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I am refusing to invest too much into this as I have been disappointed too many times in the past. Here in Britain we despaired for so long under Tory rule that we eventually settled for Tony Blair to get us elected, a move that was disastrous for the Labour movement, the Middle East, and the world in general.The psychological impact of an Obama victory in California would be profound, possibly enough on its own to propel the Illinois senator towards the nomination. Pundits and pollsters agree that all the momentum is heading in his direction, in California and across the country. The biggest question is whether he has enough time to build that momentum into victory.
But the voting timetable risks producing a result voters may regret. "A Clinton win this week," one pundit said, "produced merely by the absurd acceleration of the primary calendar, would leave the Democrats with what might be called a Twilight Zone candidate, a nominee the party rejected but the calendar saved."
So, I will attempt to watch this impassively, giving myself the comfort that either Barak or Hillary would be better than the current incumbent of the White House and telling myself that McCain has no chance as he is arguing for the same redundant policies which the American people have already largely rejected.
By this time tomorrow we will have the answer. But the excitement is palpable.
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