The Democrats have two great candidates running to become the party’s nominee.  Most would be happy with either and that’s why it’s now nearly March and the Democrats still do not have an opponent for presumed Republican nominee John McCain.  It was never meant to go past Super Tuesday, no one could have guessed.  The presumed nominee from several months ago is now becoming the underdog and the race just keeps going and going, it seems impossible that they both could have made it to this point.  Simple differences and decisions set this race on a course beyond February.

Senator Barack Obama came out of the woodwork starting four years ago when he gave a memorable speech at the Democratic National Convention.  When he started his campaign two years ago, he was generally dismissed, only a senator since being elected in 2005. Many were surprised by Obama’s announcement on February 10^th 2007 that he would go up against a woman who already would be seeing pledged superdelegates in her near future, before any of these crazy contests ever began.

No one expected a race like this.  Hillary Clinton was once the presumed nominee, she looked unbeatable.  We all expected to have our former first lady hailed the nominee early in the primary season and already taking aim at her Republican counterpart.  But now, surprisingly she is possibly only a little over a week away from losing her bid for her party’s nomination.

After a string of losses, the Clinton campaign had some shake-ups of their own, those being the firings and hirings of key campaign workers.  Her campaign had a plan up until February 5^th not many thought the contest would continue afterwards, but here we are approaching the contests in Texas, Ohio, Road Island and Vermont.  It has been decades since America has seen such a long and drawn out process by two candidates.  The Clinton campaign’s chief strategist, Mark Penn, and their communications director, Howard Wolfson, say that they are frustrated that they are “running against a phenomenon.”  Obama’s entire campaign has been a phenomenon.

Today we are about a week away from two of the biggest contests yet to come, Ohio and Texas and Clinton’s candidacy is on the line.  Obama is coming off 11 straight wins and the current polls are not indicating a probability of Clinton scoring any big wins next Tuesday night.  Two wins by large margins is exactly what she needs to stay alive. Even if she wins only Ohio, she could still go on to Pennsylvania.  The race still could be far from over, continuing both Obama and Clinton’s long journey for delegates and advancing to the next race and the next turning point.

By: Max Helman, Phil Pirwitz and Celia Hunko