Ferentz Lafargue

Hillary Clinton's victories in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island gives her newfound hope, and another endorsement for a mathematic principle now known as "Huckamath."  Except, unlike Mike Huckabee's campaign that served as more of a campy sidebar to John McCain's ascension as this year's republican presidential nomination, Clinton's continued run threatens to undermine whoever wins the democratic nomination.  From this point on the democratic campaign becomes a battle of character.  Both candidates have every right to continue campaigning, but if they have any investment in a democratic victory in November, they must make it a priority to not compelety disparage their counterpart.  For example, Clinton's 3am ad was a bold move that while it may have hurt Obama this week, it is not clear how it will benefit her in a campaign against McCain were she to win in the democratic nomination.  Similarly, Obama's NAFTA mailer drew necessary critiques against Clinton, but once reports surfaced of a clandestine meeting between one of his aides and a Canadian official where this Obama aide allegedly told his Canadian counterpart that Obama supports NAFTA, it once again raised concerns that Obama might in fact still be a "politician" in spite of his charm.  While all democrats play out this drama, McCain will garner momentum--and you know what, this is potentially the best thing that can happen to this country.  This is of course if Clinton and Obama can raise their campaigns to sensibly address issues rather than induce fear or animosity toward their opponent.  Neither candidate has shown an ability to consistently do so in spite of their declarations that this is in fact their intent.  After almost eight months of campaigning voters are proving that they are no clearer on where these candidates stand on issues such as the war and the economy than they were when the campaign started.  Pollsters can continue chopping up voting blocs as much as they like, but at the end of the day, people vote for the candidate who they believe has their best interest at heart, and what Obama and Clinton's dilemma has proven is that you can not tailor that message according to region, race, ethnicity or gender.