an outside view

The Democratic primaries came to a merciful end last week.

On the final day of the primary season, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton split a doubleheader with Clinton taking the prize in South Dakota and Obama rallying for a victory n Montana. The final scoreboard read 1765.5 to 1639.5. Game, set, and match to Obama.

With the Super Delegates, Obama had won enough delegates to be assured of being named the Democratic Party nominee for the President of the United States. It was a real horse race. A decided underdog in the beginning, the Illinois Senator overcame long odds to pull off the upset win over the favorite Hillary Clinton.

It was a long, grueling contest. It was more of a marathon than a sprint and Obama proved to be the better long-distance runner. He made some nifty moves to build a huge lead and it seemed he would coast to victory in what looked like a blowout.

The Clinton team stumbled out of the gate losing in Iowa. She was criticized for not having an effective caucus game plan and to everyone’s surprise seemed to be on the ropes. But Clinton was a valiant fighter and regained her footing to storm to victory in New Hampshire. The match was on.

Early in the campaign, Obama and Clinton played nice. They seemed to feel each other out. They traded jabs and we saw some punches and counterpunches. But as they headed down the homestretch neck and neck, the gloves came off and the two heavyweights stood toe-to-toe slugging it out. Obama saw his lead slipping away as Clinton delivered body blow after body blow. She couldn’t, however, land that all-iimportant knockout punch and Obama’s team regrouped just in time. In the end it was Obama standing alone in the center of the ring as the Champion of the Democratic Party.

As spectators, we witnessed the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Obama fans cheered wildly saying this win will give their man the momentum to victory in November. The importance of “Big Mo” can’t be overstated in a race like this. Clinton supporters were gracious in defeat but still maintained the best competitor didn’t win. When the campaign got underway, there was a crowded field and Clinton stayed around until game’s end. But finishing second in politics is like wining the NIT in basketball. Who really cares?

On Saturday, Clinton officially threw in the towel conceding defeat to Obama. It was a curious concession. The game was over. She lost. What was she conceding? That was akin to Phil Fulmer going into the pressroom at The Swamp last year after the Florida Gators had whipped his Vols and conceding the game to Urban Meyer.

The primaries are like the playoffs in sports. The only thing Obama has won is the right to challenge the Republican nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, in the November Presidential Election. The Obama team must now focus on the Super Bowl of elections. He can expect another hard fought fight. The race is a dead heat at this point but it’s early and anyone’s game.

McCain will surely take the offense and try to put Obama on defense. McCain will play hardball and will attack Obama on a number of fronts. The former Viet Nam prisoner of war will try to pit his own strengths against his opponent’s weaknesses. Obama may need a new playbook against McCain than he did against Clinton. He can expect the Republicans to play dirty and throw him some curveballs. 

As November draws closer, we can expect a blitz of TV and radio ads. McCain will try to score big on his experience and Obama will argue the country needs a new quarterback calling signals. McCain will try to hit a homerun with his pledge to fight terrorism. Obama will try to knock it out of the park as his handlers try to portray him as the next John F. Kennedy. There will be fight songs, pep rallies, and large banners. There will be talking heads analyzing every move and we will watch the highlights of the day over and over again on the evening news.  There will be some surprises along the way and a few trick plays for sure.

Then, on the first Tuesday in November, the contest will draw to an end. We will know if the blue team or the red team wins. And best of all, we can put back in the closet all of the sports clichés used by political reporters to describe elections.