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En se prononçant en faveur d’Hillary Clinton ou de Barack Obama, John Edwards, candidat deux fois malheureux aux primaires démocrates aurait sans doute le pouvoir d’influer profondément sur l’issue du farouche duel que se livrent sans relâche les deux candidats à l’investiture du parti de l’âne. L’ancien sénateur qui a quitté la course au lendemain de la primaire de Caroline du Sud est resté jusqu’à présent muet sur ses intentions de vote, à l’instar de l’ex-gouverneur du Nouveau Mexique Bill Richardson autre prétendant démocrate à la Maison-Blanche. Mais plus que n’importe quelle autre grande figure démocrate ou populaire, c’est la parole de l’ancien colistier de John Kerry à l’élection présidentielle 2004 qui est désormais la plus sollicitée et la plus attendue.

Comme tous les sondages l’indiquaient, le Super Tuesday n’aura pu départager les deux candidats démocrates à la nomination du parti. Avec 13 Etats remportés sur 22, Obama a réussi à créer un élan qui s’est poursuivi ce week-end avec sa victoire en Louisiane, le Nebraska, et l’Etat de Washington, en attendant les résultats du Maine. Pour Hillary Clinton, le mois de février s’annonce plus morose. Même si elle reste en tête avec un nombre légèrement supérieur de délégués, de bons scores dans les grands Etats de New York, Californie, New Jersey et une victoire hautement symbolique dans le Massachusetts – où Obama avait reçu les soutiens de Ted et Caroline Kennedy, du gouverneur Deval Patrick et de John Kerry – un moral d’acier lui sera nécessaire pour poursuivre la course jusqu’au mois de mars, quand l’Ohio et le Texas, deux grands Etats qui à ce jour lui sont favorables, pourront voter. Les prochaines échéances – la Virginie, le Maryland et le District de Colombie – pourraient offrir à Barack Obama une consécration supplémentaire après le grand chelem de cette semaine et c’est donc une véritable course d’endurance qui se poursuit dans le prolongement du Super Tuesday, étape après étape, délégué après délégué, dollar après dollar récolté, jusqu’à l’obtention du nombre suffisant de voix pour assurer la victoire.

(By Ari Berman / Source The Nation - USA) The Clinton campaign has been busy inventing new reasons for why Barack Obama keeps winning state after state. "One of the hilarious side-effects of every Obama victory is the spin from Clinton quarters and its surrogates and supporters explaining why said victories 'don't matter,'" Markos Moulitsas blogged this week. Either the state has a caucus, or too many black people, or too many affluent people, or too many independent voters, or too many red staters. If only the Clintons had the perfect electoral map. If only. If only the Clintons had a coherent explanation for why Obama has so thoroughly out-organized and out-hussled them across the country in February. After all, there was no reason why Hillary Clinton, after spending eight years in the White House and amassing a hefty war chest of money and incumbency in the Senate, couldn't of won caucus states, or red states, or states with large African-American communities. The front-runner is supposed to win these places. If Obama had lost eight states in a row, his candidacy would most certainly of been toast.

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(By Michael Clancy / Source: Village Voice - USA) How does Rudy Giuliani go from being the presumptive Republican frontrunner in the 2008 presidential race to sitting on the sidelines in just a few short months? Stories like these certainly can't help. Here's the year in Wayne Barrett's Rudy reporting with a politico.com story thrown in for good measure.

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(By John Nichols / Source: The Nation - USA) New York Senator Hillary Clinton won the victory she needed over Illinois Senator Barack Obama in a Nevada caucus contest that both candidates made an essential competition. Clinton won 51 percent of the vote, while Obama had 45 percent. Just 4 percent was going to former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, who had campaigned hard in the state. The Obama campaign, stung by a loss in a state they had really hoped to win, is now trying to spin a line that it won more delegates to this summer's Democratic Narional Convention. There is no reason to deny them their claim that, under the arcane weighting rules for delegate selection, the Illinois senator's strong showing in more conservative rural areas could end up giving him more delegates come summer. But nor is there any guarantee that the process will play out as they predict.

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(by Fred Barnes / Source: The Weekly Standard - USA) Mitt Romney had a light home field advantage in the Michigan primary since he grew up in Detroit and his dad was a three-term governor. But that's not why he won. Romney defeated John McCain because the economy is emerging as the overriding issue in the 2008 presidential race, and Romney's message on the subject is stronger than McCain's. And Romney is far more comfortable and persuasive in talking about the economy.

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