My dad works in Wisconsin for a large (gasp) dairy operation, and he has been gushing about Barack Obama. He tells me the kind of excitement Obama has generated has been unlike anything he has seen before, and he feels like we have a chance to have an authentic and natural leader in the White House for the first time in a very long time.
He hasn’t voted for a winning candidate in his life!
So a little about the Wisconsin primary:
- Most recent polls have Obama up 4-5 points, only slightly above the normal margin of error. Polling errors in this year’s election have been commonplace, so Obama is not taking anything for granted.
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel endorsed Obama, saying he offers a “potential for meaningful change that does not exist with any other candidate.”
- Wisconsin has 92 delegates at stake, and an unexpectedly large margin of victory for Obama could help him extend his delegate lead over Clinton.
- Governor Jim Doyle has endorsed and is campaigning actively for Obama. This could prove to be a real benefit for Obama, who until recently had little name recognition.
- Obama has a 4-1 superdelegate lead on Clinton. By our count, 7 more have yet to pledge their support.
- All good news for Obama, but still not a safe bet. Clinton is fighting hard and would gain enormous traction going into Texas and Ohio if she were to win and spin it as an upset.
- One more thing: Wisconsin voters may react negatively to the Clinton camp’s allegations of plagiarism – which boils down to a friend helping another friend. Obama handled the situation well.
