We"re now forty eight hours away from closing the voting in Ohio and Texas (as I write this). By the way, there are two other states that will have their primaries this Tuesday as well- Rhode Island and Vermont. But, as we head to Super Tuesday # 2, as many call it, the polls have tightened greatly. Hillary Clinton"s once double digit leads in both states has disappeared.
According to the latest Zogby poll, Hillary Clinton narrowly trails rival Barack Obama in Texas and the two are virtually tied in Ohio ahead of critical contests that could decide the fate of her presidential bid, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Houston Chronicle poll released on Sunday.
Hillary"s inflammatory approach in the Ohio debate didn"t advance her cause.
Hillary now trails Obama in Texas by 4 points, 47 percent to 43 percent, up from a 2-point edge for Obama on Saturday. Obama"s strength in the state"s big cities and among men, young voters and blacks has offset her advantage with the state"s sizable bloc of Hispanics and older voters.
In Ohio, Clinton has a statistically insignificant 1-point edge on Obama, 47 percent to 46 percent, after the two were dead even on Saturday. That is well within the margin of error of 3.7 percentage points in the poll conducted by Zogby International.
Rasmussen has it Texas for Obama by 4 and Ohio for Hillary by 2.
Can Hillary stem the Obama tsunami that has rolled over her for eleven straight elections?
Hilalry needs the two big states and Rhode Island. She can"t split Tuesday 2-2. And when you get down to it, to win narrowly in Ohio and Texas and split the delegates almost evenly only allows her to continue on, not gain any advantage.
Hillary is pouring ten million into Ohio and Texas though a 527 plan.
If that happens she will hope for a brokered convention where she and Bubba do very well at both intimidation and deal-making. They can twist a lot of super delegate arms, and will. Obama would be sure to lose if it"s a brokered convention. But alas, there"s no nee to speculate about that now, let"s wait for another forty eight hours and see what happens! :-)