That sound you hear is the sound of Clinton's campaign advisors collectively banging their heads against the wall.

Losing by a wide margin in Iowa was understandable due to how early the caucus happened. Losing in South Carolina by a wide margin was understandable because the demographics were in Barack's favor. Losing in Hawaii was understandable because of it being Barack's homestate. Losing in Illinois by a wide margin was understandable because of of it being Barack's adoptive state. Losing by a wide margin in DC and Maryland was understandable because, like Louisiana and South Carolina, the demographics were on Barack's side.

But last night's loss in Wisconsin was the first state that Hillary lost by a wide margin that she should have just outright won. It was necessary that she won Wisconsin. It was a political necessity that she at least made it close. She didn't do either. Losing Wisconsin by 17 points was probably the worst possible thing that could have happened.

If Barack wins this nomination, I think that he'll look back at New Hampshire's loss and Wisconsin's win as the two states that were most important to his campaign. Getting whalloped in New Hampshire brought him back to earth. Winning Wisconsin cemented his status as front runner.

I actually feel bad for Hillary. Not bad enough to even consider voting for her, but...she has to be just wondering how it all went wrong.

And honestly, I think her campaign is failing her BIG TIME. I'm no Clinton fan, but I have to agree with Paul Begalla (sp?) that i don't think her campaign ever really introduced her to the people. Because they ran her as the "inevitable candidate," her campaign never did a good job of establishing who she was as a person. I find her personal history appealing and find her to be a decent person...much more decent than her husband is. Why didn't they show any of this at the beginning?

Her campaign seems to be pompous and out of touch. But then again, how could they possibly have seen this Barack Hurricane coming? in their eyes, they were going to run the campaign that wins elections nine times out of ten. And because they never in their heart of hearts suspected that someone would run against her, they were caught with their pants around their ankles.

As soon as Barack won Iowa, you could start to see the beginning of his strategy out. I suspected after Iowa and New Hampshire that Barack was going to run a campaign that played to his strengths of pulling new Democrats in "red" states into his mix. And if he won enough "red state" primaries, he hoped that his momentum would propel him into winning traditionally blue states. And so far, that strategy is paying off thoroughly.

And by and large, he's done it without really going negative. I find that admirable.

It must suck to be Hillary right now. Here she is, caught on the wrong side of history. Even if she somehow pulls off this victory, she's going to have to go through the rest of the campaign season knowing that at one point, she only won 11 out of 35 contests. She has to go on knowing that she was the majority of Democratic voters' second or third choice. She has to go on knowing that many of those people who filled the Toyota Center in Houston and the Reunion Arena in Dallas are not going to vote for anyone.

They just seem...hmmm...I don't want to say "out of touch," but it just seems like they don't know what's going on. Her campaign managers seem pompous and clueless. But she's also not doing a great job herself.

For one, she's changing her tone every other week. One week she's the inevitable front runner. The next she's holding town hall meetings and "finding her voice." The next she's screaming at debates that she is the change candidate. The next she's having her husband give these really condescending remarks about Obama's victories. The next she's all of a sudden "the first Latina president." And now, who she's the queen of negative minutiae.

Barack always had his "voice." If you look at his early Iowa speeches and look at where he is now, he's kept it fairly constant. He's honed his message to be more presidential...and he's added more substance to his speeches...but he's pretty much kept it constantly on message this whole time.

Look, this thing is still not over. But I can no longer deny that Obama is the front runner. It's his to lose. As many said last night, he has a 20 point lead going into the fourth quarter. Having been an Oilers fan for all those years...I know not to take a lead for granted.

We'll see what March 4th brings.

- Matt