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After 22 primaries and caucuses last night, Senators Clinton and Obama are dead even. While final allocations of won delegates remain uncertain, neither candidate has a commanding lead, so the contest will continue with the next primary states having a significant say in the decision of who will be our next President.

Last night, Hillary Clinton won eight contests — Arizona, Arkansas, Calilfornia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Okahoma and Tennessee. Her victories in California, Massachusets and New Jersey were impressive, staving off Obama’s surges in the last two weeks.

Obama was equally impressive, and he can claim some serious momentum, coming from behind to win contests in the remaining 13 states (except still undecided New Mexico), including a close victory in Missouri (so close a recount is legally permissible) and a surprise win in Connecticut. After the contests in January, it was not clear that the Obama surge would continue or stall, but it appeared to resume in the last two weeks.

Here’s the New York Times summary of last night’s results, and more from the Washington Post.

Just as Clinton did well with women voters (double digit margins), Obama continued to do extremely well with African Americans, winning about 80 percent in several states and providing large margins on victory in some states. But the news may be how well Obama did with white voters — above 40 percent in several states.

The large Latino vote turned out to be critical to Clinton’s victories in Arizona and especially California, where MSNBC exit polls indicate she got 65 percent to Obama’s 34 percent. With much of California’s Hispanic leadership endorsing Clinton early on, it would have been surprising if she hadn’t done that well. She had earned that over many years. At the same time, Obama did apparently well enough to make it very close in New Mexico, where over 35 percent of the voters are Latino.

The committed delegate count is still being sorted out; the allocation will depend on complex rules in each state and what happened at the district level. This morning’s AP tally has Clinton at 845 and Obama at 765; CNN has it 825 to 732 this a.m., so there are dozens of districts where the local allocation is still uncertain.

The contest will continue — on to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas — and the voters will continue to sort this out. Some in the blogosphere fear a drawn out process and a convention brokered by the "super delegates," but I think we’re doing just fine. It’s February, not July. More of the country will have it’s voice heard. It’s becoming a national decision. The country has never been this careful, never spent this much time or been more focused. More than ever before, we’re going to know the next President before we elect them, and that’s a good thing. And get this: Last night, according to CNN, about 18 million Americans participated in selecting the next President: 11 million voted for Democrats.
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I voted in Massachusetts and although I made a choice (for none of the reasons pundits usually give), I left still undecided — not regretting, just undecided — even though I’ve never been nearly as informed about the candidates’ positions and histories. We have two strong candidates, different people, different styles; they have different strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities; but both have something positive to offer the country.

Hillary spoke last night of the hard work ahead, not just in winning in November but also governing and getting Democratic programs adopted. She’s right and it’s important to hear that message; we face enormous obstacles — a horrendous legacy from Bush, an obstructionist party in determined opposition, a history of frightened leadership in Congress. No matter who is President, we’re going to need a lot more and better Democrats in Congress just to start climbing out of the hole Bush and the Republicans put us in, let alone to pass any decent agenda for the country.

But this election will not be about despair; it’s about Obama’s hope and Clinton’s determination: "We are the ones we’ve been waiting for," Obama said. "Our time has come." He was talking about all of us, and he’s right.