'Tertiary Tuesday' Tips and Tidbits

Unless Rush Limbaugh has his way, today could be the end stage of the Democratic Presidential nominating process. Predictions have proven more useless than usual in this election cycle, but there's still a chance that I could totally nail it and be catapulted to national prominence by making a guess that nobody else makes and being exactly right.

So, to that end, I predict that Huckabee edges McCain in Texas, 36%-34%, with Ron Paul a close 3rd with 30%, and that Barack Obama sweeps Tertiary Tuesday, causing Hillary Clinton to send "Paulie Walnuts" to check in on each of the Democratic Superdelegates.

The real contest here is, of course, the Democrats', as the GOP has largely decided on its nominee. Still, the GOP contests are worth a look, for a few reasons. Mike Huckabee still enjoys significant support among Republicans, and it will be interesting to see if his vote total matches the polling data, or if the Huckublicans are starting to face facts. If he gets more votes than expected, this shows more weakness in McCain.

The Democrats are looking to end this contest. If Hillary loses either Texas or Ohio, it's "Game Over", and some high-level party officials are going to have to stage an intervention. After the jump, more on the Democrats and what happens if Hillary sweeps.If Hillary Clinton pulls off the sweep, logically speaking, nothing should change. She's been ahead in all of these states all along. However, the Clinton campaign has played the expectations game like Boris Spassky at a "Connect Four" tournament, so a sweep here, while changing the delegate count very little, could stop Obama's momentum cold.

Hillary's Saturday Night Live appearance definitely helped, and considering the hard time she's been given by the media, it's hard to argue for equal time for Obama. However, she's been campaigning more and more like a Republican lately, best exemplified by the 3am phone call ad. Many Democrats are likely to be turned off by this type of campaign, and on-the-fence indies who are swayed by this type of thing might just figure they'll vote for the actual Republican.

Today promises to be another pivotal moment in this race, and I'll be back tonight to give you live results and analysis for the Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont Democratic Primaries. See you then.