There's been a running theme for months in blogs and media that Obama owes this race to the caucuses. E.g., Tom Edsall's item on HuffPost, which says "If the caucus states were eliminated, Obama would not be the one on the edge of declaring victory."

I'll set aside that "eliminating" a bunch of states from the Democratic nomination process seems an odd basis on which to hypothesize about what might have been.

My concern is that the ongoing discussion of this topic seems to repeatedly overlook that while Obama has done well in caucuses, more than half of the contests he has won so far have been primaries:  he's won 17 primaries out of 33 contests.  So it would appear that his campaign knew how to strategize for both scenarios.

What does seem a critical difference in Obama's vs Clinton's approach is using grassroots vs. conventional tactics.  Obama has had many thousands of dedicated volunteers who worked their communities spreading the word -- in addition to the standard tools of candidate rallies, mailers and media buys. And it would appear that Clinton has gotten that message, because I just got back from doorknocking in SD and for the first time in 3 states over 15 months, I saw Clinton doorknockers hitting the turf (sometimes paralleling us down opposite sides of the street!) When I watch the SD results come in tonight, I'll be thinking of them.

Coming into this election cycle, I'd never worked for a campaign before. After being involved for more than a year  as a volunteer, I see how powerful grassroots tactics are. The fact that I got involved is my first piece of evidence - someone reached out to me personally and that brought me on board.  Day after day, I've watched as people come over to a candidate based on person-to-person discussions.  I gotta tell you, it feels darn empowering to hear someone say "Okay, you've convinced me" -- especially for those of us who don't think of ourselves as "political people."

I don't discount the power of the standard techniques; our MN hdqtrs phones were flooded with people calling in for their voting locations in the last week when the tv ads were hitting the airwaves (We could track whether they were responding to ads or personal contacts.) 

But I feel that if our take-away from this election cycle is "caucuses won it for Obama, let's keep them" or "caucuses lost it for Hillary, let's eliminate them", we're going to be missing the point.

When asked why Sen. Clinton would propose that Sen. Obama be her VP since she had earlier indicated he had not "crossed the threshold to be CIC," Wolfson stated that Clinton felt Obama "has not passed the CIC test yet. But there is a long way between now and Denver.”

Learning of this timeline, Obama has now registered to attend a well-known CIC preparation camp in northern Minnesota in July.  Popular activities include the Threshold-passing potato sack race, the Leader-of-the-Free-World  wilderness trail hike (3-day and 5-day options available), and the Red Phone trust test, in which campers must answer a cell phone (red) while riding a zip line.

"I am totally pumped about going to camp!" said Obama. "I'm especially looking forward to the evening campfire skits, for which I’m taking along the Somalian garb featured in the Drudge Report.”

I’ve watched the Lady MacHillary drama unfold with a mixture of anger and pain. Anger at her for all she is doing to hurt the Democratic party and to hurt our chances of electing an extraordinary president in Barack Obama.  Pain because, like her, I was married to a charming man up until 12 years ago – and I felt first-hand how that can eat into your soul.

I’m not talking about just your average nice guy, but that glad-hander sort who can work a room like nobody’s business, making each person he talks to feel like he showed up that night especially for him/her. The kind of guy who, as a friend of mine puts it, sucks all the air out of the room.  Leaving none for the spouse.

When you’re hitched to a charmer like this, though in your own right you might once have been known as a fun-loving spirit, you may over time become by default the un-fun person -- the sober, strained adult in the scenario. Because somebody has to make all the arrangements for the party and corral the kids and wipe up the ashtray the charmer just overturned on the white sofa while he was acting out that side-splitting story.

You become accustomed to hearing people tell you enthusiastically as they leave the party, “Your husband is such a great guy, such a hoot!”  When you kinda hoped they’d say “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

And over time, you get resentful of charm. Just to keep on your feet, you gradually change your belief system. Your internal mantra becomes that being the hard-working, wonky “adult,” which is the person you’ve become, is the more – well, the more adult way to be. 

And if you discover that your spouse has been charming his way into the beds of various (undoubtedly more fun and younger) fillies than yourself and you decide to stick with him, then your resentment grows closer to hate.

And that hate spreads beyond the one charmer you’re married to … it attaches to all other charmers out there.  Even if they are the sort of men who, while being socially charming, will also help corral the kids and clear the dishes, and will stay faithful to their wives.

And if you decide to run for president and your main competitors turn out to be two guys named John and Barack --  cute, personable, can work a room like nobody’s business --  hmmm, you put your head down and repeat your personal mantra daily: “They are charming. Being adult is better; I am the adult; this time, it is the adult’s turn to win.” 

And all those years of hurt and anger and resentment give you extraordinary internal fuel to do whatever, whatever, whatever it takes to win the nomination – because hell hath no fury like a woman charmed.