The results are still being tabulated, but it is now clear that Senator Barack Obama has trounced fellow Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (notice that she has quietly dropped the Rodham part of her name?) in the Washington State Democratic Caucuses held on February 9.

As of this posting, Clinton has only won caucuses in Douglas County, with Obama apparently winning everywhere else in Washington.  One apparent reason is the strong desire by Democrats to actually pick the candidate who can perform best in the November election.  Many feel that Obama has fewer negatives going into a battle with the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain. 

Many Republicans prefer a November clash with Clinton, largely because GOP strategists know that if Democrats nominate Hillary, that would be like waving a red cape (or blue cape, in the case of  21st Century U.S. politics) at an enraged and wounded bull; the Republican bulls will go all out to prevent a Clinton Restoration.  Obama is a tougher nut to crack for the Republicans.

Washington voters historically tend to be both stubbornly independent and naively idealistic.  This is true of both parties, but usually more so for Democrats, though today, the pragmatists won out over the idealists.  This writer has attended both Democrat and Republican caucuses and functions in the past, and across party lines, caucus-goers tend to not like "establishment" candidates, but they tend to vote for candidates with their hearts, not their heads.

Many Republicans today said they preferred Romney or Huckabee, but acknowledged that McCain had the best shot at winning in November, especially against Hillary.  The average Democrat must have been listening to their GOP neighbors, because regardless of ideology, Obama has the best shot at beating McCain in November.  And Washington voters may have helped put him on the path to be the fighter in that battle.