Well, here it is, the morning after, and we still can’t predict with any certainty who the Democratic nominee for president is going to be, but it’s looking pretty likely the Republican nom will go to McCain. My own prediction — and this isn’t my own preference, mind you, it’s just what my Magic 8-Ball is telling me — is that we’re going to end up choosing between Clinton and McCain come November. But who really knows? There’s still a lot of time to go…

I find it interesting that Huckabee made such a strong showing; obviously, his surge was fueled by Christian evangelicals in southern states where they are in the majority. I wonder if they honestly believe their guy has a chance in the general election, if they were just voting their principles, or if voting for Huckabee was really a strategy to block Mitt Romney, because evangelicals have such a problem with Mitt being Mormon?

Here in Utah, the voting went pretty much as I expected. Romney won the local Republican primary by a ridiculous margin (90 percent, I believe), owing, I’m sure, to his religion and his reputation as the man who saved Utah’s bacon during the 2002 Winter Olympics. (Long story, but just in case you don’t know it, the Cliff’s Note version is that preparations for SLC’s Games were not going well, there were scandals, and the whole thing looked like it was going to be a embarrassing disaster. Mitt took over the Organizing Committee at the last minute and the Games turned out to be a resounding success.) On the Democratic side, Obama took a wide lead over Clinton. Many people I’ve talked with this morning seem surprised by this; I’m not. Even among Democrats, Hillary is not well-liked in these parts. My theory is that even many so-called liberal Utahns — who, let’s be honest, would be considered fairly conservative in other parts of the country — tend to subscribe to more, ahem, traditional views of gender roles, and Hillary alienated, offended, or threatened them during the Wild Bill Years with her strong will and apparent acceptance of her husband’s philandering. But that’s just me talking out of my hat; it could also be something as simple as Obama visiting the state in person while Hillary just sent Bill and Chelsea in her place.

Either way, it was an interesting experience to be part of the Big Time for a change. Only eight months to go…

This is a historic day for the citizens of Utah, the first time we’ve ever participated in the Super Tuesday process, following unprecedented visits by nearly every major presidential candidate from both parties. (Little old Utah normally doesn’t get this much attention from the candidates, partly — I would imagine — because the state’s population is so small, and probably also because it’s a given that, come November, our electoral votes will go to whoever the GOP nominates.)
I myself voted in the Democratic primary this morning. (I couldn’t have voted on the Republican side even if I’d been so inclined — which I’m not — because they have a closed primary, loyal members of the club only, please.) For the record (and at risk of kicking off an argument here on my humble little corner of the Internet), I voted for Barack Obama.

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