Obama wins Wisconsin comfortably

Another big disappointment for Hillary Clinton tonight:

Barack Obama won the Wisconsin primary Tuesday night, his ninth straight triumph over a fading Hillary Rodham Clinton in their epic struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama cut deeply into Clinton's political bedrock, splitting the support of white women almost evenly with the former first lady and running well among working class voters in a blue collar battleground, according to polling place interviews.

The economy and trade were key issues in the race, and seven in 10 voters said international trade has resulted in lost jobs in Wisconsin. Fewer than one in five said trade has created more jobs than it has lost.

McCain won the Republican primary, with ease, dispatching former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and edging closer to the 1,191 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination at the party convention in St. Paul, Minn. next summer.

With over a third of the votes tallied, Obama has 56% to Clinton's 43%. Hawaiians are also caucusing today, and then there's the results from our own presidential primary (with no Democratic delegates at stake) to watch.

The traditional media's attention seems to have shifted to the contests in Ohio and Texas already, which are coming up on March 4th. It's a good thing we held our caucuses just after Super Tuesday on February 9th; we can proudly say we were in the vanguard of the February Obama breakthrough.