Judging by number of states won and overall percentage of votes, Obama was the clear Democratic winner. The Illinois senator won thirteen states-two on the East Coast, five in the Midwest, two in the South, three in the Rockies, and Alaska. What's more, Obama enjoyed a series of landslide victories, receiving more than 60 percent of the Democratic vote in five states and more then 70 percent in three others.

However, in terms of delegates Mrs. Clinton prevailed. The New York Senator bagged both population heavyweights of New York and California as well as New Jersey, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Arizona. A casual look at the voting results above shows that Mrs. Clinton's popularity within her party and within the country as a whole is weak. In her home states of Arkansas and New York, Mrs. Clinton obtained 73 and 57 percent of Democrats' votes respectively, but in the other six states her totals hung in the low to mid fifties.

On the Republican side, McCain smashed his rivals, garnering 337 delegates to Huckabee's 89 and Romney's 69. McCain won heavily populated New York and California as well as New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Oklahoma and the Midwest states of Missouri and Illinois, in addition to his home state of Arizona.

But the GOP candidates, like Mrs. Clinton, are suffering from rather weak support by members of their own party. All three Republican contenders failed to win an overall majority of Republican votes: McCain received only 46 percent, while Huckabee and Romney each scraped 45 percent.

Surprisingly, Huckabee reemerged from recent campaign doldrums to vie closely with Romney; the latter won more states but Huckabee won more delegates. In addition to his home state and three other southern states, Huckabee also took the rural northeastern state of West Virginia by a majority of Republican votes, reminiscent of his famous victory last month in the rural GOP state of Iowa. Faced with weak Republican support and a low delegate total, Romney withdrew from the presidential race on February 7. It was his record of flip-flopping on abortion and other issues, his big-government health care plans, his fantastic personal wealth, and his slick, unreal appearance (not his religion) that did him in.

The big question is: What happened to Ron Paul? Some readers might think that I am unduly prejudiced in his favor by including his name in the table above. I would say that the major media is unduly prejudiced against him by repeatedly failing to report his victories both in opinion and election polls-and, furthermore, that the media were unfairly prejudiced in favor of Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, neither of whom attracted much general support. Even though Paul will not have nearly enough delegates to win the Republican nomination, he did obtain delegates from five states on Super Tuesday, including moderately populated Minnesota. I include Paul because he is by far the most popular Republican presidential candidate among the American people; he is still running for the presidency alongside Huckabee and McCain; and he has the potential to garner dozens more delegates in the remaining primaries.

Historically, it is more difficult for a member of the House of Representatives to be nominated for president than it is for a senator due to lower rank, less public exposure, less money and fewer connections. Ron Paul drew on his experience, impeccable integrity, and traditional Republican-American values to assemble a grassroots campaign that has witnessed rapid and astonishing growth. Primarily through the Internet, he has managed to raise more than $20 million, and he has consistently ranked higher than any other Republican hopeful in public opinion polls. Paul's failure to be backed by any American mega-corporate lobby group-in other words, his lack of corruption and refusal to pander to greed-combined with little attention from the major media, dooms him in 2008.

The twenty-three Super Tuesday primary elections brought Mrs. Clinton stiff competition from Obama and provided McCain a significant boost. It is an interesting situation. Hillary Clinton and John McCain seem to have the greatest corporate backing and propagandist power, yet both candidates are extremely unpopular within their parties and among the American people in general. An election contest between two such unpopular candidates would be lackluster, and could end up being a close election if neither vice-presidential candidate is attractive to voters.

If John McCain is nominated and picks Senator George Voinovich of Ohio for his running mate, he will sweep that key state and win the election handily. (Voinovich won re-election in 2004 with 70 percent of Ohio votes, rivaling Obama's smash victory in Illinois that same year.) If McCain names Huckabee as his running mate, I think he will lose. If Hillary Clinton is nominated and selects Obama for her running mate, her chances may improve somewhat. On the other hand, if Obama becomes the Democratic nominee and chooses Mrs. Clinton for his running mate, he will easily win the general election. A myriad of possibilities is available for both the Democratic and Republican vice-presidential slots. Whatever happens, rest assured that no lackluster presidential candidate such as Mrs. Clinton or McCain stands a chance of winning the White House in November without a popular and respected vice-presidential running mate.