It looks like the Democrats may need to broker the presidential candidacy before the convention due to the closeness of the Obama-Clinton primary competition.  

Of course the Dems are asking, "Which one will bring the most voters and be sure to win?"  It's a touchy question because it involves the African-American voters and the Latino-American voters and the best way to meet their expectations.  We know Obama has inspired a
large youth, possibly independents and cross-overs, and black voter turn-outs.  We know Clinton has been called a winner in California.  We know the states backing Obama are not likely to favor Clinton, but Obama might be able to carry the states Hillary dominates.  We know the Dems will have too struggle to wrest the Latino vote away from McCain.  So what is the way to do that?

If the Dems are looking for a winning ticket, at this point it could be PresidentObama/VicePresidentRichardson ticket to do what Hillary can't do.
 
 
If Clinton were the brokered Dem choice for the presidential candidacy, she would again pick up the black voters who had been enthused by Obama, but she still couldn't wrest away those youth voters (and who knows about the mysterious cross-overs and independents); she definitely would not be able to wrest away the Latino voters from McCain on her own.  

From this perspective, it looks like Richardson could be a deciding factor here, and who puts him on the ticket for V.P. first, Hillary or Barack.

As an aside:   An old-timer tells me the analysis of this primary is being dominated by people too young to identify what they are seeing.  He tells me that the states where Obama is creating his "magic" -- red states like Kansas -- will NEVER vote for a Democratic president.  He also says the caucus states are going for Obama -- an emotional primary style perhaps responding to an inspirational speech style --and that the caucus method represent too small a sample of state voters and too emotional a method of choosing to replicate in a general election; he says the open designation voting also throws off the sincerity quotient. He maintains that when voters are alone with a ballot in the privacy of the voting booth, the emotional zeal and pressure experienced in a caucus will be gone and they will revert to their historic voting preferences.

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The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.--Eleanor Roosevelt