The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

How To Close the Deal?

I'm also ready to close the deal already, one way or the other. That sentiment doesn't exactly seem to be sweeping the nation, though, at least not when each state gets its turn to vote. And those women: Wow, are they coming out in droves—59 percent of the vote in Ohio; 57 percent in Texas, Vermont, and Rhode Island. If the men were that jazzed, Obama would probably have won by now. Since he hasn't, the superdelegates seem to me to be in an awkward position. If they break for Obama, they're cutting off the process the party designed before it plays out and right after Hillary proved her staying power. If they don't, then the party continues a long march toward a stalemate. What do you do when one person is winning and the other one can't catch up but the race is long and the guy in the lead is only a stride or two ahead? It's an oddly dissatisfying variation on the tortoise and the hare.