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Getting RacyJohn Dickerson takes readers' questions on the fast-moving primary campaigns.

Posted Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008, at 5:55 PM ET

John Dickerson was online at Washingtonpost.com on Thursday, Feb. 7, to discuss the outcome of Super Tuesday and speculate on the upcoming twists of the presidential race. An unedited transcript of the chat follows.

John Dickerson: Hello. John Dickerson here. I'm looking forward to your questions.

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Sir, does the Kennedy endorsement in this day and age really matter outside the huddles around the water coolers in the Senate or the lawns parties at Martha's Vineyard? Surely the Clintons are as much "the establishment" now as the Kennedys were in the '60s and '70s. Thank you.

John Dickerson: The Kennedy endorsement didn't seem to help Obama in Massachusetts nor did Caroline Kennedy's campaigning for him in California do much for his vote with women. But I think it added a lot of pace to the week for Obama and added to momentum which surely helped him. Also we can't know how much it helped in the ads they ran using Caroline. So I think it helped just not that much. Also, I should note it was the JFK patina that helped Obama the most, though I think that was a bit overblown.

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Albany, N.Y.: I think I've got a pretty decent idea by now what kind of president Hillary Clinton would be, but really don't have a clue about how Obama would deal with Congress or foreign policy or how he would run the White House. He doesn't have much of a record as a working politician, but I haven't seen a single story on how he operated as a state legislator or a senator—his campaign staff seems to be very good, but that's all I know. Can you shed any light on how Obama likely would operate as president?

John Dickerson: It's a great question. There have been some stories about his legislative career. He was a consensus builder who worked with Republicans and was willing to take half a loaf rather than see something fail. His record in the Senate is kinda thin. The campaign talks about his work on proliferation issues and his lobbying reform legislation which are both real achievements but don't tell us a great deal. Neither is particularly grand in terms of working with Republicans since they're not particularly hot button issues. We know very little about his management style except that he's messy.

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Pittsburgh: It seems as though both Obama and Clinton have currently reached a kind of stalemate, except in one area: Raising money. Going forward, how important do you think Obama's advantage in this area will be in his ability to eke out a win in the remaining primaries and caucuses?

John Dickerson: I don't know if it'll bring him wins but it's a big advantage in allowing him to target lots of different places at once. It gives him an edge though and it certainly helps him win the news cycle.

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Richmond, Va.: Is it a surprise or not that Hilliary disclosed that she had to lend $5 million of her own money to her campaign and that some of her "senior staff" were going without compensation? Sounds a bit Giuliani-ish to me. But what does it mean going forward?

John Dickerson: It's a bit of a surprise. It shows us just how desperate they are for cash in the Clinton campaign. I think it means Obama has a money and organizational advantage that will not be decisive but it's so close every little bit helps.

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Avon Park, Fla.: With Obama expected to do extremely well in the next set of primaries, will the value of winning them diminish? What I mean is, will he still have significant momentum going into the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4?

John Dickerson: It's always hard to figure expectations. The Obama campaign is on the phone with reporters claiming Virginia is a must win for Clinton in an effort to make those primaries before Ohio and TX seem like big wins because for now the news coverage has made it seem like he's going to run the table until 3/4.

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Donegal, Ireland: Are Americans aware that their consistently falling reputation in recent years among Europeans—and indeed citizens worldwide—can be saved by electing a certain type of candidate? How heavily do you think this weighs in the minds of ordinary American voters? Do they realize that that the eyes of the world are pondering this election intently, and that just the perceived ambitions of the potential new president-elect can change the tarnished perception of the U.S. incalculably?

John Dickerson: I don't know if Americans would put it that way but certainly Democrats believe this. Obama has made this argument specifically.

P.S. I am a huge fan of Donegal.

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Washington: Assuming McCain disappears from the nightly news soon (since the GOP primary will be over) and we see the Obama-Clinton show night after night till mid-summer, who benefits? Do the Democrats get lots of free publicity, or does McCain get to fundraise in peace while the Democrats spend their days and money tearing each other down? I know this is somewhat unanswerable, but what's the current conventional wisdom?

John Dickerson: I think McCain benefits. He needs a break and his staffers do too. Also, as you point out, he can raise money and work on unifying the party. Also Republicans hope that the Democrats carve themselves up and hurt their party for the general election. That doesn't look like it's likely though. Tensions are high but Democratic voters tell pollsters they'll be happy no matter who wins.

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Brooklyn, N.Y.: Howard Dean said Tuesday that he would seek to avoid a brokered convention by getting Hillary and Barack together to "make some kind of an arrangement." Under what circumstances could you see either of them backing out, and does Dean have any real power here? Big fan of the Gabfest— long live the most adequate political team on the Internet.

John Dickerson: This makes absolutely no sense to me. What kind of deal are they going to work out? It will all come down to the Democratic credentialing committee if the delegates continue to split like this. The rules that govern that committee are very complicated and not really known.

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Atlanta: Do you know how intensely team Clinton plans to contest the February string of primaries? Obviously, they can survive losses, as they did in New Hampshire, but Rudy Giuliani's skipping-states strategy hurt him in Florida. She likely would stay in the news, but not contesting for weeks does seem to have perils.