My state held primaries on Super Tuesday.  And though I finally decided to cast my vote for Obama, I knew it was unlikely he would win here.  So I wasn’t too disappointed with the results, particularly since overall things looked pretty good the day after.

But I’ll admit, my heart fell a bit when I got to the gym this morning and learned that Clinton carried Texas, my home state.  I waited for a while last night, watching the returns on CNN, but I decided to opt for sleep rather than knowledge of the primary outcome when things stretched out past midnight.

I honestly hoped that Obama would bring in Texas, especially since it looked pretty clear that Clinton would carry Ohio.  Talking to my relatives in Texas prior to the election brought about some interesting conversations, some of which I think are enlightening overall.

I spoke to my sister about her vote a couple of weeks ago since she opted to vote early along with a record number of other Texans.  I wasn’t surprised to hear that she had voted for Obama.  But I was surprised to hear that my brother-in-law, who typically votes Republican though he claims to be a Libertarian, had crossed over to vote in the Democratic primary (totally legal in Texas).  Not only had he voted for Obama, but he’d volunteered to work the polls on election day.  His motivation?  Real, abiding dislike of Clinton.  A dislike so strong that he wanted to vote against her, even though he believes that Obama will be a stronger candidate than Clinton in November when my guess is he’ll likely vote for McCain. 

But even with that encouraging news, I learned this weekend from my parents that the Clinton ads were right on target for her base.  My parents, members of the over-65 crowd as well as my grandmother (definitely in the over-65 crowd) maintained their decisions to vote for Clinton.  My mother even referenced the “3 a.m. phone call” ad in our discussion.  She told me she wanted Hillary in the White House for that call because she knew Bill would be there too.  And he’d know what to do.

I find it ironic that the woman who is the closest yet to becoming President of the United States is doing so on the coattails of her husband.  Is this really the “experience” we want our president to have?  I know that Hillary Clinton learned a great deal during her time as First Lady about Washington and how things work, and certainly her Senate experience adds to that.  But I don’t want a co-presidency now any more than I did when Hillary was the “co” part of the equation.  And don’t get me wrong, I supported Bill.  But he’s had his two terms. 

After all the excitement that Obama built with his twelve wins, I’m feeling a bit deflated today.  Certainly, I feel that “shift” people are talking about in the Clinton campaign momentum.  So, I’m going to take solace in the fact that Obama is still ahead in the delegate count, and that, despite my parents’ best efforts, he carried my home county, if not my home state!