Obama's got 8-straight, a crush and a Japanese fishing town

Today is Valentine's Day and love is in the air. Love for Barack Obama that is.

O-bama-slamma swept this week's Potomac Primaries, taking Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. in dominating fashion. The wins have now given Obama 8 straight primary victories and have propelled the Democratic presidential candidate to his first delegate lead since the Iowa primary. His recent swell in the polls have brought many analysts to begin calling him the favorite.

Key to his improbable run up the delegate charts has been his appeal to what have up until now been dependable demographics for his opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton.

Obama was favored in all three Potomac states among lower-class whites, working-class whites and minority women, all of whom had typically been Hillary's crew. The only demographic that seems to remain at her side are white women.

And don't think that this hasn't affected Ms. Clinton. She appeared at a recent rally
in Ohio with boxing gloves, a symbol for what will be a more aggressive smear campaign against Obama. She has been quoted as describing the attack phase of her campaign as "fun" and "exciting."

"There's a big difference between us -- speeches versus solutions, talk versus action," Clinton has been quoted saying.

She even fired her campaign manager earlier this week. Clinton will now focus on winning the upcoming Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4. The most overheard adjective describing her campaigns there has been "must-win."

Yep. Things are looking pretty darn lovely for the junior senator.

But it doesn't end there. Obama even has a town named after him in Japan.

Okay, so the town has always been called Obama, but hey publicity is publicity, even if it's on another continent.

The Associated Press's Junji Kurokawa wrote a story today detailing how the fishing town 250 miles west of Tokyo is suffering from a bad case of Obamania.

Posters of the Obama the Man hang all around Obama the Town, even in the foyer of its largest hotel. Barack's face adorns everything from T-shirts to headbands, which have been some of the most popular items in the town's souvenir shops. Confectioners have even started baking sweet bean cakes displaying the man's face. Talk about some sweet P.R.

Obama's mayor plans on sending a large, lacquerware (another thing the town is famous for producing) doll with the Japanese character for "victory" sprawled across it.

There's one more thing. It is Valentine's Day and I just couldn't resist. You may have seen this floating around that campaign hotbed known as Youtube.



Things sure are looking up for Obama.