The Clinton campaign’s attempt to turn their Massachusetts win into some sort of Giants vs. Patriots underdog story is pathetic :

UPSET OF THE NIGHT

One of the biggest surprises of the night is Massachusetts

Despite the fact that Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry were actively supporting and campaigning for Obama, Hillary Clinton won the state.

Despite the fact that the Governor of Massachusetts endorsed Obama, Hillary Clinton won the state.

Despite the fact that Obama visited Massachusetts just last night, Hillary Clinton won the state.

This is a strong victory and shows that Hillary Clinton has strength in places where Barack Obama was expected to win.

Expected to win? By whom? Here’s what the polls looked like in Massachussets :

Congratulations, Senator Clinton. You won a state that every single poll but one expected you to win. Same goes for California and New Jersey, where most polls showed Clinton ahead and Obama had the disadvantage of being far behind in the polls when early voting began.

If anything, it was Barack who showed unexpected strength in places Hillary was supposed to win. If you look at the trendlines for Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota, they favor Clinton, but Barack won them all. Going forward, things are looking worse for Clinton :

There are ten more primaries/caucuses this month and Obama is expected to do well in all of them.

Now the landscape gets much more favorable for Obama. On Saturday, it’s Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington. Then on Sunday it’s Maine. Then Tuesday offers Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Then February 19 offers Wisconsin and Hawaii. That’s a lot of states, but not a ton of delegates. On March 4 comes the big showdown in Texas and Ohio. The question is whether Obama can build up enough momentum between now and March 4 to put Clinton away, or whether Clinton can draw enough blood in the intermediate states to shut him down on the March 4 firewall.

I’m not sure how Ohio will go, but considering that the delegates from Texas are being chosen via a weird hybrid that plays to Obama’s big primary strengths (open primary and caucus), I expect him to do well there. If Obama can spend a month kicking ass all over the country and delivers a big win on the 4th, I think the superdelegates will see the writing on the wall and start falling into place.

UPDATE : There’s a great breakdown of the upcoming primaries here.