Among the many reasons that Obama's leading in the delegate count is his early wins in mostly rural western and midwestern states. What's interesting about these wins though is the means by which they happened. The most obvious is Obama's skills as an orator and his promise to be "a new kind of politician," even though his policies (if enacted) are no different than the top down, large government, high tax, and big spending approach used in the 1960's. Less obvious is how Clinton made a big mistake in not sending campaign staff to some of these states and in not visiting them herself. Doing so, Clinton basically ceded these states to Obama and lost the chance to either win at least few of them or gain some badly needed delegates. This latter factor, alone, might've significantly reduced her delegate gap with Obama

But an even bigger factor was the timing of these early wins, something the mainstream media hasn't mentioned, probably because it's in the bag for Obama. These wins occurred relatively early, well before the public was fully aware of Obama's relationship with the poisonous Jeremiah Wright or the toxic William Ayers. Possibly even more important was how these wins occurred before Obama's trip to San Francisco, where he stated that people in rural areas (like Indiana, to which he was referring) cling to "religion, guns, and a distrust of people unlike them" because of "bitterness and frustration."

These serious issues, especially his relationship with Wright, undoubtedly cost Obama the state of Indiana and longer primary fight. The reason could be seen in the polls. Before the Wright controversy and his statements in San Francisco, Obama enjoyed a relatively comfortable lead in Indiana. Afterwards, his lead evaporated, causing him to fall below Hillary. In fact, if it hadn't been for significant numbers of African Americans living in Lake and Marion Counties, Obama would've lost by more than the 2 percentage points reported on Tuesday.

You could see this in the electoral map shown on CNN. The dark blue counties, signifying Obama wins, were limited to urban areas bordering Chicago (Lake County) and Gary, Indiana (Marion). Geographically, these areas comprised a relatively small portion of the state, even though they contained the bulk of the State's population. In comparison, the light blue counties, signified Clinton wins. Covering the vast majority of the State, these were the rural areas, which Obama had casually derided in San Francisco.

So now imagine the impact of these controversies on the western and midwestern States, which held elections early in the Democratic Primary. Given the outcome in Indiana and without significant numbers of African Americans, it's doubtful that early primary states, such as Idaho or Iowa, would've voted nearly as heavily for Obama or even selected him as the Democratic nominee. Consequently, the Democratic primary would be even closer and less conclusive than it is now.

Even worse for Obama is how rural counties, like those in Indiana, vote overwhelmingly Republican in general elections.What this means is that Obama isn't nearly as strong a candidate as he appears to be. On the contrary, his viability in November is probably a lot like his speeches: well delivered rhetoric with no substance.