The riveting contest for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has often been characterized over the last six weeks as one between his momentum, reflecting his personal magnetism, and her machine, the product of 35 years in politics.

This may continue to be the case. But his winning streak since Super Tuesday – eight primaries and caucuses in a row, including landslides in the three Potomac primaries on Tuesday, and probably rising to ten with Wisconsin and Hawaii next week – surely calls the basic premise into question.