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In 1860 the Democratic Party split in 2 parts, one of the parts was the southern radicals who gained the upper hand after John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 and the other more moderate Northern Democrats. Both factions fielded their own candidates and assured that the Republican nominee, Abraham Lincoln would win the election.

How is 2008 a redux of 1860 for the Democratic Party. Again there are 2 factions in play for the nomination. The first is the Barrack Obama faction which is backed by the ultra Liberal Ted Kennedy wing and the Chicago midwestern party machine. The Obama faction has won the south by winning the hearts and minds of the African American and college students voters. The other faction are the long time stalwart centerist Clinton faction that is backed by women, blue collar workers, hispanics and party organizations in the large industrial northern states tha t owe the Clintons a backlog of favors.

The Primary election season is running so close that neither candidate has a clear cut margin of victory or defeat. Knowing the Clintons, losing is not in their vocabulary and they will continue to fight until the fat lady sings or a stake is driven through Hillarys heart. Hillary has promised to continue on to the White House, she will pull out all the stops to gain the nomination including. questioing the legitmacy of vote count in Indiana if the Gary Indiana vote should put Obbama over the top in the state. This is no far stretch of the imagination knowing the history of Chicago voting practices. Taking the DNC to court over the Michigan and Floridia non seating of their delegates. remember the "no vote left uncounted" rhetoric of the 2000 campaign. Adopting the "Yes we will" chant of the Obama campaign and "I am fighting for you in your time of need" populist message. Also Hillary has her private dectectives looking under every rock to see if Obama has any dirty laundry that will make him unviable in the fall election.

The large determinate will be money for Hillary,, if her campaign contributions dry up so will her campaign. If she has sufficient funds she will take this to the Convention. Where she hopes to pull it out of the hat by convincing the Democratic Party Super Delegates to change this allegiance and or seating the Michigan and Florida delegates. It is so interesting to note that the Hillary campaign is spinning the level that the bar of victory is set at from 2025 delegates to 2225 delegates. Has Hillary no shame and if she pulls this off she will have changed the definaition of the "is."

Obamas message will continue to be I am ahead, and if you take it away from me you will lose the African American vote forever along with all the young voters and this will be a throw back to the same old politics that we are used to. Which will all lead to a Democratic Party defeat in the fall. The danger for Obama is that as the infighting goes on in the Democratic Party Obama will come to look more and more like another hackeyed politician.

As it is shaping up this fight for the nomination is getting to the point of a grudge match where neither side will be able to reclaim the voters of the other losing faction. The Democratic Party is in the process of splitting itself into two parts forever. Neither faction in the party being strong enough to beat a Republican candidate in the fall election. A new dynamic in American Politics is in the formation stages with the Gotterdammerung of the Democratic Party of old. A new Centerist Party is going to emerge that is going to marginalize the extreme wings of both partys. Call in the Party of Independence.