Obama's Secret Weapon: One Hit Wonder Voters

At this point there's no real way to properly gauge the size and scope of Barack Obama's grassroots campaign. It's not enough that he's won the majority of caucuses in the small, red states. It's not enough to see the stadiums he fills up whenever he comes to a town to deliver a speech. It's not enough that his website has the best Alexa ranking out of all the candidates (even more than Ron Paul's).

Who are all these people? And why is it polls showed him leading Hillary by a mere single digits in Mississippi before the primaries, when he wound up trouncing her by over 20 points? Why the discrepancy?

The voters he's animating certainly are coming out in droves to support him. The numbers in just these past few primaries are virtually staggering.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that many of these voters have either just registered, or plan only to register just to vote for Obama in the general election (assuming he gets that far). These are shadow voters that are flying under the radar. They are essentially one hit wonder voters. They will swoop in a sudden swarm and then disappear overnight once the election results are tallied.

Nevertheless, this mysterious voting bloc Obama seems to have grown like a stem cell researcher harvesting a culture in a lab, is vast wild card. There's no way to tell what they might do in November. Will they like a young plant wither and die in the arid soil of uncertainty, or will they explode into a mighty oak of support and carry their man into the Oval Office this November 4th? They are not a dependable (i.e. knowable) voting bloc like, say, white middle voters between the ages of 45-60, or senior citizens. It's this uncertainty that makes Obama's chances in November pretty murky.

Just how big is Obamamania? Righty pundits like to demand what the substance is behind Obama's speeches. But the Obama campaign should ask itself what the substance is behind its own supporters. Where were these people in Ohio and Texas? Yes, I know Obama technically won it when you count in the caucus, but it would have been helpful had he "won" it in the spotlight rather than as an academic footnote. Where was Obama Nation in California and New York?

Most importantly, where will Obama Nation be come Election Day? Will these one hit wonders change this country, or will merely nominating their guy be their only song and dance?