The results of "Super Tuesday" are in, and by all appearances, all is as it should be. The U.S. presidential campaign looks just as it did before the race officially started. Vice President Al Gore will be squaring off against Texas Gov. George W. Bush. But appearances are deceiving. The election dynamics have been completely transformed. All of the old certainties are gone, and this year's election now looks like a real horse race.
Fifteen states -- a virtual cross section of the country -- held presidential primaries Tuesday. The results did not give either the Republican or the Democratic front-runner enough votes to secure the nomination, but they made voter sentiment clear. Mr. Gore swept all the Democratic races, including those in the home and adopted states, Missouri and New Jersey respectively, of his rival, former Sen. Bill Bradley. Mr. Bush lost several states to Sen. John McCain, his chief nemesis, but won key battles in New York, Ohio and California. He is expected to win next week's primaries in his own state of Texas and in Florida -- where his brother is governor -- which should put him over the top in the race for the nomination. Mr. McCain is likely to bow to the inevitable and quit the race before then.
If the lineup is as predicted six months ago, the campaign itself promises to be anything but. Both men have been tested by the primary battles, and the results are striking. Mr. Gore, the wooden performer, has revealed a personality and an intensity that had only been rumored to exist. Mr. Bradley's challenge energized the vice president and proved that he has the drive and the desire to be president. It also proved that Mr. Gore's machine is a formidable one, capable of mobilizing traditional Democratic support groups. Mr. Bradley's charge during the primaries that Mr. Gore was a conservative may have helped the vice president, by broadening his appeal to independents and moderate Republicans.