If the Democratic nominating contest is now essentially an audition before the superdelegates, Barack Obama made a fine impression last night, and not only by drubbing Hillary Clinton by 22 points in the Wyoming caucuses. But let's looks at Wyoming. Because of the untimely death of Sen. Craig Thomas both of Wyoming's senate seats are up for re-election. Those seats are longs shots for the Democrats. But there is another race that the Democrats have a chance to win. Gary Trauner ran for Wyoming's At-Large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 and lost to Barbara Cubin 48.3%-47.8%. Rep. Cubin is retiring, and Trauner is running again and running strong:

An early statewide poll shows Trauner essentially tied with Republican candidate Cynthia Lummis. Because she declared her candidacy later than Trauner, Lummis did not have to file a quarterly financial report.

The poll showed Trauner garnering 41 percent of the vote to Lummis’ 40 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The remaining 19 percent of voters said they were undecided.

Trauner led all candidates in name recognition, with 80 percent, with Lummis trailing at 70 percent.

Mason-Dixon Polling and Research conducted the poll by calling 625 registered voters between Jan. 18 and Jan. 21.

There's no question that Gary Trauner has a better chance of winning this seat if Barack Obama is on the top of the ticket than if Hillary Clinton is there.

But last night also showed something else. Physicist Bill Foster won a convincing victory in a special election for Dennis Hastert's old congressional seat in Illinois' Fourteenth District. That, in itself, is a shock because the district gave George W. Bush 56% of the vote in 2004 and was considered heavily Republican. But what is more impressive is how Bill Foster won.

Mr. Foster, 52, founded a successful national theater lighting company. During the campaign, he called for an end to the war and said he supported comprehensive health care...

...The opening image on Mr. Foster’s Web site showed him standing beside Mr. Obama and the words: “Bill Foster represents the change we need.” Mr. Foster’s campaign also seemed to share language familiar to Mr. Obama’s campaign. His signs read: “Foster, Democrat for Change.”

Can you imagine Bill Foster using Hillary Clinton front and center on his website, and associating himself with her as the 'change we need'? It would never work, let alone be attempted, in the scores of red-leaning congressional districts the Democrats are contesting this year. With Obama, Foster not only tried it, but he won with it. Not only that, but he won calling for universal health care, and end to the war, and this:

"The President and his allies in Congress are playing politics with national security, and that's wrong. Nobody is above the law and telecom companies who engaged in illegal surveillance should be held accountable, not given retroactive immunity. I flatly oppose giving these companies an out for cooperating with Alberto Gonzalez on short-circuiting the FISA courts and the rule of law."

Foster's victory should serve as a lesson not only to the superdelegates, but to Congressional Democrats that think granting retroactive community or funding the Iraq War are winning political positions. If a candidate can win in Dennis Hastert's district proudly standing by Obama's side, calling for no retroactive immunity, and end to the war, and universal healthcare, then we can win all over the county...with Obama...and with that message.