Personally I never attributed it to anything of the sort (Huge Leftist machine), or maybe I did if you consider the media as part of the Democrat party.
The Leftist media totally abrogated their duty as watchdogs and through themselves 100% in Obama’s camp. They carried his water from day one and attacked anyone who dared criticize him.
Tell you what. had Obama been white, with the exact same record politically, he NEVER gets pastr NH, if he even gets that far.
And that’s a fact, Jack!!
Their only realistic alternative was Hillary, and they'd had quite enough of her. Being black, in addition to being a crowd-pleaser and quite intelligent, made him the most likely candidate to be able to fend off Hillary. It was a long shot, but the leftist media wanted to be rid of Hillary almost as badly as Obama wanted to the The First Black President of the United States.
But without the huge leg up he'd gotten from Keyes just a couple of years earlier, Obama wouldn't have stood a chance. He'd have been way too much of a long short of the leftist media to agree to unite hehind him. They'd have divided themselves, and left Hillary in a strong position.