Pennsylvania Primary Results: HuffPost Bloggers Weigh In

Doug Schoen: The New York Times is Wrong

The lessons of Pennsylvania are clear for her going forward. She must continue on a negative or a comparative theme if she is to win the upcoming primaries. After running a negative campaign, candidates are frequently tempted to turn back to a positive track to avoid criticism from the media. Given the deficit that Senator Clinton faces in states won, the popular vote and pledged delegates, she does not have this luxury. She must continue to draw contrasts with Senator Obama, raise questions about the nature and extent of his associations with Reverend Wright and terrorist leader William Ayers, and raise more questions about his values in comparison with hers.

Eric Schmeltzer: Destructive Primary? Gee, Who Woulda Thunk It

John McCain is now the only candidate in the race viewed more favorably than unfavorably, according to Rasmussen Report's Daily Tracking Poll. And he is intermittently hitting the 50 percent mark in the head to head matchups - something that neither Obama nor Clinton has even sniffed since, well, at least since February, which is as far back as the head-to-heads go. The longer this goes on, the worse it gets, as voter attitudes towards McCain solidify, making it much harder to re-define him in an abbreviated general election campaign.

Dylan Loewe: Hillary's New Inevitability

After tonight, despite an apparent ten point victory in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton is no longer electable in a general election. According to NBC Political Director Chuck Todd, Obama can no longer lose the pledged delegate count. "If you could call a contest based on the delegate count, it now appears as though it's going to be impossible for Obama to lose his lead." To do so, Clinton who need some 80% of the post-May 6th delegates.

Clinton's net gain of the popular vote was also woefully insufficient for her to have a reasonable chance of reclaiming the popular vote lead. She net 200,000 votes on Tuesday, just enough to be all but cancelled out by Obama's likely win in North Carolina two weeks from now. With so few states left, the likelihood of her overcoming her popular vote deficit, even with Florida included, is simply implausible.

John Zogby: Ball Is Now in Obama's Court

Hillary Clinton did not win Pennsylvania by running a negative campaign. The negatives that came out against Barack Obama were self-inflicted mistakes - his comment about "bitter" Pennsylvanians, his bobbling of questions over why he sometimes does not wear an American flag pin in his lapel, and lingering questions about his Chicago pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. He compounded his trouble by going negative against Clinton, because in doing so he took himself off his core message of hope, change, and the promise of a new kind of politics. He became just another politician.

[...]

And coming under the heading of "Things I Didn't Need," these multiple negative issues cropped up against him all at the same time, when he was already running in a state where the demographics were stacked against him. Pennsylvania was never realistically a winner for Obama anyway, but he may have done some damage to himself by responding the way he did. We do not yet know.

Robert Creamer: Last Night Clinton Won the Pennsylvania Primary, but Lost the War for the Nomination

The Pennsylvania Primary was Hillary Clinton's last chance to deliver a game changing blow to Obama's campaign for the nomination. She failed to deliver. Pennsylvania provided her with her final real opportunity to knock the wheels off the Obama campaign. She needed a crushing victory of 18% to 25% to have any real chance of altering the math or the psychology. Demographically, Pennsylvania was made for Hillary: the second oldest state in the nation, heavily blue collar, Catholic and rural -- Hillary's voter profile. She started with a lead of almost 20 points. But her final margin of 9.37% fell far short of what was needed to stop Obama's nomination. Here's why

Stephen Schlesinger: The Same Old Story: Discrediting Hillary

Here we go again. Stomp on Hillary for winning. ... In today's newspapers and partisan websites, the critics are downplaying Clinton's victory (even her erstwhile supporter the New York Times criticizes her in its lead editorial for running a dirty campaign), dismissing any triumph as meaningless because of Obama's lead in elected delegates, and suggest once again that she drop out so she does not further hurt the inevitable nominee, Barack Obama.

RJ Eskow: Why I Predicted the PA Results Exactly Right

Why did I get it so right when the polls got it so wrong? One reason is dumb luck. Accurate predictions are difficult with numbers as fuzzy as polling data. That said, there are other, more ominous reasons why I did better than the pollsters. The one that should be of greatest concern to the Democrats is the Bradley Effect, where white voters are reluctant to tell pollsters that they won't vote for a black candidate. While the Bradley Effect is highly controversial, the Texas and Ohio results persuaded me that it's real. So I increased Clinton's margin accordingly. It didn't have to be this way. In the first few months of the campaign, a great many voters didn't seem to perceive Obama as "black."

Beth Arnold: Whole Wide World Wants Obama

The world is watching this election with great interest. I live in Paris, which is an extremely diverse culture as well as a crossroads for Europe and other continents. Everyone I talk to -- without exception -- says they are excited about Obama being elected president of the United States. That he would make a huge difference in how the world sees us and in our reputation. No one mentions Hillary. Most people don't even understand how she has as much support as she does, given that the bulk of her governmental experience is having been a First Lady--in Arkansas and then The White House -- for a total of 20 years. People from our Turkish tailor to an English actress friend bring the subject up, and are baffled.

Craig Crawford: What Really Counts in Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania primary launched Hillary Clinton on a difficult, but feasible path to ultimately leading the nationwide popular vote in the Democratic presidential race. In yesterday's Keystone State primary, she cut Barack Obama's national overall lead by some 200,000 votes. That still leaves him half-a-million votes ahead (not counting Florida or Michigan) -- a lead of about 1.6 percentage points.

Michael Fauntroy: Pennsylvania Observations

The win may well be the worst of both worlds. On the one hand, it gives Clinton added momentum and justification to continue in the race. On the other hand, it raises legitimate questions about Obama's ability to close the door on the nomination and lets fester concerns about his toughness. That's bad news for Democrats seeking closure in the nomination contest.

Robert Schlesinger: Is Hillary's Win a Win?

The talking heads are taking the wrong approach to viewing Mrs. Clinton's Pennsylvania win: The only way she gets the nomination is by way of a historic Obama collapse. So as a practical matter her strategy is to hang around to see if it happens (while trying to abet it, of course).

So in that regard, a win's a win's a win. She lives to wait another day (or two weeks, as the case may be).

Andy Borowitz: McCain Celebrates Huge Pennsylvania Win

Presumptive G.O.P. nominee John McCain appeared at a mammoth rally in Philadelphia last night to celebrate the results of the Pennsylvania primary, calling the contest "a huge victory for me and my campaign." A jubilant Sen. McCain said that as the results poured in, "It became abundantly clear that the people of Pennsylvania want to send the Republicans back to the White House for another four years."

David Sirota: Pennsylvania & the Persistence of the Race Chasm

A few weeks ago, I published an article in In These Times showing how Hillary Clinton has been winning states almost exclusively in the Race Chasm - states whose populations are more than 6 percent but less than 17 percent black. The results of the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania - a state whose demographics fall squarely in the Race Chasm - continue the trend.

Bob Cesca: Pennsylvania Primary: Liveblogging the Results

I don't mind so much that it was a disappointing night for Senator Obama in terms of the popular vote spread, but I'm not thrilled with the fact that every day this race continues means a better November for Senator McCain. The cold hard fact is that the delegate spread is only 3, according to Markos. Yet Senator Clinton will continue until at least June -- another two months with Senator Obama dividing his army, so to speak, between Clinton and McCain. And he'll still win Indiana and North Carolina.

Ari Melber: Pennsylvania Democrats for McCain!

Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania, but many Democratic primary voters say they'll vote for McCain in November. So get ready for lots of chatter about this PA exit polling from Tuesday...

Tom Tomorrow: How Hillary Can Win

Greg Mitchell: Was Race a Strong Factor in Clear Clinton Win in Pennsylvania?

I have long suggested that many have understated the number of Democrats who are (still) racist and who would tip many contests to Clinton, but closed that post by saying that if Obama won or came close in Pennsylvania that might put the issue to rest.

Didn't happen. And the exit polls show, again, that 1 in 4 Clinton voters claim they would not vote for Obama in November. For whatever reason. And she got 70% of the white, blue-collar vote in most regions, including the area of central Pennsylvania where I spent a lot of time growing up.

Other details from polling turn up other troubling numbers along those lines.

And once again, as I suggested, the old phenomenon of exit polls proven wrong because people with racist votes do not tell pollsters the truth on election day again reared its head. The major and final exit polls today indicated only a 4% Clinton win. Now it looks like 10% or maybe 9%. That difference is largely the racial vote, most likely.

Cenk Uygur: Is Hillary Lucky to be a White Woman?

Geraldine Ferraro got in trouble for saying Barack Obama was lucky to be a black man running in this race. Obviously we understand what she means, that winning large percentages of the black vote helps in some key states. What was frustrating was that she didn't seem to understand that it also cost him plenty of votes and that historically a black man has been anything but lucky when running for a nationwide office (or in many cases, statewide office).

[...]

Obviously Senator Clinton put herself in the ballgame by running an effective campaign and holding views that appeal to the voters. Having said that, after she crossed these thresholds, it has helped her that she is a woman. To deny that would be a little silly. Sixty-five percent of the white women vote goes a long way.

Andy Ostroy: Thoughts on Pennsylvania, Clinton and Obama from a "Realisticrat"

Clinton must achieve a clear, decisive victory in Tuesday's primary or she should quit the race and let the general contest begin. PA is the big prize. The hugely working-class state is representative of middle-America and the traditional Democratic base. If she can pull off a double-digit win (or something very close), it'll make it very hard to convince me or any sane Dem that the race is over. What she'll have is a string of critical big-Blue state wins (OH, TX, PA), impressive momentum, and a bruised and battered opponent, who as the NY Times columnist David Brooks has said last week, has fallen to Earth. Indeed, a very compelling narrative for her to offer up to superdelegates, who could very well swing to her corner quick as lightning.

Seth Grahame-Smith: Ten Things to Remember on Tuesday Night

Hillary Clinton will win Pennsylvania. Arguments over the meaning or meaninglessness of her win will dominate MSM and stretch bandwidth to its breaking point. Bloggers and pundits will dust off their favorite boxing metaphors: "Hillary's off the ropes!" "Obama can't land the knockout!" Hillbots will rejoice, Obamabots will panic, and McCainbots will watch Murder She Wrote and go to bed at six-thirty. I'll probably write a scathing post attempting to prove that Hillary is the devil incarnate. We'll all lose our minds.

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Read HuffPost's full coverage of the Pennsylvania primary.

Check out the results of the latests PA Polls.

Comments

[kinnycut]

All "Hillaryvania" voters did on their Election Day was to prolong the inevitable. Obama only needed to stay close in that state and he achieved that objective. She is the one that had to win or it would have been all over for her. The trouble is she didn't win big enough to slow his momentum.

[northcan]

Mother Jones Jeff Sharlet; Hillary's Nasty Pastorate; This is to Pennsylvannia Catholics who would not vote for Barack Obama, Once again Bill Clinton talked to Radio Station 'that Obama is playing the race card".. whatever!! This article in March / 08 "THE FAMILY'

Hillary has been an active member in conservative Bible study and prayer circles, part of secretive Capital Hill group known as "The Fellowship", also known as "The family". Sharlet generously attributes Clinton's involvement to the under appreciated depth of her religiosity, but he himself struggles to define The Family's theological underpinnings. The Family avoids the word Christian but worships Jesus, though not the Jesus who promised the earth to the 'meek'.

They believe that, in mass societies, it's only the elites who matter, the political leaders who can build God's "dominion" on earth insofar as The Family has a consistant philosophy, it's all about power and cultivating it, building it and networking it together into ever-stronger units, or cells. "We work with power where we can", Doug Coe has said, and "build new power where we can't."

"The Family" reached out to former and not so former Nazis, and its fascination with that exemplary leader Adolf Hitler, has continued along with ties to a whole bestiary of murderous thugs.

Obama has given a beautiful speech on race and his affiliation with the Trinity United Church of Christ. Now it's up to Clinton to explain - or better yet, -her long standing connection with the fascist-leaning Family.

[impeachBC]

The negativity, lies and twisted logic coming from Hillary Clinton has made me so angry I can barely refrain from throwing a shoe or brick through the tv set whenever she begins to speak. I swear I see toads and frogs erupting from her mouth when she tells us she cares about all us little people while pulling every dirty trick in the book to upset her opponent! I will never vote for her! EVER! I could never trust that kind of a president... one that will say or do anything to win, does not have the character to lead a nation!

[duze]

I find it very interesting that this is not over. If the situatiions were reversed the HillBilly Clan would have filed some sort of legal issue against not moving forward and declaring Hillary the winner. The reason the superdelegates have not demanded it is that they would like to nominate Hillary but they cannot explain it to their constituents before their next election.. Knowing this they are making a false attempt to let this thing play itself out. This is a mistake. Contrary to sad belief Hillary is not entitled. She's a proven liar, she does not identify with middle class americans. She may have been born in Scranton, but realistically, how much time has she spent their? Did she ever continue to work there? Did she return there? Did she donate to local causes there? However, the Pennsylvania citizens fell for her beer swilling, gun toting rhetoric and bought it. Bill refuses to give up his NAFTA dream yet Hillary did and continues to support him. Shouldn't that make her the one that's wrong? Her other surrogate, who I personally feel is looking for a cabinet position if she wins, is Governor Ed. Rendell. Surely she knows that Governor Rendell is a hugh Louis Farrakhan supporter.
Sorry but there has been a close relationship between these two for years. How's that for unworthy by way of association.

[inditer]

I will credit the Clinton 'sleaze' campaign with one revelation that must be addressed within the Democratic Party. That's the undercurrent of racism that permeates the party. Nobody who is not a racist could possibly respond the way too many Pennyslvania democrats did to Hillary's coded 'elitist' (read "uppity") charge against Obama. Had Obama not used the term 'bitter', the Clinton campaign would have stoked the fires under any other handy utterance. The remaining Penn (yes, it's still Penn) & William's strategy is crystal clear - if it's subtly racist and scary (bin Laden references) then on the tube and in the mailbox it goes. After the next 9 states, Puerto RIco and a Texas convention certifying an Obama win, Clinton gains nothing. Her continued presence is a gift to the republicans that will not stop giving until she leaves.

[justobserve]

Now, they talk about counting the votes in MI&FL in earnest but Obama should make sure that apart from the fact that he followed the rules and had 0 votes in MI, even if the votes are to be allowed, it is unfair that he was not as well-known as Clinton so without campaigning he couldn't do in FL what he did in PA, namely, closing the gap from 25-30% to under 10% in Clinton's root state. It is amazing that Clinton could spin her "loss" of 15-20% off her lead as a "convincing victory"! Poor little people now listened to her spins and gave her their hard-earned money so she can continue the losing battle.

[justobserve]

The question to be asked by Obama is: Why Clinton can't close the deal with her well-known name, so- called experience, with white and older votes? It is amazing that Clinton keeps spinning and Obama, or rather the media, keep being distracted off fthe fact that SHE WAS THE INEVITABLE WHO IS NOW HAS TO FIGHT FOR THE LEAD! It's the case of how full or empty is the glass of water. Doesn't matter how much empty is the glass, she kept saying Obama's is not full but hers is, not only not full, still emptier than Obama's!
She now said her popular votes is the highest but that is when she had to add her votes in MI where Obama had 0 because his name was not on the ballot! Her total had one more state than Obama's so of course she had more votes; it is the same if Obama counts votes in 40 states and takes out her votes in one more state then claims he won more than one million votes instead of 700,000. This claim is played repeatedly on the news without anyone intelligent enough to correct her and her surrogates or at least make sure to highlight the fact that Obama having 0 votes in MI.
To answer her, Obama talked about the rules of counting the pledged delegates but he didn't pinpoint where Clinton's claim is wrong: he had 0 vote in MI and he still has more popular votes than she.

[Gregan]

Bottom line seen from this side of the big pond. The Republicans and the RIGHT media are SCARED of your candidate Obama. Their biggest wish´s are that this Democratic primary season be dragged out to the last minute, and that the super delegates choose Clinton over Obama.
Fox for example is treating Clinton like their girl and all the focus from the right media and the Republicans are on trying to find whatever they can on Obama dating back to his birth, however they have found virtually nothing. Clinton has had a virtual free ride from the right....BUT WAIT, how much REAL baggage will they dig up on the Clinton's once she is the nominee? Will Bill get a free ride....ha­hahahahaha­ha...Did the Rev Wright get one?.....me thinks NOT....will all those funny Clinton deals surface yet again?
I wonder how many Americans are awake enough to see how much the USA will lose by electing McCain? Hillary Clinton will lose once the Republicans dig up all the dirt and scare the crap out of America comparing her terrorist record against Mcains.
The Democrats are shooting themselves in the foot letting this primary season drag out and the Republicans are going to steal another election through FEAR instead of Change and Hope.

[AbdulScarface]

Hillary is creating a self fulfilling prophecy.

[Nancyann]

She is a disgrace to women and for any american voter for that matter. GET HER OUT OF OUR PUBLIC FOREVER !!!!!!

[RandyRP]

It will be over after Indiana and NC, in fact it was over after PA. HRC won the batle and lost the war.
She netted nine delegates over Obama.

Indiana is close so neither gains much, but Obama will win NC by as large or larger a margin than HRC's PA win. So his overall delegate lead will be similar or larger to his lead prior to the PA primary. She's running out of time, money and opportunities.

Her latest claim to "lead the popular vote" is based on including Florida and Michigan, and the super delegates are'nt stupid enough to be fooled by this cannard. It only makes her come accross as more disingenous and pathetic.

[Gary47]

It's tiring to hear Democrats whine about how this endless campaign is terrible. Wrong! It's great. We're signing up thousands of new Democrats left and right. Money is pouring in. People are interested in our primary like never before. But Democrats (especially Democrat pundits) do like to whine. If Jesus descended and became our candidate I think many of you would be wining that he couldn't get the Jewish vote.

[RandyRP]

You are right Gary, however the money and new voters are overwhelmingly in support of Obama. We are witnessing a paradigm change, which is why the contest while close has gone on the way is has. HRC has posited "Why can't he put it away?". Well frankly given the fact the 16 month ago, it seemed as if she was a lock for the nomination, we could ask "Why can't HRC put it away?.
Of course the answer is ecaxctly what you point out. New voters, new support, new money, almost all of it stacked against HRC.

[MinasTirith]

Heart and guts to admire?

Does it take 'guts' to throw sand in the face of your opponent via the negative campaigning and call it a 'win'?
Does it take 'heart' to feel so badly about lying to the public regarding her Bosnia escapade that she had to do it multiple times?

And define 'Savvy' in her context... She's 'Dirty' perhaps in her methods. Does that constitute 'Savvy' for you, Jeanne?

The facts are the facts. She is now more impossibly behind in the very element that is required to win the nomination (if, her savvy, heartfelt, and gritty self plays by the rules)... and those things would be delegates. So are you saying that even with a completely insurmountable (yes, insurmountable) lead in the very coin of the realm needed to win, she will 'win'? Will she win it with her 'guts'? Her 'Heart'? Her 'Savvy'?

No, She'll win it by gaming the system. By pretending it's about popular vote, not delegates. By dividing the party, by running a campaign so fraught with mismanagement that its reflection on her ability to run a country gives one shudders. She'll win it by fooling you. She's already succeeded there.

That, is no 'winner'. That, is merely a wannabe. The equivalent of a 4 year old who will hold her breath and turn blue if she doesn't get that pony for her Birthday.

[DAVESEAN]

clinton campaign claims FOX NEWS is fair and balanced......Is that woman really a democrat?M­aybe...fai­r and balance now has a new meaning like sniper fire and BOSNIA......l bet she loves FOX NEWS because they are anti-obama......and racist....Obama called for a dialogue on RACE but FOX NEWS keeps expanding the divide....­..EVERYBOD­Y SEEMS TO BE SCARED OF A BLACK GUY WINNING THE PRESIDENCY.....AM I SMELLING SOMETHING?

[GetReal08]

She is kissing up to the right (fox) so they can do some of her dirty work!!! It’s obvious!! It fits perfectly into the category of “she’ll do anything to win”, her campaign isn’t about the people, it’s about her thinking she's is entitled!!! Here’s a quote from Larry King’s show tonight
“The Clinton’s are “Clinging to the Throne” like they’re entitled.

[DogBitez]

Hillary, the war hawk, is as close to a Republican as a Democrat can get. She's going Lieberman on us. Her ability to stay in this race proves that America is ready, willing and able to support a one-party system. A merging of Republican and Democrat. And since a Bush-Clint­on-Bush-Cl­inton presidency is what's at stake... and that doesn't seem to horrify enough people... I'm beginning to feel that all hope is lost for us. How can you call yourself a Democrat and support a woman that voted to authorize Bush's war in Iraq, gave Bush the vote he wanted toward Iran, and just said she would "obliterate" Iran with nuclear weapons if they attacked Israel? And runs a campaign that emulates the worst of Republican campaigns. I won't even start on the lies and temper tantrums. What an ugly country we've become.

[elbram]

OBAMA hasn't won all the "BIGGER STATES" when going against Clinton, but CONSIDER THIS...

When the Democratic supporters of Hillary (and supposedly Hillary) gets firmly behind Obama, THE DEMS WILL SLAY McCain in those same BIG STATES...Obama has the BEST chance of the two to beat McCain in the SMALLER states...

CURRENTLY THE DEMS OUTNUMBER THE REPUBLICANS UNLESS HILLARY SPLITS US UP!

[anybodybutosama]

If Clinton does not get the nomination she will not support Obama. The presidency is her destiny (in her mind)..... 52% of her supporters say they will not support Obama and 42% of them say they will vote for McCain if Obama gets the nomination. As far as the dems outnumbering republicans, be careful, alot of republicans have been switching parties to keep this race going. The longer it runs the better for the GOP. Rush has been preaching this strategy since January. In PA, 123,000 republicans switched, in N.C, 168,000 have switched so these are not going to be dems in the general election.

[vannablack]

Please help boycott MSNBC, CNN, and FOX until they stop the lie that Hillary c an win the nomination. This lie has been spread by the Clinton campaign and the idiots at the networks are parroting it. Don't watch and see how quickly they change their tunes.