Even as Clinton Wins West Virginia, Obama's Magic Number Drops to 143 Delegates -- His Political Stock Rises on News from Mississippi

Hillary Clinton won an overwhelming victory in West Virginia's Primary last night. But that victory in the heart of her demographic base did nothing to change the fact that the party's nominee will be Barack Obama.

Obama added at least seven new pledged delegates in West Virginia, brining his magic number to clinch the nomination down to 143. After his victory in North Carolina and virtual tie in Indiana, Obama needed 183 more delegates to cross the 2025 majority set by DNC rules. Since then he has gained 40 delegates and now leads Clinton in super delegates by 12 according to RealClearPolitics.com.

Several other key developments:

* Obama now needs only 17 additional pledged delegates to have an absolute majority of all pledged delegates. He will pass that mark next Tuesday when 103 delegates are at stake in Oregon and Kentucky. At that point many additional super delegates have indicated they will declare for Obama. By this time next week, Obama's magic number will be well into the double digits. It is likely that he will clinch the nomination by the end of the month. It is almost certain he will do so within days of the final primaries on June 3rd.

* While Clinton's win in West Virginia was impressive it should be placed into context. West Virginia is populated with a high percentage of older, non-college, white voters -- Clinton's strongest base of support. The impact of her overwhelming victory there is limited by the state's small size. It is the 13th smallest state -- only slightly larger than Idaho -- and represents .6% of the nation's population. That's why it has only 28 delegates, compared to North Carolina's 115.

* When it comes to blow outs, Obama has won 21 contests by more than 20% -- Clinton only 3 (West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arkansas).

* Even if Clinton were to win 65% of the 189 remaining pledged delegates (which she has no chance of doing), Obama would only need one of every three super delegates remaining today. In fact of course, he actually leads Clinton both in overall super delegates and number of super delegates he has picked up in each of the weeks since Super Tuesday.

* While West Virginia was another reminder that Clinton does has more appeal than Obama among lower income whites, the Washington Post/ABC Poll released yesterday shows how much that is offset by his much greater strength among the independent voters who will mainly decide the fall presidential race. The poll showed Obama leading McCain with this key group by nine points -- 51% to 42%. Clinton led McCain by only 3 points, 49% to 46%.

* The best news for Obama last night came from Mississippi. Democrat Travis Childers victory in Mississippi's first district special election demonstrated conclusively the ineffectiveness of Republican attempts to make Obama a negative for Democratic house candidates.

President Bush won the first district by 25% in 2004. The former Republican incumbent (Roger Wicker) won reelection in 2006 by 66%. Yet Childers won with a healthy 54% to 46% victory -- even after the National Republican Campaign Committee devoted almost $1.3 million of its scarce dollars trying to "tie" Childers to Obama.

It had tried the same tact in Louisiana where Democrat Don Cazayoux was also successful in taking a seat that had been in Republican hands for 3 decades.

And earlier this year, when Democrat Bill Foster won an Illinois special election to succeed retiring former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert, he recruited Obama to make his closing pitch in a TV commercial.

As much as they wish it were true, Obama will not hurt Democratic candidates in down ballot races -- even in very conservative districts. In fact in many cases just the opposite is true. By mobilizing huge numbers of young people and African American voters in November, he will make it more likely that Democrats take an increasing number of Congressional seats in former Republican strongholds - especially in the South.

My apartment in Washington is next door to the Republican National Committee. As I walked by this morning, I could almost feel the whole place quaking in its boots.

Robert Creamer is a long time political organizer and strategist and author of the recent book: Stand Up Straight. How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com.

Comments

[2Nurselady]

That "magic number" is not so magic. It excludes 2.3 million citizen-voters in this nation in Florida and Michigan. Once Florida and Michigan are counted on May 31st, the "magic number" will have to change.

[BillyT]

ahhh....th­e amazing ever-changing goalpost concept is on display again.

FYI: those delegates are disallowed because they knowingly broke the rules.

new math every day....whe­re do you people come up with this stuff?

[HepsibahStarbuck]

Florida and Michigan should not have defied rules and gotten themselves into this mess.

Those protesting the decision (and BTW, Clinton agreed with the laws concerning this last September, then flip-flopped earlier this year) should perhaps stop stomping the ground whining, and think about becoming adult long enough to realize there are ramifications for actions ill-considered. The consequences were known at the time.

Take responsibility for your actions. Quit trying to pawn the blame off on somebody else.

[HepsibahStarbuck]

Although I realize that Kristin isn't advocating changing the rules, as the article she posted doesn't. Thanks Kristin for this interesting article.

[Bettysdad]

Those two states gave up their right to vote in the Demo primaries. Get over it.

[kristin]

Hillary wants to disenfranchise 2 million voters in Florida and Michigan by having the elections count.

"I didn't understand why Sen. Obama and some of his supporters wanted to prevent you and other states from actually being able to vote," she said on a Wilmington, North Carolina station.” That is both a lie and hypocrisy.

“In a study, Wharton School Assistant Prof. Gregory Nini and liberal author Glenn Hurowitz try to figure that out, based on voter turnout in other states. Their conclusion: Based on a statistical comparison with turnout in other states’ primaries, it appears that roughly two million more people would have voted in Florida and Michigan had they expected their delegates to be seated.”

“Although the Democratic turnout rate was impressive in Florida and Michigan, it was not nearly as high as it has been in other primaries so far. ... In many other states, Democratic voters outnumbered Republican voters by at least 3 to 2. Simply stated, in states where Democratic voters expected their delegates to count and the candidates spent time and money campaigning, Democratic turnout has vastly exceeded Republican turnout. The fact that Republicans outnumbered Democrats in Florida and Michigan suggests that many would-be Democratic voters in those states chose not to vote at a much higher rate than in other states.”

from : Who Didn't Vote in the Florida and Michigan Democratic Primaries? - Swampland - TIME

[pdsimdars]

Everyone needs to hear the video from Tim Russert on last Sunday's Meet the Press. He had Terry McAuliffe on and read to Terry, Terry's own words from Terry's own book about how those delegates from MI and FL would never be seated at the convention because they broke the rules and rules are rules. He was unequivocal and clear as day. One of his lines was that the closest they'd get to the convention was to watch it on TV.
It was great to see his face try to hold composure as Tim read it to him.
And NOW? Somehow those rules have changed? Or is there something else that changed for him to have reversed himself so DRAMATICALLY? Hmmmmmmm.

[Bella Liberty]

Yes even Hillary wins Obama's political stock rises, as well as Democrats lossing their White House term and the Republican will surely be riding high for the next term.

[saulpaulus]

Hillary can have her West Virginia hootenanny. At the end of the day, however, when Obama's win in Oregon is tallied against it , she will have netted maybe 2-3 delegates. In the meantime, Obama will have gained that many and more in superdelegates. i've done the math and even if Michigan and Florida are counted and even if Hillary is given all of Edwards' delegates in Florida, she still comes up about 100 delegates short of Obama even without considering all the superdelegates that will be coming over to him every day. I don't know whether Howard Wolfson is just that good at lying or whether he's the last true believer, but the race is over.

What West Virginia does point up is that Senator Obama will need Hill's support, her wholehearted support to win working class whites over to his side if he is to win states like West Virginia in November. The sooner Hill and her minions begin working to unite the faithful behind Senator Obama the better. Oh and I don't think a Hill vice presidency would be the best thing for either Hill or Obama. Obama should offer her the AG or his support for Senate Majority leader. He might sweeten it by promising to put Bill on the short list for the first Supreme vacancy that comes up.

[DCB]

The argument that Barack can't win the big swing states is completely bogus.
As the Dem primary votes were being tallied throughout the early state races, back when McSame and Huckabee were still going at each other, I noticed that BOTH Hillary and Barack had more votes than all the GOP candidates combined!
It was amazing to see the turnout for both HRC and Barack...h­undreds of thousands each to the point that in a few states over a million for Barack and 800K for Hillary. The total combined GOP vote total was less than either Dem candidate.
I'm drooling waiting for the National debates. Is it November, yet?

[finlandstation]

hey ron from nyc -

while you found voters in west virginia to be totally "awful" , uneducated, backward racists, i found them to be utterly refreshing, smart, well informed and culturally enlightened. if only we could bring some of these qualities to more states like mississippi, alabama, south carolina, georgia, louisiana, nebraska, idaho and north carolina.

[lorisc]

HuffPost's Pick

What do you know about the people in these states. This is so obnoxious. Everyone needs to quit criticizing voters from other states. It is ridiculous.

[finlandstation]

which part did you find obnoxious, that i found west virginia voters to be refreshing and smart or that ron from nyc found them to be backward racists? don't you want more voters to be culturally enlightened and educated?

[MaureenSharkey]

This sight is so biased. It's obnoxious to witness the Huff Post turn out to be no better than Fox News.

[BillyT]

I know about their voting record from last night for a losing pseudo-candidate. That is enough.

I make no sweeping judgments about them, except that with their vote (and the exit poll showing that they are hugely in favor of the Gas Tax Holiday Sham) I can definitively say these voters are very much misguided and easily swayed by a losing non-candidate with a pandering posture. Enough said about them.

Clearly, to put it mildly, WV voters are "not representative of most of USA...." and thank goodness.

[nellie]

Funny. LOL!

[LannyMacD]

Refreshing? Smart? Informed? Culturally enlightened? Openly admitting that you would not vote for a candidate on the basis of skin color is refreshing? Stating that you could not vote for a candidate because they were a Muslim (incorrect information) is smart or informed? The only way this group of people could be classifed as being culturally enlightened is if the molds spores and fungus that grows on them found God. This was a perfect example of what is wrong with the country as a whole. Sheesh.

[em0199]

You find people who refuse to believe that Obama is a Christian even thought they have been told over and over again that he is enlightened.

[the964kid]

Over 20% of the voters in WV admitted to pollsters they won't vote for Obama because he's black. Thats a lot of people who would actually admit that, I'm sure the number is bigger then 20%. Nobody put those facts in the WV voters, they put that on themselves, and there is nothing 'enlightened' about that.

[Tyrione]

Accept one Reality: Brokered Convention.

Accept a second Reality: You nor the rest of the Media cast Delegate Votes at the Democratic National Convention Floor.

Accept a third Reality: Neither Candidates current pledged votes are Permanent. They are recast at the Democratic National Convention Floor.

The beauty of the Convention is that unless Clinton bows out [Teddy sure did not and had no shot going into the Convention] those totals are worthless. What matters will be the convention floor final casts.

[dartagnan]

Accept a fourth reality: Hillary is finished.

[lorisc]

Another reality. If Clinton takes this to the convention floor after losing, the Democrats lose in November. I hope that isn't her goal.

[Ramus]

Colbert's image that she'll spring forth from the chest of the nominee, Alien-like, as he gives his acceptance speech has stuck in my mind. Let Senator Clinton continue her campaign until June 15th. It would be most unseemly (not to mention possibly bloody) were she to attempt a takeover of the convention. I don't think she'll do that. We should all make nice to Senator Clinton and her supporters. If her Senate foreign policy votes weren't so bellicose I might have supported her too.

[finlandstation]

it may not be her goal but it's the goal of many of her democratic supporters unless obama apologizes for the excesses of his supporters and offers her the vice presidency. and even then i'm not certain it would be enough.

[2Nurselady]

That's right, Tyrione. I would like to see it because I think a lot of people who voted for Barack Obama are suffering from buyer's remorse after learning more about him and his associations. I think there would be plenty of voters that would switch to Clinton on the convention floor.

[Ramus]

Why do you think that? What associations? Ties to military contractors? Ties to the pharmaceutical industry? Associations with AIPAC?

[BillyT]

Uhhh....yo­u think, but can you prove?

The fact is: new poll shows that if CA primary were held today, Obama would WIN over Hillary.

Buyers' remorse? Yeah, for the CA Hillary supporters.

[Softnsweet]

2Nurselady,

I know that you wish that they were going to change their mind. Your candidate is losing pledge delegates and super delegates. None has left Obama!!

[pdsimdars]

But this is fantasy. Buyers remorse means they are sorry for the money they spent on him, and yet the facts clearly show that they are still spending on him. And the facts show just as clearly that they have stopped spending on Hillary. Those are the facts. Where's the buyers remorse, really?

[peskyliberal]

You forgot one "Reality": Sen. Clinton Campaign is BROKE. Do you really think Obama supporters will donate any amount of money to Clinton?

[saulpaulus]

Yes, Hillary has $20 million reasons to keep going. She needs to pressure Obama into helping her.

[JamesInDenver]

I doubt Hillary wants a brokered convention. When Ted Kennedy torpedoed the party, he destroyed his chances of ever becoming President. Hillary is planning to run in 2012, make no mistake about that. So she will stay in the race to the last primary, inflicting as much damage as she can to Obama, but without making it too obvious (i.e. attack one day, while being conciliatory the next), then run for President in 2012. There is no other explanation for her current bizarre and destructive behavior (i.e. inciting hate and racism in West Virginia). Any respect I had for the Clinton's is now completely gone. If the Democratic Party looses the presidential election, I hope people remember the Clinton's for who they really are. This isn't the first time their selfishness has damaged the
Party. Remember the 1996 midterm elections? Remember Gore loosing the Presidency to the moron Bush in 2000? And their exposing and exaggerating every fault-line in the Democratic coalition in 2008. Enough is enough, the party does not need them (or owe them). They are easily replaced. It's time for the Clinton's to crawl back into the hole they climbed out of.

*** Hillary supporters who vote for McCain, can only blame themselves when McCain stacks the Supreme Court with ultra conservative justices. This is not a game people, its time to unite the party and dismiss the Clinton's.

Go Democrats 08

[dwmulenex]

Obama HQ really is Camp Pain today. He gambled that no one would much care about West Virginia, and that Hillary would use her big victory there in a respectful way. It shows us that Obama is not yet a great politician, either in assessing his own strengths or in sizing up his opponents. His boat will surge on,and get the 140 delegates he neeeds to win. But he'd better go and get himself the political equivalent of marine boot camp training. The big question is what Hillary wants before she'll cease and desist. She has peaked, and Team Obama will shore up their folks in Kentucky to prevent a repeat of last night. He'll win by ten to fifteen in Oregon The great Clinton Puerto Rico gambit, of loading up popular vote from islanders who can't vote in November won't matter. If I'm right, and her leverage is greatest now, we should know in a couple of days what the Clintons want. Until then, Obama would be wise to get himself into the bluegrass state and pick himself up a Kentucky Colonel's commission, and shoot some hoops with the U of K and Louisville teams. Obama has to politician up and show some face. How can he fstop Iran if he can't confront racial insults and answer questions about what will move him passionately as President? It's time to him to rumble and win, not just cruise and not lose.

[calibpatriot]

But, haven't you heard? Hillary has informed us that West Virginia is the great metric dejour. "If you can't win the primary in West Virginia you will lose the general election." In other words we should forget all of those other bothersome metrics such as the popular vote, the number of states won and the numbers of pledged and super delegates. Hey! this may be even easier for Hillary than her taking this to the supremes, which worked so well for Bush in 2000 and HRC may want to try if everything else fails..

[2Nurselady]

West Virginia is representative of an entire demographic and constituency in this country without which NO Democratic candidate will make it to the White House. And, the polls there show that Hillary Clinton would win there over both John McCain and Barack Obama in the General Election.

[biglover]

2Nurselady

West Virginia is not representative of the entire demographic. In fact it is least representative. The state most representative is Illinois.

Where do you get these statistics from. Start posting facts

[peskyliberal]

"West Virginia is representative of an entire demographic and constituency in this country...­"

This is not true.

http://www.wv.gov/OffSite.aspx?u=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/54000.html

Stop with the unTruth

[em0199]

Oh wait guess what other core constituency the democrats need to win in November the African American vote and now I would say the young vote (even thought this hasn't been the case in the past.) and I don't believe Hillary will win this if the Supers overturn the votes for Obama.

[BillyT]

So the independents and the young voters voting only for Obama and no one else....th­ey don't count.

Amazing. You think WV is representative of the rest of US? Completely bogus claim. Then how did Hillary win IN by only less than 2%? IN is 91% white.

[BillyT]

dream on, HIllary supporter.­...

Camp Pain? Hillary's camp has been painful since Super Tuesday.

YOu think they are in Camp Pain because she got 12 more delegates than he last night??

Note: Obama got 27 superdelegates more than Hillary since ONE WEEK AGO ALONE.

Note: Maybe the white racists will not vote for him, but millions of independents, people who never would have voted if not for Obama, will vote for him. See ABC poll of independents from yesterday.

[blindjester]

"He gambled that no one would much care about West Virginia..­.. It shows us that Obama is not yet a great politician­."

Based on what you think he was thinking about WV? That is some keen insight.

"How can he stop Iran if he can't confront racial insults and answer questions about what will move him passionately as President?"

How can he hope to whistle Yankee Doodle if he can't make balloon animals or stand on his head?

Answer me that!

[Bettysdad]

Stop Iran? I'm more worried as to whether he can stop Belgium.

[mheister]

Wanna know how important West Virginia is? The Daily Show didn't even mention it.

[Tyrione]

I could careless what John decides not to air. The man made his choice months ago.

[DRPike]

Perhaps you should be less careless while you care less?

[finlandstation]

is this a commentary on the culturally elite? to think, it didn't pass the threshold of importance to be mentioned on the daily show.

[7NoTrumpXX]

Wanna know how important The Daily Show is? The Daily Show didn't even mention that Hillary Clinton BEAT the presumptive Obama by 41 percentage points, and she beat him in every county in West Virginia.

Hillary Clinton's monumental victory in WV means Obama can NOT win West Virginia in the GE. West Virginia has voted for every Democratic President since Woodrow Wilson in 1916. If Obama can't convince West Virginia to vote for him, he won't convince voters in the other swing states to vote for him.

Hillary's BIG wins in the swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, and Arkansas means Obama will not win these states, and she would. It's about the Electoral College...­Stupid!

Every Republican president has won Ohio. Only two Democrats have won the Presidency without winning Ohio--FDR (4th term) and JFK .

McCain will be the next president if the Democrats don't nominate the winning candidate--Hillary Clinton. I still have faith that the Super Delegates will wake up and DO THEIR DUTY TO NOMINATE A WINNING CANDIDATE. THAT IS WHY THEY ARE THERE...to prevent another disastrous nominee like McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, and Kerry .

For all those who think Obama is the nominee, wait until the primaries have ended, and the votes have been COUNTED AT THE CONVENTION. Super Delegates (and even delegates) CAN AND DO CHANGE THEIR MIND.

Democrats MUST nominate the candidate who has the best chance of winning. I think the only winning ticket woud be Clinton/Obama.

[NABNYC]

Let's imagine the opposite scenario. Let's say Hillary as the first female close to winning has the majority which would entitle her to the nomination: majority in delegates, and in popular votes.

And let's imagine she was running against the "typical" white male candidate, more conservative, more pro-war -- let's say Evan Bayh, middle America, almost a Republican, typical white male candidate who has been run by both parties forever.

Now let's imagine Bayh's crowd was arguing that some men simply will not vote for a woman, so regardless of whether Hillary is winning by the rules, the party insiders must choose Bayh instead. Let's say they were arguing that the Democratic Party should never support a woman candidate because there are some men who will not vote for a woman.

Imagine that.

[ianrthorpe]

I don't really care who is the Democratic nominee but it strikes me Hillary Clinton has won most of the important states. Now she wins an overwhelming vistory in a populous state and yet has pickep up hardly any extra delegated.

Add to that the debacle of Republicans being allowed a voice in choosing the Democratic Candidate and we outside the US start to fear the Democrats are not competent to win a Presidential election.

And the outside world does fear another four years with a war mongering imbecile in The White House.

http://machiavelli.blog.co.uk/2008/05/14/no-coalition-of-the-willing-for-burma-th-4173756

[lorisc]

How do you determine the most important states? That is what I like about Obama. He talks about all of us being the United States. Hillary has talked about large states, swing states (by her definition), caucus states, primary states, white states, black states. We are all important and we can see that with a political map that is divided 50/50 any one state could be the tipping state. I prefer Obama's 50 state strategy which engages everyone and leaves no one out to important vs unimportant states. By the way you talk about Hillary winning an overwhelming victory in a populous state. WV is the 13th smallest state, just larger than Idaho. She didn't pick up many delegates because the state doesn't have that many.

[DRPike]

What s/he said!

[ntmessage]

Clinton won 8 out of the 10 largest states representing 60% of everyone. Then you say that WV does not matter because it is small. Good Greif. The Obama duplicitous logic strikes again.

[veteran1964]

So the states that Hillary has won are the only states that are important in our Country? It is amazing to see how people think. Do you think that RED AND BLUE are the definition of the U.S.? Have you ever wondered that maybe we, in N.C. hate California and its idiotic laws and people? But, we have been a Republican state for a long time......­......This time we are going to be Democratic for Obama.....­.CAN WE PLEASE BE CONSIDERED AN IMPORTANT STATE? Even though Hillary lost her ass here,,,,,,­,,,,,,,,DO WE GET ADDED TO THE IMPORTANT STATES? How about Virginia? For many years...Re­publican..­...Obama won Virginia..­.Many delegates.­...CAN THEY PLEASE BE AN IMPORTANT STATE....P­LEASE>>>>>­>>>>>>>>>>­>SICK REASONING

[biglover]

veteran1964 - why do you hate California - we have some of the best laws in the country here. In fact most states follow our lead. I am an Obama supporter and believe me had we not had an early primary and instead had it in June as we normally would have, Obama would have won overwhelmingly in California. We are over Hillary here. She got a free ride simply because she was well-known and he wasn't.

[Softnsweet]

I am so sick of you guys talking about Hillary won the important states. You cannot count Michigan or Florida. They broke the rules. I am not saying that they should not be seated but Hillary nor Obama should get a majority. They should be split evenly. MI and FL has to be held accountable for what they did and this is a way of insuring that this will not happen again.

Clinton won the popular vote in Texas but Obama won more delegates. Clinton would not have won Ohio if she did not cheat. Her camp distributed a picture of Obama is muslim garb, trying to make people believe he was muslim. Then she held a press conference telling everyone that Barack's campaign held a meeting with Canada about NAFTA. It was her campaign that meet with Canada as well, but she did not tell that.

Hillary has cheated her way through these contests and she is exactly where she should be now.

[cafemocha]

"There's going to be more campaigning, I'm sorry to tell you this, there's going to be more campaignin­g..." - HRC

[marymansour]

As you noted, Barack Obama had blow outs in several states but those are not made much of. Hillary, probably due to the fact that she is a woman, is considered 'gritty and made of steel'. I consider Obama the one with the real grit. He has undergone continual mud slinging from every direction including his retired pastor. Hillary has whined and carped. Obama has not. He has just gone about his way, easy in his own skin, and steadily wracked up delegates and fans everywhere. Even though I am a white woman and a senior citizen to boot, I would never want Hillary Clinton in the White House....B­UT if she steals the election from Obama, I certainly can't sanction John McBush. What a sad and racist nation we live in. Oh I forgot to say, I am an Alabamian devoted to Obama.

[Tyrione]

Barack had several Caucus Blowouts:

Let me cite two examples of how Caucuses are worthless:

Nebraska Caucus:
Obama 26,126 (68%)
Clinton 12,445 (32%)
Uncommitted 99

Nebraska Primary (Last Night)
Obama 45,959 (49%)
Clinton 43,361 (47%)
Gravel 3,852 (4%)

Where'd that magical 36% lead go?

Washington State Caucus:
Obama 21,629 (68%)
Clinton 9,992 (31%)
Uncommitted 363 (1%)

Washington State Primary (Feb 19, just 10 days after the Caucus)
Obama 354,112 (51.22%)
Clinton 315,744 (45.67%)
Edwards 11,892 (1.72%)
Kucinich 4,021 (0.58%)
Richardson 2,040 (0.30%)
Biden 1,883 (0.27%)
Gravel 1,071 (0.15%)
Dodd 618 (0.09%)

Where that huge lead disappear, just 10 days after the Caucus?

Point: They never existed in actual cast votes in open or closed primaries.

What is clear is that only two serious candidates were ever in the running. The rest wasted the tax payers of America's time.

[ntmessage]

What is amazing Clinton beat Obama by more votes in little old WV than all of the democratic votes for BOTH candidates in states like AK, ID, ND, DE, NE, CO, UT DC, HI and WY.

Now duplicitous Obama supporters say that WV does not matter since it is the 13th smallest state. Whatever.

[tedbear]

Do you think this article could be run in local newspapers? Maybe Hillary would have more reality in her life if the people in small towns had a clue what was truly happening in the race. The fact that it is all over, and that she is being catered to by the party, she is being appeased like the rotten spoiled brat that she is, might give these people a clue. She is stealing from her supporters, making it seem as if their money can help her win, and it cannot do that. What is worse, the Clintons would continue to steal the money of all hard working people if they ever had another chance in the White House. This is beyond politics and I'd like to know why the superdelegates are allowing this to happen to the party. The seedy going ons in the lives of the Clintons have not been properly exposed in recent years and alot of these people didn't even know what was happening back when Clinton was President. To avoid perjury charges, a felony, he coped out and lost his law license for five years. Do these well-meaning hard working people think this is the baggage a first family should carry into the White House? An on-going fraud case against them is on the docket right now as far as I know. Come on media, be fair. Get the Clintons dirty laundry out there.

[Weasie16]

But it does do something for her supporters and for those who are so proud of her courage and strength throughout this campaign ...and when someone puts a blog on this site, a commentary in a newspaper or news program that finally acknowledges those things for Sen. Clinton and her supporters­...the party will indeed be on it's way to healing. But that doesn't look like it's going to happen anyday soon...she­'s the evil party divider and we're just the racist, uneducated followers. Why is anyone even surprised at the division?
:::shakes head::::

[pdsimdars]

George Bush has courage and strength like that. If "climb every mountain" perseverance was all that was needed, she has shown that. But that is only one thing. NOT a good quality in itself. If perseverance is not used properly it becomes bull headed. Push it farther and it can lead to the folly of "who cares what the elitist experts ALL say, I know better", and "you're with us or against us". These represent bull headed arrogance. Which is NOT a good quality. Exactly the qualities that have lead us into some of the biggest messes in our history. And I have seen Hillary say EXACTLY those things. Just the things we decry in GW. Why would I want any more of that?

[SensibleAmerican]

The right wing nuts took over the Republicans and destroyed it piece-by-piece! They were so blinded by their ideology that they could not realize what a sham Bush was and is! Now the far-left-fringe is doing the same with Obama!

Finally we have a fighter in Hillary and just see how the liberal media and her own wussy party people are treating her?! She is a far stronger candidate than Obama because:

Her resume is a mile long while Obama’s fits on a “post-it”!
More Dems have voted for her than for Obama
She gets around 66% of all votes except for the liberal elite including the far left and Afro-Americans. The SAME/SIMILAR coalition that led to the doom of Dems in all General Elections since Nixon, except for a brief respite in 1992 and 1996!
Obama has won caucuses which are hardly a representation of “the will of the people” while Hillary has won all the major States relevant this Fall
Obama’s majority of victories are in “deeply Red” States and hence have no impact in the General Election
Pastor Wright and Bill Ayers are not going away! His association with them makes his entire candidacy suspect, to say the least. His campaigns wink-wink with the Canadians on NAFTA, his campaign fellas meeting with Hamas and Michele Obama’s pronouncements about her own Country are red meat and fair game if he is nominated

I guess Dems just love to lose ...

[lorisc]

How can Hillary win in the general if she can't win over the voters in the primaries? There must be a boatload of African Americans and liberal elites to be able to beat her the way they have. And, so what. African Americans and liberal elites are every bit as important as everyone else in this party. That is what I don't like about Hillary's campaign. They are so busy dividing everyone into one category or another to explain why their vote does or doesn't matter, that it just ends up dividing the party. I don't care about Hillary's ability to fight. There is more to being a president than fighting. Bush is a fighter and we can see where that got us.

When you talk about Hillary being the better candidate you ignore how she has managed her campaign. It is in debt by millions. If she didn't have $109 million of her own, would she be able to continue? I'm just asking. Obama has money in the bank and is ahead in every way we could possibly measure except doing Hillary's math. He has shown himself to be by far the best candidate simply by the management of his campaign.

[AlaskaDawn]

You sound like a Republican­... closed-minded and a bit irrational. Your "facts" are skewed, and you use divisive socio-political terms like "far left" and "liberal elite" like you think you know what you're talking about. If you REALLY followed the candidates and their platforms, you might be in less denial (which is yet another typical republican trait). If we could all pull ourselves together like big kids with REAL facts about BOTH sides, maybe we could come up with a REAL candidate!

[DRPike]

You spin like a true republican.

[Softnsweet]

Who keeps telling you Hillary is strong? That woman is not strong. She is a sore loser. This was her dream and she blew it. She is trying to come accross like she is strong so she can use every devious trick in the book and you people see her as strong.. Give me a break!

[Mesaywar]

Hey, let's be honest. No one has discounted Senator Clinton's tenacity.
But, it appears that you and the rest of her followers wish everyone to ignore her lack of managament skills, her choosing her team for their loyalty rather than their competence, he fiscal irresponsibility, her dishonesty, race baiting, appeals to the least within us, and her inability to deal with objective reality. She didn't fail just because of the media. She failed, in part, because she failed to control her own campaign and her own message.

So, should we give Hillary a whole lot of undeserved and dishonest praise just to make you feel better about her failures and your foolishness?

[Jason357]

It;s a complete waste to allow Clinton to manipulate the party like she is. She's trying to swiftboat the guy. She's trying to say superdelegates are anti-American, but only if they don't vote for her. She's telling us that Obama can't win because he is black. What the hell is her problem and why is everyone taking her crap?