Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Clinton Won PA, The Race Itself Has Long Since Been Decided

When left Texas/Ohio/Rhode Island/Vermont, the long battle for the Keystone State began. Polling put Senator Clinton ahead by twenty points. An insurmountable lead as far as that one state was concerned. Yet forty others had already voted. They represented approximately 4/5ths of the Democratic delegation and Obama was winning the delegates, the contests and the popular vote. Hillary would need to hand him a devastating blow last night and a 20 percent margin was the least of what she needed. So what happened?

From The Huffington Post:

Clinton
1,238,696
55%

Obama
1,023,122
45%

Wait a sec, that isn't a blowout beyond belief. Ten points would be great if it were a national tally, but that is just one score among many. Even with that Obama still leads in delegates, states and the national popular vote. So when the reactions came from the campaigns, it wasn't too surprising. Clinton uses this diminished victory to manufacture viability despite Obama being closer to the vaunted 2,025. Obama on the other hand was relieved that she didn't blow him out. In a few short weeks, he managed to peel away half of her advantage.

So if both of them won, who lost?

Well simply put, the media's lust for ratings and Senator Clinton 's for a win at all cost have helped drag our primary through something worse than the figurative mud. The questions from George and Charlie, the race-baiting by ex-Pres. Clinton and the never-ending push from these entities to make the race about fake issues rather than what voters care about. Now Obama has touched the mud, that is true. Yet by and large, the voters are suffering when they aren't able to hear about the message of change they so desperately want to listen to.

Back to the numbers, the race for the pledged delegate is effectively over, unless Clinton can pull off 40-50 point wins. That just won't happen. The supers need to pull themselves together and elect the candidate that embodies the Democratic party and who has the support from its voters, that man has already stood up. It is time to embrace him.