Hillary Clinton won by about 10 points tonight against Barack Obama in Pennsylvania, but you all know that.
From Indiana, Barack Obama just said, “she ran a terrific race.”
My main point about this fascinating contest remains as sound as when I previously wrote it: neither side is vanquishing the other. Barack Obama might have ended this in Pennsylvania had he beat Clinton, but that didn’t happen. Hillary Clinton won by a sizable margin — though not something that really clobbered Obama. Of course, I don’t think that there was any outcome tonight that could have ended his campaign.
There is another contest afoot that few are paying attention to. While other primaries have been held, the state by state polling stats are shifting with the various positions that Obama and Clinton have taken. Some super delegates may swing in surprising ways — particularly after various comments that the candidates have made about trade, the Iraq War, the economy, and small town Americans.
And in Kentucky — whose primary is May 20th — one of the more recent polls has Clinton at 62% vs. Obama at 26%. Each race is affecting not only future primaries, but also nudging public attitudes in races already held — which could affect super delegates.
The tilt is still clearly with Obama, but Hillary Clinton is hanging in there in an impressive way. My gut reaction is that she is waiting for him to make mistakes.
If he doesn’t, he will probably win — but at the end of the day, if he doesn’t seduce the Clinton campaign over to his team, this will feel a lot like an outcome after the 2000 Florida chad controversy.
— Steve Clemons
61 comments on “On and On and On it Goes”