Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Never ending root canal

If current projections hold up to the raw numbers, Hillary Clinton will win by 4 to 6 points over Barack Obama in Pennsylvania. A win is a win, of course. But in some ways this also represents a collapse of sorts. A state with the demographics presented to the candidates such as the Keystone State should have been a huge win for Mrs. Clinton, on the order of 20 points or more. In many ways, Mr. Obama has nothing to be ashamed of; he made his name known and that's what matters.

More significant is that most voters in the state acknowledge that regardless of who they voted for, Obama will be the Democratic nominee in November, period. That's something Clinton should pay attention to as the race moves on to North Carolina and Indiana in a fortnight.

True, Clinton may get a brief cash infusion in the next couple of days but the fact remains she's heavily in debt while Obama pays nearly all of its bills on time and has plenty of cash on hand. She needs the next two states desperately; North Carolina is a given for Obama and Indiana is much tighter than anyone expected.

One can only hope there is some kind of resolution to the race soon. It can't go on much longer without significant damage to the donkey.

UPDATE (11:19 pm EDT, 0319 GMT Wednesday): Looks like the margin will be in the range of 8 to 10%. The fact remains Clinton should have done better, particularly in a state where she has family ties.

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