Day: April 8, 2008

I hate to break it to Eugene Robinson, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will not be picked by John McCain as his running mate. She doesn’t want to be Vice President. She never wanted to be Vice President.

I hypothesize that the Obama campaign pushed this story over the weekend, with the goal of damaging John McCain. Tying McCain to Bush and his administration is the only hope the Democrats have to cripple his candidacy. They can’t criticize him on his liberal viewpoints, for if they did, they would be criticizing their own beliefs. The only thing they can do is push the narrative that electing McCain will be like electing Bush for another 4 years. And how better to tie McCain to Bush than to suggest that a senior member of Bush’s administration wants an extended term of residency in the White House.

The Dems will have to come up with something better than this if they want to hurt McCain.

UPDATE: Condi says it again, even clearer.

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Barack Obama, John McCain, Condoleezza Rice, Vice President, Short List

Hillary Clinton is losing ground against Barack Obama in Pennsylvania according to a recent poll from Quinnipiac University.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is catching up with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary and now trails 50 – 44 percent among likely primary voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

This compares to a 50 – 41 percent Sen. Clinton lead in an April 2 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University.

In this latest survey, one of the biggest shifts is among women who went from 54 – 37 percent for Clinton April 2 to 54 – 41 percent for her today. A look at other groups shows:

— White voters for Clinton 56 – 38 percent, down from 59 – 34 percent last week.

— Black voters back Obama 75 – 17 percent, compared to 73 – 11 percent.

— Men are for Obama 48 – 44 percent, compared to a 46 – 46 percent tie last week.

— Voters under 45 go with Obama 55 – 40, while older voters back Clinton 55 – 38 percent.

This trend will continue right up to the day of the primary. Remember where Hillary was a month or two ago? She held a strong double-digit lead against Obama in Pennsylvania. Problem is, the last few weeks have been tremendously hard on the candidate and it’s showing. As a result, the campaign narrative has changed. Hillary is no longer expected to win by double-digits. Her surrogates are saying that she’ll win by between 5% and 9% in PA, but that will be a BIG BIG BIG win for Hillary. A win in PA was supposed to signal Hillary’s comeback. It was supposed to show her legitimacy as THE real candidate who can win in November. Her overwhelming win there was supposed to provide her with much needed delegates while depriving Obama of the same. Her big double-digit win in PA was supposed to bring her within striking distance of Obama’s popular vote lead.

A 5% to 9% win will accomplish none of these things.

The only thing that will happen is Hillary will use her thin win is yet another reason to stay in the race. The media has made sure everyone pays attention to Pennsylvania as THE crucial point of the Democratic primary. Pennsylvania is supposed to be a game changer. It won’t change a thing.

Technorati Tags:
2008 Election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Pennsylvania