Stamina and persistence not good enough for Clinton
By Lee Bandy
SouthCarolina Insider
May 16, 2008 — Make no mistake about it. Hillary Clinton is one tough cookie. She has stamina and persistence in one of the longest presidential campaigns in American history. She has fought hard and come back time and again in the 2008 presidential season, defying the pundits who insisted on writing her political obituary prematurely. She has held the charismatic Barack Obama almost to a draw in a fight for votes and delegates in the Democratic Party’s nomination battle. Her arguments against Obama have caught fire, but University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato says it may have come too late in the campaign. Her primary victory in West Virginia was impressive. But apparently not good enough to quiet the skeptics. The size and breath of Clinton’s triumph in Pennsylvania certainly demonstrated the emerging limitations of Obama’s appeal, not least the disaffection of many whites, blue collar workers and low-income Democrats. Sabato says the odds remain long that she will overcome Obama’s lead with just seven states remaining on the primary schedule. The math and the calendar both favor Obama. He is ahead by about 160 elected “pledged” delegates and overall by about 130 delegates, once the super delegates are included. “This may not sound like many in a convention that will host 4,400 delegates,” said Sabato,”but the party’s strict proportional allottment regimen makes it difficult to gain a sizeable number of delegates quickly.” Worry among superdelegates about Obama’s viability in the fall is probably not enough, Sabato said. Barring some dramatic turn of events, the Democratic nomination should be Obama’s. |
