By Matt Towery
Thursday, April 24, 2008
As our InsiderAdvantage polling showed over the past week, there was
never any doubt that Hillary Clinton would win the Pennsylvania
Democratic Primary by a margin of between 7 and 10 points.
That, my friends, is a big win.
But to hear the pundits on most of the news networks in their coverage
early Tuesday night -- excepting at least FoxNews -- Hillary Clinton
was a dead duck.
Of course, some of their comments were based on these absolutely
absurd exit polls. As I have said many times, exit polls are garbage.
Why the networks waste their sponsors' money on this rubbish is beyond
me.
Regardless, the endless refrain of "Hillary Clinton must face up to
the facts and get out of the race" has been postponed at least another
week or two.
Now that the rose-colored glasses have been at least temporarily
knocked off of those who live and comment from within the self-
referential cocoon of the Washington, D.C. bubble, let's get some
facts straight.
First, Barack Obama is not going over well with mainstream, older
working Democrats. He does go over well with liberal Democrats. (Don't
misunderstand. I'm not one of those analysts who uses the "L" word as
if it is a scarlet letter. I'm being descriptive only.)
More, Obama is losing a portion of women over the age of 45, whose
resentment of his candidacy grows with each new contest.
Second, Hillary Clinton is increasingly despised by white Democratic
elites, both from within the political ranks, among the very wealthy
and among academicians. And her family's onetime hold on black America
is gone for the foreseeable future.
The Democrats finally have reached the point at which they have a true
mess. So, too, do the many journalists and analysts who have tried
every sly word mix possible to, in essence, destroy the hopes of
Clinton as she doggedly fights to the finish of the nominating
process, which is starting to draw nearer.
Face it. Clinton has won every big state so far, save Obama's home of
Illinois. She is humiliating the likely Democratic nominee and making
Sen. John McCain the presidential frontrunner when he and his
Republican Party should be running for the hills.
It is virtually inconceivable that Obama has a chance of defeating
McCain in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, so long as
McCain keeps his distance from George W. Bush.
And should Clinton win the nomination, marginal states where large
black turnouts are necessary for a Democratic victory -- including
several of the states listed above -- will be impossible for Clinton
to win. Again, McCain, absent a "Four More Years" perception by the
public, wins.
So how do the Democrats survive? The only hope is a shotgun wedding.
Hillary becomes Obama's vice presidential nominee, should he regain
his momentum; or Barack runs as Clinton's VP if she continues knocking
him off in states such as Indiana or Kentucky.
In either instance, it will be painful and forced, and it still might
not work. But it is likely the Democrats' best hope. Otherwise, the
loser takes his or her toys and goes home mad -- really mad. And John
McCain waltzes -- OK, maybe he soft-shoes -- his way into the White
House.
Just how excited the Republican establishment may or may not be about
such a McCain victory is a story for another day.
Meanwhile, we will sit back and watch much of America's fumbling and
bumbling national media continue its not-so-hidden effort to stack
their stories in Barack Obama's favor.
They are doing him irreparable harm by creating lasting resentment
that he otherwise has not earned on his own.
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Matt Towery is a former National Republican legislator of the year and
author of Powerchicks: How Women Will Dominate America.
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