Media Took Hillary's Bait

hillary is a sly one indeed.
instead of bringing the party together last night, she further drove her wedge and made it all about her. now the question the media is asking: can obama win the election without hillary as vice president?
yes, yes he can.
all the reasonable supporters of hillary will vote for obama. the hardcore supporters, a minority, will sit on the sidelines or vote for mccain. they're not needed.
here's another thing, superdelegates and party leaders need to be out now in full force rallying around obama.

some named as obama vice president frontrunners:

Evan Bayh: What he lacks in charisma, the telegenic Bayh makes up for in national security credentials, having served on both armed services and intelligence committees in the Senate.


Joseph Biden: A six-term senator who helms the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden, could offer the heavyweight foreign policy experience that Obama is often accused of lacking. But at 65 -- and seen as part of the U.S. political furniture -- he could undermine Obama's message of change.


Michael Bloomberg: Since ruling out his own independent bid for presidency, the current mayor of New York has been seen as a potential running mate for both Obama and McCain. For Obama, the media tycoon and former Republican would help mitigate the Democrat's problem with Jewish voters brought on by outlandish rumors that he is a Muslim, but do little to attract the white, working class vote.


Wesley Clark: This former NATO commander, who failed in his bid for the 2004 presidential nomination, was seen as a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter -- a fact that could help unite the party. But the 63-year-old's tough reputation as a no-nonsense soldier is unlikely to win much backing among party activists.


Hillary Clinton: While the "dream ticket" of a Obama-Clinton campaign could help harness Clinton's powerbase of women and white working-class Democrats, the prospect of uniting the two rivals has won mixed support. A non-scientific CNN.com poll said 60 percent of people were not in favor of the move.


Chris Dodd: A long-serving senator with solid foreign policy credentials who was previously considered as a running mate for John Kerry's failed presidential bid in 2004, Dodd presents the same problems as Biden.


Chuck Hagel: A close friend of fellow Republican John McCain -- Obama's general election rival -- Hagel's strong anti-war in Iraq stance has generated cross-party appeal and though an unlikely choice he could be seen as the man to attract wavering Republican voters.


Ed Rendell: As an outspoken Clinton supporter, a Rendell partnership could rally support for Obama and as governor of swing state Pennsylvania, he could help secure key votes, but his popularity is limited outside Philadelphia.


Bill Richardson: The New Mexico governor, who identifies himself as Hispanic, could help sway the burgeoning Latino vote in addition to lending heavyweight foreign policy credentials as a former United Nations ambassador.
more

Debunking Clinton's Big States Argument

alas, this comes from the obama camp: Iowa Governor Chet Culver, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, and Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill just sent out this memo:

In an attempt to minimize the significance of Barack Obama’s success in winning more than twice as many states as Senator Clinton, her campaign’s supporters have attempted to diminish the importance of the states where Senator Obama has prevailed.

Senator Obama has scored important victories in each of our states – states that will play a decisive role in deciding whether or not John McCain will be given the chance to enter the White House and extend George Bush’s failed policies for another 4 years.

In each of the 30 primaries and caucuses that Obama has now won, including Mississippi yesterday, he’s shown the ability to motivate Democrats to turn out at the polls, win the support of blue collar voters in suburban and rural communities and attract the support of Independents and Republicans. That’s the kind of candidate Democrats need to nominate to beat John McCain in November, and it’s the kind of leader America needs to bring to Washington the kind of change we can believe in.

The Clinton campaign’s argument ignores relevant facts about how significant a role these states played in determining the outcome of the presidential race in 2004. In fact, Obama has won 7 of 9 of the biggest states that were close in the 2004 presidential election and have already selected delegates to the 2008 Democratic convention.

More than half of the votes that Senator Clinton has won so far have come from just five states. It’s also worth noting that polls in four of these five states show that Obama would be a stronger general election candidate against McCain than Clinton.

Obama Winning Vast Majority of Big States that Were Close in 2004

Nine of the largest states that were decided by a margin of 8 points or less in 2004 have already held a caucus or a primary to select delegates to the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver. Obama has won seven of those nine contests – including four that Bush won.

Listed below is a chart ranking how closely the largest states were decided during the 2004 presidential election. see it here.

Clinton Totals Padded by States Where Obama Does Best Against McCain

The Clinton campaign’s misleading argument about the importance of her performance in the largest states actually highlights the limits of her appeal and her ability to win the general election.

To turn the Clinton argument around, more than 55% of her popular vote total and nearly half of her pledged delegates have come in just five states. In four of them, polls show that Obama would be a stronger general election candidate against McCain than Clinton. In the fifth, Texas, Clinton admitted that she didn’t expect it to be “in the general election calculation.”

Listed below is a chart (see it here) outlining the votes and the pledged delegates Clinton collected in the five states as a percentage of the votes and delegates she’s collected in the 43 contests so far (not including Mississippi). The column on the far right highlights Obama’s general election strength in the general election in each of these states.
here's my spin on it: Bogus Big States Argument
Obama’s Pennsylvania Strategy
It’s Still Over for Clinton
Clinton’s Deliberate Race Baiting
Who Can Beat McCain?