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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: Simple victory may not be enough for
Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Democratic primary, as
Barack Obama tries yet again to kill off her never-say-die White
House bid.
Many commentators believe Clinton needs a
double-digit triumph in an economically struggling state packed with
blue-collar voters who normally flock to her cause, to dispel the
idea that Obama is becoming the inevitable nominee.
The former first lady, trailing Obama in
nominating wins, delegates, and some national polls, needs to win
big to freshen her rationale for staying in the protracted struggle
for the nomination.
“She is facing a situation now where the
numbers are virtually impossible, now the question has come for many
Democrats, why continue now, if you can’t actually win?” asked
Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University expert.
Clinton is making a fervent case to Democratic
“superdelegates,” the party officials who will now effectively
crown the nominee, since neither candidate is likely to reach the
2,025 pledged delegates needed to win outright.
She says only she can inspire the party’s core
powerbase of working-class voters, crucial in swing states like Ohio
and Pennsylvania, which can go either Democratic or Republican in a
general election.
Clinton used a head-to-head debate with Obama
last week to pound him over his understanding of American values,
after he said some US workers were “bitter” though polls seemed
to show she hurt herself as much as him.
But on Friday she faced her own new struggle
with her party’s base, after being caught on tape decrying the
influence of progressive group MoveOn.org in the caucus nominating
contests won by Obama.
If Clinton wins on Tuesday, the parameters of
the party endgame and the subsequent nine nominating contests will
be set by her margin of victory. AFP
the killer instinct to knock out Clinton, after
losing to her in New Hampshire, and in Ohio and Texas last month,
when his campaign was rampant.
Some new polling suggests that despite enduring
a rocky month, Obama is pulling away from Clinton in the minds of
Democratic voters nationwide. He lead by a shock 19 points, 54
percent to 35 percent, among registered Democrats and those who lean
Democratic in a national Newsweek poll.
The corresponding survey, in March, when Clinton
revived her hopes with wins in Ohio and Texas, had him with a
razor-thin 45-44 percent lead.
-- AFP
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