Not John McCain, that's for sure.
Despite being out-spent, out-hoped, and out-changed, Hillary won yesterday's Pennsylvania primary by about 10 points. She will continue the primary fight, even though she remains out-delegated, and unless she unexpectedly sweeps the upcoming primaries, Obama will be the likely Democratic nominee. Bloggers say this is terrible news for the Democrats, since yesterday's primary really only makes McCain look good.
First, not all Democrats support the inevitable Obama. At the Politico, David Paul Kuhn says, "Hillary Rodham Clinton won Pennsylvania with the same base of white women, working-class voters and white men that revived her candidacy in Ohio last month. The demography that has defined the Democratic race went largely unchanged, according to exit polls." But Hot Air's Ed Morrissey says, "A compelling front-runner should have a large majority of late-deciders breaking his way, not away from him. Obama's supposed inevitability should have swept him into victory at this late stage. If he can't swing undecided Democrats, he won't win independents or centrist Republicans in November against John McCain."
And Bittergate might have contributed to Obama's loss. John Podhoretz explains at Contentions: "Obama outspent Hillary 3-to-1 in Pennsylvania because he thought he could win it. Instead, he lost it. He lost it. He said rural Pennsylvanians cling to their religion and their guns because they're bitter and they told him to go jump in the nearest vat of Scrapple." And at the Corner, Rich Lowry says simply, "If Barack Obama can make Hillary Clinton a tribune of the people, just image what he'll be able to do for John McCain." If his snappy comment to a reporter Monday while eating his waffle is any indication, Obama seems like the bitter one now.
Bloggers agree that the Democratic party has trouble ahead. Vodkapundit Stephen Green concludes that Hillary's win "is pretty clear and quite convincing--that Hillary will go on, that Obama is a great pitch man but a lousy closer, and that the Democratic nominating process is dysfunctional at best and bipolar at worst." McQ at QandO explains further: "Democrats are left with the unenviable choice of ending the democratic process by appealing to the superdelegates to choose now and not allowing remaining Democratic primary voters to vote, or letting this run its full course and suffering the consequences in November."
Whatever the Democrats do, it seems like it will be a lose-lose situation. Richelieu says here that the race will drag on and "the only realistic albeit long-shot Clinton scenario, a super delegate reversal and last minute Hillary coup, would rupture the Democratic party." But on the other hand, Hot Air's Ed Morrissey asks, "And just how would it look to Democrats in upcoming states to see Hillary shoved aside after winning Ohio and Pennsylvania by 10 points each? It would look like Obama couldn't beat her in a tough but fair contest, and he had to be rescued by the party establishment. That, combined with his apparent refusal to meet Hillary in another debate, makes it look like Obama is a cream puff."
Either way, fight it out, Democrats.
