Pennsylvania Has Voted!

April 23, 2008

After six weeks of build up, when Hillary once had a twenty point lead, and after a very negative campaign finally Pennsylvania has voted and here is what we have learned. She has won by 9-10% depending if you round off or not. She gained about 200,000 in popular vote meaning she is still 600,000 votes behind and more than likely not able to catch Obama. And most importantly, she only picked up 13 more delegates than Obama.

Hillary Clinton declared the “tide is turning” Tuesday after scoring a critical victory in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, pushing the race ever forward to the nine remaining contests. And that’s the new mantra- the tide is turning though the tide is too weak to make any difference on the Democratic primary landscape.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton had 55 percent and Barack Obama had 45 percent, a comfortable enough margin to deny critics their demand that she quit the race.

Clinton beat Obama in the Keystone State primary with a big boost from her core constituencies, including lower income and union households, but she also ended up overperforming among some groups that are Obama strongholds, including college-educated voters and last-minute decision makers.

Pre-election surveys cast Clinton as the favorite in Pennsylvania, but she was under pressure to win big in the state. Trailing Obama in pledged delegates, she’s trying to win over uncommitted superdelegates by arguing that she’s more electable against McCain in a general election. A big win in Pennsylvania helps strengthen her argument that she is dominating in large swing states critical to Democrats in November.

And that lone argument (even if valid) isn’t enough for her wrest the nomination from Obama.

Written by Ernie · Filed Under Election News