Still Trailing, Clinton Challenges Obama Over Ability to Beat McCain
Wednesday: Hillary Rodham Clinton waves to media members on her campaign plane during a flight to a rally in Indianapolis. (AP Photo)
Hillary Clinton’s big win in the Pennsylvania primary yielded only slight gains in the pledged delegate count, putting pressure on the New York senator to pull off a streak of similar victories in the nine contests ahead.
But Clinton is using the victory to build her case that she’s the better Democrat to face presumptive GOP nominee John McCain in November. Her campaign was re-energized as the candidates tour Indiana Wednesday, brushing off the still daunting task that lies ahead.
Clinton raised $3.5 million in the initial hours after her victory, and the campaign said it was on track to raise $10 million online in the 24 hours since winning Pennsylvania — which the campaign claimed was her best one-day haul.
“At the end of the day, people have to decide who they think would be not only the best president, which is the most important question, but who would be the better candidate against Senator McCain. And I think the coalition that I’ve put together, as demonstrated once again last night, is a very strong base for us to beat Senator McCain,” Clinton told NBC’s “Today.”
Not so, said Obama.
“It’s important to put this in perspective,” he told reporters after a town hall meeting in New Albany, Ind., Wednesday. “What we did do in Pennsylvania is create an organization, make voters familiar with me, close the gap significantly, which creates an organization for us in November in a general election. It’s a strong base to build on … We’re very confident about where we’re going to be once we’re the nominee.”
Clinton won at least 81 of the 158 delegates up for grabs in Tuesday’s contest, according to an analysis of election returns by The Associated Press. Obama won at least 70, with seven still to be determined. That closed some of the distance for Clinton, but not enough to take away Obama’s front-runner status. She still trails Obama in the delegate count 1,591 to 1,719 — the eventual nominee needs 2,025 delegates to win. Clinton had been down 1,509 to 1,648 before the night’s delegate tally.
Her electability argument is based on the success she’s had in big states. Clinton has won states, including New York and California, with 240 electoral votes compared to 202 electoral votes in states that Obama has won. She has used that statistic to argue that she will be a better candidate in the general election. Her campaign also issued a statement that she has won more of the popular vote than Obama although that count included Michigan, where he wasn’t on the ballot, and Florida, where neither campaigned.
“I’m very proud that as of today, I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anybody else,” Clinton said Wednesday at a rally in Indianapolis.
Indiana and North Carolina are the next states to vote on May 6.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said any Democrat can win California and New York, but Obama is doing better than Clinton in states where polls have been taken on hypothetical head-to-head match-ups with McCain. Plouffe named Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, Virginia and Wisconsin as strong Obama performance states. Obama hasn’t won a major state since Wisconsin on Feb. 22.
Plouffe added that by Clinton’s own definition, she must win North Carolina, with 115 delegates, by a healthy margin in order to be consistent in her claim that she can win big states. Polls show Obama well ahead in that state.
“We don’t think performance in primaries is the most important measure in how you’re doing against McCain right now, but we’ve performed well in a lot of those states in the primaries,” Plouffe said. “It’s a flawed exercise to somehow suggest that performance in primaries is the leading indicator in what’s gonna happen in the general.”
He also shot down some of Clinton’s argument that Obama can’t win households with income under $50,000 and voters under 60 . Plouffe pointed out that Obama won voters under 60 in 19 states to Clinton’s nine, and won 14 states to Clinton’s 15 states with voters making less than $50,000.
Obama hinted Wednesday that he feels he’s already earned the nomination.
Asked about superdelegates at his town hall meeting Obama said: “I have to admit I have a little self interest in here — but I do think that these elections that we’ve been doing should be counted for something. And so if we’ve won the most delegates from the voters, seems to me that it might be a good idea to make me the nominee.”
Clinton still leads Obama in superdelegates by 25. Hot off her victory, Clinton on Wednesday picked up a new superdelegate, Tennessee Rep. John Tanner. For either candidate to win, they will have to rely on the remaining 300-plus unpledged party leaders who serve as superdelegates.
“There’s no chance she’s gonna catch him in terms of pledged delegates,” National Public Radio national correspondent Juan Williams told FOX News, adding that if she can make a convincing argument that she can win the big states, then she has a chance to catch up through superdelegates.
“Short of that she’s really inviting civil war inside the Democratic Party. That’s literally the nuclear option,” he said.
FOX News’ Bonney Kapp contributed to this report.
Way to go Hillary!! You now have the popular vote of course counting MI and FL, they are part of our country after all. It is un-American not to count them, Obama backers can say what ever they want but the truth is that people did vote. The Democratic Party won’t seat them because they are in the tank for Obama. But they count in the minds of the American majority they count.
First off While McCain is no saint he certainly does not have the dirty Laundry that Obama has not even close. My proof of this is in the Democratic and Liberal media smear attempts already tried by the New York Times. Which had to invent a sex scandal in order to sling mud in his direction. His record with Foreign and Domestic issues far exceeds Obama and Clinton combined. By sheer qualifications he IS the more qualified candidate. Also his Loyalty to his question is absolutely bullet proof. That absolutely cannot be said about Obama and 90% of your liberals period. Most of which hate the very country they live in.
Only a political scientist cares about this contest any more. They are both so damaged that they make Senator McCain look presidential.
I just have a quick comment about Hillary Clinton’s victory in Pennsylvania… Congratulations! It is actually funny how Sen. Clinton affectively made herself look like “everyday people”, and not only that, appear to be the underdog in a state she was almost GUARANTEED to win anyway! A masterful DECEPTION on her part! But overall I have had to admit that this contest has been good for the dems. I believe dealing with all of the questions about Barrack now will ultimately be an advantage to his campaign in the general election. After withstanding the onslaught of the Clinton Machine and his own personal fumbles, he will be a very strong candidate, in the fall, easily sweeping McCain! But now it is time for the truth to settle in for the Clintion camp… Hillary has NO legitimate path to the nomination and it is time for her to join the Obama team! It saddens me to see hard-working Americans (Who Have Been TRICKED Into Believing Hillary Can Win) donate so much money to a dead end campaign. Hillary should be honest with herself, truthful with her supporters, stop wasting their money and stop wasting our time!
Hillary 08! Obama got caught. Tell the truth Obama.
Obama’s campaign came from behind, trailing by 20%, and narrowed that to a 10% deficit. That’s pretty remarkable. The Clinton’s need to remeber that Hillary still trails in overall votes and committed delegates.
Wonders never cease from those who vote for Hillary Clinton. According to the pundits, the demographics of her base are the middle class and blue collar Americans. How can a middle class or blue collar identify with the other half of a couple who make $109 million in as short time needed to say Monica Lewinsky? And when she gets emotional about knowing how middle America feels because her mother lives with her, who are these Americans who believe that a $109 million-income couple know what it’s like to make ends meet, work your tail off to keep your job, worry about your house, car payments, insurance and everything else?
Democrats say that the middle class are left behind in the Bush economy. Obviously, they’re also also left behind in the common sense department. But then anyway, common sense has never been common.
Why can’t Billary close the gap? With over 35 years experience, surely you should be able to regain the once 1st place you held. I don’t buy that weak line about you raising a few million in the past 24 hours, that’s a bait to get more donations, sleeze ball.
Born in PA
The truth is that Obama’s money comes from average people… HILLARY’S money has come
from BIG donors who have already reached their limit. NOW she’s begging for money from
average people. It’s so bizarre to call Obama elitist. Hillary has been living in a bubble for about 25 years,and she still claims to understand the blue collar workers. What a joke! I can’t believe that people are naive enough to actually believe her. GO OBAMA!
Hillary Clinton’s wins are just a facade. She ONLY wins in states with significant Jewish populations. And the Jews have made it very clear that they do NOT support, or even like, Sen. Obama. She cannot win a general election with John McCain, because he is the top choice of the Jews and Israel, and he will get a large chunk of their vote in the fall, thus dooming the Democrats to another loss. If the nomination is stolen from Sen. Obama and given to her, black voters will stay home, so will young voters. Independent voters will vote for McCain, so will blue-collar white male voters. There is no way she can win in November with white democrats and half the Jewish constituency.