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.
So if Hilliary wins then all the Obama supporters will vote for McCain, and if Obama wins then all the Clinton supporters will vote for Mcain. So why not jsut give to McCain. Not very logical to even have election if this happens.
It wouldn’t matter if Obama had EVERY popular vote in the WORLD. Billary has an army of thugs, goons and private investigators that would make Al Capone jealous. (ask Vince Foster or anyone else who crosses the “dynamic duo”. ..oh yeah…you can’t…they’re all dead) Hillary WILL be the next president whether we like it or not.
Why was Hillary asking for more money when she was out spent 3:1 and still won? Why does she tell the middle class americans that are struggling to make their mortgage payments, credit card payments, put food on their table, price of fuel and still asks these people to send some of there money so she can keep her dream alive? She is here to fix the crisis’s we are in but she needs your money up front in order for her to do this!! Both canidates are doing this I understand but she said it in her speech last night in the same breath.
Basically what I got from her is: I am broke, all of you are broke but you send me whatever you can and I will “try” and fix this for you. No guarantee’s but I will work for you hard everyday!! Sounds like every CEO that I know!! Top gets richer and everyone else stuck being bottom feeders. American’s wake UP!!
for all you folks who love hillary and think obama makes u nervous–maybe someone wants to ask hill in the new few days about the ama( i think they are terrorists) and she invited them to the white house! took money from them(known terroist group) tried to say it came from elsewhere and even supported the PLO back when they were considered terrorists—guess i think thats worst then what anyone else has been looked over for–but then again could just be me–and so many of u say u r who u associate with–little food for thought!! and also for all the dems who say u wouldnt vote for obama–if u truly believe in the party then u will support whoever gets the nod–and if not u have then thrown this country to the wolves for 4 more years—-and look how well thats working for all of us—no jobs–economy stinks–education is a joke–deficit is outta sight but u want 4 more years if its not your person–ahead of time thanks for looking out for us dems!!! and i am white dem who will likely vote for obama–i prefer less exprience to more of the same or to anyone who so oozes entitlement! i liked bill clinton but have lost some respect for him and she has just overstated her own importance and recall of events(ladies if your child was in danger do u really think you would confuse that event with something enitrely different PLEASE) so no i dont want her answering the phone–she might get confused again–
Joseph Browning:
“She is battle tested and ready.”
Especially after her near brush with death from sniper fire in Bosnia.
She should’ve swept PA. She only got 81 delegates. That’s not going to do anything to his lead. She’s quick to say a win is a win, but is trying to discount all of the states he won. If a win is a win, she needs to give up, because obviously he’s busting her ass!!!!
Everyone dances around it but when you cut through the flotsim and jetsum of all this you find that THECLINTONS cater to and are supported by poor, white, bigots. Huey Long must be sitting up and cheering.
The way I see it… Mr. Obama… you have NOT earned the nomination yet. Senator McCain did earn his nomination… but until one of you actually reaches 2025 earned delegates or is nominated at the convention you are not the presumptive nominee. Go read the rule book. You are both in the running for the nomination until you get 2025 delegates. Tell your surigates to stop pressuring Senator Clinton to get out. This country has 50 states and ALL 50 states should have a voice in this and every election.
I think we can safely assume that John McCain will be the next President. It is evident reading blogs like this that Hillary has driven a wedge between her and Obama supporters and that we will not recover from this. It’s interesting how you are all so quick to believe the slanderous accusations her campaign has made against Obama and overlook the many skeletons (literally) in the Clinton’s closet.
If she can’t really beat Obama and he is leading in every aspect of this campaign, how can she have the audacity to claim she can beat McCain?