by John M. Curtis
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Copyright April 17, 2008
All Rights Reserved.

ebating April 16 at the Constitutional Center in Philadelphia, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) spared no mercy, attacking Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) at every turn. She continued her four-day barrage on Obama's April 7 remarks at a San Francisco fund-raiser, where the 46-year-old first-term senator said economically distressed small-town Pennsylvania voters cling to religion, guns and immigrant bashing. Losing ground in most polls, Hillary couldn't resist bashing Barack for his innocuous gaffe. When given the same chance to hit Hillary on her fabrication about landing under enemy fire in 1998 at the Tuzla, Bosnia airport, he avoided the tit-for-tat. Hillary stunned ABC News interviewers Charley Gibson and George Stephanopolous, admitting Barack was electable. Up to that point, she and her 61-year-old husband former President Bill Clinton only raised doubt.

      Hillary's insurmountable deficit in pledged delegates prompted a carefully planned superdelegate strategy, pretending Obama was not electable. “Yes, yes, yes,” Hillary told Stephanopolous that Barack was indeed electable. Citing problems with Barack's views on small-town voters and his association his occasionally intemperate U.S.-bashing minister Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Hillary and Bill insisted Barack was not electable. Admitting Barack's electability was the final blow to Hillary's campaign, lagging behind in national polls and slipping in Pennsylvania, heading into the April 22 primary. Hillary knows that to keep her campaign alive she must win decisively in Pennsylvania or face overwhelmening pressure to concede the nomination. Her attempt at every turn in Wednesday's debate to bash Barack might push Pennsylvania Democrats to finish her off.

      Recent Pennsylvania polls show Barack closing a nearly 20% gap down to 5% only five days before April 22 primary. National polls show Obama with a 10-11% lead, hurting Hillary's argument that she's the strongest candidate against GOP nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). While national polls show McCain running about even with Obama, no national poll has shown Hillary running better against the GOP nominee than Barack. Following the debate, Barack felt hazed by Hillary's constant criticisms, questioning the validity of the debate. Barack noted it took moderators Gibson and Stephanopolous, over 45 minutes to ask the first substantive question. “She [Hillary] was taking every opportunity to get a dig in there. You know, that's all right. That's her right to kind of twist the knife a little bit,” said Obama, disgusted with the debate's focus on personal attacks.

      Barack noticed that the attacks flew from Hillary to the GOP, trying to sabotage his campaign. “That was the roll-out of the Republican campaign against me in November. That is what they will do,” said Barack, noting that he's been running against the Clinton and GOP machines. When questioned how he fair in fall should he become the nominee, Barack looked forward to the debate with McCain, suggesting it would get easier than battling with Hillary. With Hillary and Barack taking comparable positions, it's been difficult focusing on substance over character assassination. Hillary's emphasis on Barack's words in San Francisco or Rev. Wright's ugly sermons signaled her campaign would stay negative until the Pennsylvania primary. With dwindling delegates left, there's little chance for her to make up ground without launching into unprovoked attacks.

      Hilary's emphatic admission about Barack's electability pushes more doubting superdeldegates to vote for Obama. Superdelegates have one overriding concern heading into November: To beat Sen. McCain and reclaim the White House. You know the GOP is running scared when conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh urges Democrats to run an option to either Obama or Hillary. Rush tried with “Operation Chaos,” to derail Obama, leaving Clinton in the driver's seat. Most honest GOP strategists see Obama as virtually unbeatable in November. While it's true McCain has scored some points recently, it's also true that Democrats have done a good job of beating themselves up. Prolonging the knock-down-drag-out between Hillary and Brack helps the GOP. When Democrats finally pick a candidate, McCains's current advantage should vanish.

      If current trends hold, Pennsylvania will finally put a merciful end to Hillary's bid for the White House. Few in the Party, other than her family and campaign staff, can stomach the ugly attacks, showing poor sportsmanship in a contest decided realistically on March 4, when she couldn't gain ground in Texas and Ohio. Anything short of a decisive victory in Pennsylvania will put overwhelming pressure on her to quit and align the party with Obama. Hillary acknowledged in Wednesday night's debate her own “baggage” and admitted Barack can, in fact, beat McCain in November. While Hillary says she'd make the best candidate against McCain, all polls show otherwise. Barack demurred when asked by ABC's Gibson whether he'd put Hillary on the ticket. Whether admitted to or not, it's becoming more obvious that the Clintons won't return to the White House anytime soon.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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