[Richard Kimball]

The Dems did NOT plan for a battle going to the convention. Previously, conventions were held in early July, not late August. Dems planned on a Hillary coronation in February, and the convention in late August to get her the maximum bounce in the polls in September. They weren't planning on a bloodletting on the convention floor. She was going to take her huge war chest, fund raise until late August, and shoot the money cannon until the election. That's all out the window, and many Dems don't care WHO the candidate is at this point, as long as they pick a candidate. I think they're trending towards Obama because he has a lead, but that lead is not nearly as secure as the pundits would like us to believe. The Supers are like a 10 ton rock sitting on top of a pole. They'll decide the candidate, not the voters.

An August convention is way too late to mend the fences, particularly since she was planning on running to the right to take McCain. Now, she's got to run to the left against Obama. Obama is a Chicago political hack with a good voice. The Chicago machine can keep him rolling in Illinois, but it is not nationwide. Clinton's machine is nationwide. Right now, Obama's delegate lead is about as safe as a 7 point lead in the third quarter.

McCain has staked out the middle, and he's not moving.

This makes the election significant for conservatives, because if McCain wins, conservatism as a political force is dead for a couple of elections. If McCain picks up more of the mushy middle than he loses from the right, the GOP will trend towards the middle, which is their desire anyway. Obama's success has pulled the political spectrum to the left. It pulled Hillary left, and is allowing McCain to sit in his area of comfort.

[fightinJAG]

The idea that this is “continued chaos” that will diminish the Rat nominee’s chances in the general election-—Rush’s apparent rationale for this stunt which was too cute by half-—is totally bogus.

Bill Clinton didn’t clinch the nomination until late July, IIRC. The “chaos” didn’t stop him one whit.

OTOH, Bill only won because of those who voted for Ross Perot.