I can’t quite decide whether a combined ticket of those two would be stronger... or weaker. Could be that a combined ticket would lose to McCain by even a greater margin that either one alone with someone new in the VP slot.
The dems are split badly between those two. I think it is fair to guess that many dems currently for Obama are so mainly because they despise Hillary as much as Republicans do. Also many dems will simply not ever vote for Obama.
I think due mainly to the “rock star” effect Obama will be tougher for McCain to beat than Hillary, but nonetheless I think McCain can beat either one in the general.
Simply put, they’re terrible candidates. I think there’s a lot of Democrats that are so far just quietly disappointed and embarrassed that this is the best they can do. Sure, lots of Republicans aren’t happy with McCain either. But I don’t think that split is as bad as the split on the left. McCain still has a chance that he might even get some of those conservatives back— but Hillary’s and Obama’s votes are already pretty settled I think. If there are dems that are still “undecided”... they might not go for either one.
An Obama/Clinton would not win as many Clinton supporters to his side, and would likely alienate many of his supporters who hate Clinton and do not want her anywhere near the White House.
Of course this is all a guessing games, as the dynamics of the race keep changing. We should'nt put our money on any one scenario. It will be far easier to build up McCain than try to guess what will become of the Democratic debacle.
I think a combined ticket would, paradoxically, be weaker but more likely to win.
Weaker because it would magnify the candidates’ weaknesses, which are substantial.
But more likely to win because each candidate can produce a turnout in their respective demographics-—especially Obama-—that would be hard for any Republican candidate to overcome.