Posted on 05/14/2008 1:40:25 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Barack Obama is in hot pursuit of general election voters, hoping America won't notice he got his head handed to him in West Virginia. The Illinois senator virtually pretended the primary didn't happen Tuesday, with no election night speech or any public appearance at all after the polls closed and gave Hillary Rodham Clinton (web|news|bio) a more than 2-1 victory even though her candidacy is likely doomed.
At Obama's Chicago headquarters, advisers said there was no reason to worry - West Virginia was demographically suited to Clinton and won't be part of their general election plans. It's also true that Clinton's win is unlikely to slow his march toward the nomination - Obama picked up 30 superdelegates this week, more than the 28 total pledged delegates up for grabs in West Virginia.
But maybe the Obama camp should be more worried. The voters who went against Obama Tuesday night - white, rural, older, low-income and without college degrees - don't just live in West Virginia. They live everywhere in the country, in places Obama needs to win.
They live in places like Macomb County, Mich., where Obama planned to start his day Wednesday by dropping by a Chrysler plant. That's a recognition that he has work to do to win over working class voters even if his campaign doesn't say it.
Obama's daylong visit to Michigan will be his first campaigning there since he signed onto a pledge nine months ago to boycott the state. He pulled his name from the ballot in the state's illegitimate primary, held too early for party rules.
That means many voters in the state are just starting to get to know Obama, said Bill Rustem, president of Michigan think tank Public Sector Consultants.
"There's a lot of excitement among young people and among African-Americans, which should serve him well," Rustem said. "There still are questions among older white people that I think he's going to have to try to appeal to them in some way, shape or form. I'm sure that's in part why he's coming to Michigan - to begin that process."
Obama's campaign leaders say they are confident most of these Clinton voters are Democrats first and will support Obama once the primary is over. In a memo before the polls even closed, they said conclusions cannot be drawn about the general election campaign from the results of the Democratic primaries and pointed out that head-to-head polls between Obama and McCain show Obama is running as well as past Democratic candidates among white voters.
"These people are Democrats," said Democratic consultant Steve McMahon, who is not working for either candidate. "They will come home."
Clinton's advisers said she planned to use her big victory to try to persuade uncommitted superdelegates during a meeting at her home Wednesday that she would be the strongest nominee in the general election.
"It is a fact that no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia," Clinton said in her victory speech. "The bottom line is this: The White House is won in the swing states, and I am winning the swing states."
The Obama campaign also said in its memo that Clinton also will likely win handily next week in Kentucky. His saving grace is that Oregon votes on the same day and is likely to give Obama a big win to balance it out. A double shellacking for Obama would have had him limping to the nomination.
I truly think that Hillary is about to drop some kind of bombshell on Obama. She isn't taking $20+ million out of her savings account just for ego gratification.
Gee, I wonder what would have happened if Clinton had said North Carolina was "demographically suited" to Obama?
/sarcasm
Like a beaten dog with no shelter, no doubt.
Obama is a phantom lightweight. The question is whether he can keep the illusion going until he is elected.
I hope not; he is the worst of the three TERRIBLE options we have this November.
No need to worry. Obama will probably win the general.
I see Obama's supporters as African-Americans, Latte Liberals and the under 25 crowd. That is NOT a winning combination, especially considering the Electoral College.
On what, precisely, are you basing your prediction Obama will “probably” win?
Clinton showed the country (and the stupid DNC that is ignoring this at their peril) that Obama isn’t the messaih outside of quivering leg media types and 91 of the black population if he can’t even win a primary this late in the game??
And let’s hope these under 25’s decide they are too busy with Grand Theft Auto to get to the polls. That’s what happened with Kerry.
Somebody who is good at video needs to do a parody of those annoying Match.com ad's "Match.com wants you to know, it's OK to look...", but change it to "The RNC.com wants you to know, it's OK to vote against Barack Obama..."
Obama need not worry, Big Media will/has portrayed W.V. as racist bigots still living in the 50’s & 60’s. who would not vote for a Black Man.
I always pray for cold, heavy rain on the first Tuesday of November.
LOL. No kidding... I think she's abandoning ship, the shrew.
West Virginia won’t be part of their general election plans? Wow, the Obama campaign is already conceding one of the most traditional Democratic states because they have too many white people.
Look what happened when Bill Clinton said that South Carolina was demographically suited for Obama!
St. Barry is banking on the ‘youth’ vote which can get easily sidetracked.
Yeah....ignore the states that didn't support you. What a uniter!
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