Aftermath of the Pennsylvania Vote

Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania vote but if she thinks this translates into winning Pennsylvania Avenue she must be a proponent of the No Child Left Behind Act, especially when it comes to math. The votes are of course still being counted, but right now it looks like Hillary will win by roughly a nine point margin, which should not come as a shock to anyone. Last night the news networks were scrambling over each other to try and project a winner with 3% of the vote counted based on the always reliable exit poll.

Hillary and her supporters are trying to spin this as a major victory by beating an Obama campaign that outspent her 3 to 1 in the Keystone State. The problem with this straw-man argument is that it really isn’t a major victory for her at all. Consider the following:

After Super Tuesday, Hillary held a 25 point margin over Obama in Pennsylvania. If the numbers hold, this translates to a net loss of 14 points for Clinton.

North Carolina and Indiana, where Obama is expected to win handily will erase any gains Clinton made in Pennsylvania.

There are no major states to be won left.

Hillary’s campaign is in serious danger of going into debt while Obama can simply wait out the clock.

Then there’s still that pesky issue of delegate math and how Obama still holds a fairly insurmountable lead over Clinton.

In essence, nothing changed yesterday.

The worst case scenario right now for Democrats (and pretty much the only way for Hillary to get the nomination) is to have her further fracture the party and try and convince the superdelegates to buck the popular vote. It would come as no surprise to me if Clinton tries this tactic. Her sense of entitlement is truly unsettling.

At any rate, this contest will still be going on until May 6th, which is the next major primary date, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see this battle go on into June, provided Clinton can find the money to bankroll her egotistical wild tea cup ride through the Democratic party like a tornado on PCP.

Barring any major miracles, she’s done.

Oh crap, it looks like she might have one after all: Michael Moore endorsed Obama