CTV News | Clinton, Obama spin war follows Pa. primary

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Clinton, Obama spin war follows Pa. primary

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CTV News: Tom Clark explains Clinton's uphill battle
CTV Newsnet: Joy Malbon in Evansville, Indiana
CTV Newsnet: Scotty Greenwood, strategist
Canada AM: National Council of Negro Women
Canada AM: Allan J. Lichtman, American University
Canada AM: ABC's Viviana Hurtado in Washington
CTV News: Correspondents cover the crucial win
Canada AM: Michael Eric Dyson, author of 'April 4:1968'

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CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Wed. Apr. 23 2008 9:20 PM ET

A day after Hillary Clinton's win over Barack Obama in the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, both sides are in full spin mode about what her narrow victory means.

On Wednesday, Clinton claimed her win -- by just under ten percentage points -- would turn the tide of the campaign.

"I won that double-digit victory that everybody on TV said I had to win, and the voters of Pennsylvania clearly made their views known, that they think I would be the best president and the better candidate to go against Senator McCain," she said Wednesday.

But Obama, who is leading in delegates, the popular vote, and states won, said his loss yesterday was an aberration -- and he remains the stronger candidate.

"We have won the white, blue collar vote in a whole bunch of states ... and if we had a demographic problem in Pennsylvania, it was that it's an older state than a lot of states, and it is true that Senator Clinton has some strong support among voters over 60," he said on a radio talk show.

Analysts say that Clinton remains the underdog in the Democratic presidential candidate race despite the Pennsylvania win.

Clinton took about 55 per cent of the vote Tuesday, while Obama, the rookie senator from Illinois, received about 45 per cent.

Under Democratic Party rules whichever candidate gets 2,025 delegates by the party's August convention will get the nomination.

By some media counts, Obama leads by about 150 delegates, even with yesterday's loss. It is nearly impossible for Clinton to catch Obama in the remaining contests, without the help of about 800 superdelegates. Superdelegates are party insiders, who can vote for either candidate and may be swayed by arguments from the two camps.

"I think in the long run, (Clinton) has to appeal to those superdelegates because it's quite clear that she will not finish the primaries with a delegate total ahead of Obama," George Washington University political scientist Christopher Arterton told CTV Newsnet on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Scotty Greenwood, a Democratic strategist who has reportedly made the maximum allowable contribution of $2,300 to the Clinton campaign, told Newsnet both candidates are "running a fantastic campaign."

"It's really a great time to be a Democrat in the United States," said Greenwood, who was Bill Clinton's chief of staff of the U.S. embassy in Canada.

The Clinton campaign claims Tuesday's victory resulted in US$10 million in new campaign contributions in the past 24 hours.

But Obama is still seen as having a huge funding advantage. Some estimates suggest he raised at least $40 million just last month.

Before Tuesday's results, Obama had 1,645 delegates and Clinton had 1,507, according to The Associated Press. Because of proportional representation, it will be extremely difficult for either candidate to change the pledged delegate difference in the remaining primary contests.

Along with North Carolina and Indiana, the remaining Democratic primaries are in Oregon, Kentucky, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico. There will also be caucuses in Guam.

Comments are now closed for this story

Wharfeaire
said

I hope Clinton's Strangelovian comments around massive nuclear retaliation on Iran for an attack on Israel are food for thought for American voters. 1. America does not have a mutual defense treaty with Israel. 2. Iran, if it got a nuclear weapon, would NOT be the only nuclear power in the region- think Israel, Pakistan, India, Russia, and China. 3.Why on Earth would Israel need the US to deter attack by Iran in a MAD scenario--Israel has 200+ nukes of it's own. 4. She's musing about a massive nuclear assault on a country that did NOT attack the US. It makes anything Bush has done in "pre-emptive" (read: aggresive) warlook like small potatoes.


Les
said

Hillary Clinton can continue campaigning but the race is over. The superdelegates will not ignore the will of voters and choose her. If she were not so self-centred, she'd concede the race is over.


John
said

It is probably too late for Clinton to catch up. They will split the remaining primaries almost evenly. However, this primary continues to show that Obama is not popular with white, working class and Catholic voters. He is popular among wealthy liberals,african americans and university students. That is not a winning coalition for the general election. Obama's wins have also been primarily in republican states he will have no chance of winning in the fall and he has lost Florida,Ohio,Pennsylvania and Nevada, all battlegrounds.


Aline Belec
said

Enough already, talk about being Americanized! Beleive it or not Canada has much more interesting politics. Lets see more of our First Nations leadership if you want to see Leaders with a vision.I am interested to see who wins this contest but to go on &on&on&on&on&on&on......get it?


Les
said

Hillary Clinton can continue campaigning but the race is over. The superdelegates will not ignore the will of voters and choose her. If she were not so self-centred, she'd concede the race is over.


Og
said

It will be interesting if these two can work together to defeat McCain after the mudslinging is over.


Looks like McCain vs Obamarama
said

Clinton is incompetent to lead the United States of America. She will say and do anything to get elected and then do whatever she pleases once in power. By the same token I don't like any of the candidates which goes to show you how screwed up delegates are in the US priority wise. There were some candidates who would have made a good difference but politics is a game of popularity and 'wannabeism', not necessarily common sense.


Jim
said

Re: Looks like McCain vs Obamarama - Right on. Sounds a lot like politics all over the world and amplified right here in Canada. And Clinton has done more to crush her own party than she has in helping it.



Utsav S.
said

Barack Obama is going down!

JOHN MCCAIN '08.
Republicans will take another term because they will get the troops home responsibly without letting the terrorists recoup and destroy the hard work put forward by the U.S. forces.


Denny in Sask
said

Clinton is staying in the race because she's hoping Obama makes a screw up so large that superdelegates will have no choice but to jump ship and support her. It's rather selfish, but he is relatively new to politics, so in the grand scheme of things, it's not such a bad move on her part when we're faced with another 4 years of republican control of the white house.


Jacqueline
said

Quite honestly, I am amazed at the American people. The fact that so many people have ignored the fact that Obama attended a church and befriended its racist minister for 20 years should scare people! This is seriously worrying that he has a hidden agenda.


Kevin Aubie
said

Hillary Clinton is just another member of the business as usual crowd in Washington. With her, NOTHING will change. She has no charisma and has shown how flustered she gets when things don't go her way. Not a good quality for a president. Also she's in the pockets of corporations already so how could that bring change? She will do nothing about global warming and at this point that's unacceptable. She just seems so transparent.


Roch
said

Clinton's refusal to accept reality is harming her party, and helping McCain. That's kind of selfish of her. Obama seems much more intelligent than Hilly.


Tony Oseivhi
said

Considering the fact that she started this presidential race as heavily favoured to win in the first place-it was supposed to be a no contest between Hil. and Obm -I find it amusing to see that she is now celebrating staying in the race rather leading the race.The american media keep raising the bar for obama while lowering the bar for hillary.If she couldn't win her state where else would she win?She is from Pens.


Wayne R
said

it's kind of funny, the way everybody seems to go on and on about "Barack Obama's Hidden Agenda"... but no one ever gets specific about what they think that "hidden agenda" is... okay Jacqueline, here's your chance to enlighten us Obamabots... what exactly is his "hidden agenda"... please tell us, inquiring minds would like to know


Manny
said

There is something so untrustworthy about Hillary but I can't seem to put my finger on it.
I'm worried that her road to the whitehouse, is something she wants more than anyhting else, and her "team" has something up their sleeve. She will stop at nothing.
Good luck Obama.


Veronique
said

It is no wonder that US citizens don't vote! How many times do they have to go out and vote. This system seems completely out of whack to me. It is dragged on for way too long. Why do we have to hear all about it all the time.

You have John McCain just sitting there doing nothing, knowing that there is no chance in hell, he'll win. Basically they are having the actual elections now by determining if Obama or Clinton will win.... and then they have to do it all over again.


Bob
said

Hillary will no more smooth over winning the nomination with super delegates then she has convincing America that her Bosnia sniper fire exaggeration should merely be looked at as a mistatement. She'll cling on to the possibility she'll be able to smooth things over in the end, and carry on full steam ahead but remember what happened to the Titanic...I wonder if she's under the delusion that nothing can sink the Great And Mighty Clinton...somehow someway she feels she can work things out.


Mike
said

Some are worried that Obama went to a Church with a Pastor who made controversial comments about race relations in America. Many bury their heads in the sand and pretend that racism isn't alive and well in America. It is also prevalent all over the world.

The difference with America is the projection of an image of perfection and continued attempts to hide the truth or ignore it.

Many worry about what takes place in the "Black Church" but forget that past segregation is the reason why there is even a "Black Church."

Robert
said

America touts being the cradle of democracy but Clinton's full arguments for winning the nomination are the most undemocratic ever. She argues that Obama cannot win against John MCCain. Ironically, she cannot even win her own party's nomination...so is the party supposed to disenfranchise the majority of voters to hand the leadership reigns to Clinton? I thought it was the majority rules?


Bernadette Wood
said

I have been following the primaries from the beginning, listened to the debates as well as CNN, Fox News, and MSN. I have never heard anyone that could give a speech as well as B. Obama. The words just flow from him. Hillary cannot speak as well but I honestly feel she has much more substance and seems to be more to the point on policies. I believe he is ahead because of his ability to deliver a speech and caught Americans unaware. They didn't know him and were impressed by this wonderful speaker. It may be too late for Clinton to catch up but I am not sure the most competent candidate will win. I do believe that either of them will beat John McCain. Another cold blooded conservative is something the world definitely does not need. Substance and reality over words and nievity anyday.


Robin the Hood
said

The Democrats are once again committing suicide like in 2004 with Kerry or even like the Liberals in Canada with Dion I suspect.
There is one sure thing here... if Clinton wins she WILL lose to McCain in the Fall and all those "bitter", pro-Clinton, blue collar workers in PA will continue to lose their jobs to Asia (and not to Nafta, fyi). This because the black vote - which represents 10-15% of the total vote, 90% of which votes democratic - will resent Obama being beat and will not come out to vote. Without that 10% or boost the Democrat's chances will simply evaporate. If Obama wins its probably about 50-50 since the core Democrats, despite favouring Clinton, will still come out to vote for Obama in order to try to prevent another Republican victory. McCain has little to show in substance but is a white and male which puts him at an advantage because there is no denying the USA, both Democrat and Republican, is now showing its true colours (excuse the pun) as its voters are very much divided along typical racial lines. Shameful but figures!



Joanne
said

What a waste of time and money - internal fighting each other!

I agree, H. Clinton might do nothing better than previous presidents because she is full of corporations and precedents. Obama, younger and creative to some extend. It exists natural closer connection of one with the group he/she was born therefrom.


Vancouver Girl
said

McCain in 2008!!!


Thinking its going to be McCain
said

I wonder if Hilary will shed a few more tears to win the next primary. And then tell Americans that they need a strong president. Or if she'll let her cheating husband do all of her campaigning for her while she tells stories of snipers and diplomacy.


Linda
said

I don't think she can catch Obama now.But I disagree with those who think she is damaging her party.In fact,she may be one of the few defending it.
Obama will not beat McCain in the fall.She knows that,and is doing her best to make sure a Democrat wins the Whitehouse.
Sadly,just like in Canada,it looks like Americans will have to choose the person they dislike the least.As opposed to someone they really have faith in.I doubt,however,they will choose a very left wing guy like Obama.


Lorne
said

The entire campaign has been a charade.
Forget the mudslinging, as this is a fact in any US election.
The fact is that all three potential candidates, Clinton, Obama and McCain, are not the people capable to lead the US out of it's current problems, which are many.
Edwards would have been the best candidate for President.
The problem was that he could not raise the monies required, as he did not have backers like Oprah, or the monies that the Clintons' themselves have or their donors.


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