So, last night, the pundits were giddy over Hillary Clinton's double digit victory over Obama. One problem, it didn't happen. The actual margin, according to the Pennsylvania Secretary of State, with 99.44% of precincts reporting is 9.2%. There are 42 precincts left to be counted. Clinton was always supposed to win PA by a wide margin. But, Obama cut her lead in half by improving on key demographics over Ohio. 9.2% isn't over 10%. Just isn't. It might creep up a bit (CNN now has the margin at 9.4%). It still won't break 9.5% or the magical 10% -- or 10.5% as required by the king of the punditry, Mark Halperin:

 Quote:
She has to win the popular vote by more than 10.5% or the media will say she didn’t beat expectations (and her Ohio margin).


Again, didn't happen. but it does take the argument away from MEM that the media is biased against her. After all, i don't see them stating that Obama won Texas or shouting loudly that Hillary won less than 10% (although to be fair, I'll wait till tomorrow's paper arrives to be 100% certain of that. Doubt it highly though)

Also, let's get something straight: Contrary to the spin and the gullibility of the punditry to be spun, Clinton is now on a one-state winning streak. After February 5th, Clinton lost 11 in a row (those still count). On March 4th, Clinton won two (Ohio and Rhode Island) while losing two (Vermont and Texas -- yes, she lost Texas, it's about delegates, remember). She then lost two more, Wyoming and Mississippi, before winning Pennsylvania by a smaller margin than expected. That's a one-state streak -- and she still can't win the nomination.

Despite MEM and the the Clinton campaign's spinning frenzy, there is an end in sight. Jed does the delegate math -- because this is about the delegates -- and comes up with a couple of plausible scenarios. Here's his conclusion:

 Quote:
Over the next two weeks, Barack Obama (and us, as his supporters) should focus his most of his energy on winning both North Carolina and Indiana. Hopefully, that results in two wins, ending the campaign.

On a parallel track, Democratic Party officials who understand that Obama will be the nominee should work to secure 170 or so commitments by superdelegates to join the Pelosi Club.

This sets up a perfect narrative. Either Plan A works -- we win North Carolina and Indiana -- or we move on to Plan B, and by winning Oregon on May 20, Barack Obama will cross the finish line and become the nominee.

Either way, if we head down this path, there's a 95%+ certainty that on May 6 or May 20 we will be celebrating Barack Obama as the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.

Until that point, who cares about the spin of the media? I find it annoying so I just turn the television off.

We're going to win. It's not a question of whether or if. It's just a question of how and when.

And I think that on May 6 or May 20, one of these two plans will allow Barack Obama to win -- not by default, but by triumph.

So what do you think? Are you ready? Let's close this out!


Sounds good to me. And, my television is off.