Clinton Wins Puerto Rico

Sen. Hillary Clinton delivered a crushing defeat to Sen. Barack Obama in today's Puerto Rico primary. The WaPo reports:

[S]he claimed today's vote as "another great victory," and noted in a message to supporters that: "Every time the pundits count us out -- every time they declare the race over -- you, the voters, send a clear message that you have another idea. And you and I just keep winning races together."

More people have now voted for Hillary Clinton than anyone else in primary history. An amazing testament to why Clinton should be the nominee heading into November's general election.

The New York Times says:

In many ways, Mr. Obama is wheezing across the finish line after making a strong start: He has won only 6 of the 13 Democratic contests held since March 4, drawing 6.1 million votes, compared with 6.6 million for Mrs. Clinton.

Conventional wisdom says Obama will be the nominee. Now that Sen. Clinton has educated him through the primary season, some party leaders are expecting her to push him over the top in November. They clearly recognize that he can't win on his own.

“In order for us to be successful in November, the runner-up is going to have to go all out in support of the nominee,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “The runner-up is going to have to be there from Day One. The support is going to have to be more than just lip service.”

And reading this I must ask what happened to Obama's claim to want to change "politics as usual?" Having your surrogates intimidate superdelegates certainly sounds like Chicago politics from the 60's, not the new line being fed to voters today.

As of Saturday, about 150 superdelegates remained officially uncommitted. Mr. Obama’s supporters have been hammering away at them, urging them to move quickly to his camp.

“A number of people have reported that various members intend to endorse AFTER the last primary,” said one e-mail message to wavering delegates from Mr. Obama’s supporters, its warning barely couched. “Those members need to understand that they won’t get any visibility from that.”

Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who endorsed Mr. Obama nearly two months ago, recently called Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, who has yet to endorse a candidate. “Hey, Ritter!” Mr. Richardson said. “After June 3, it means nothing. Those who take a little bit of a risk, he’ll remember you.” (emphasis mine)

As Democrats prepare for the general election it sure would be nice to have the strongest candidate at the top of the ticket. CNN went through the Electoral College numbers today and reaching the magic 270 appears much easier for Clinton than it would be for Obama.



READ:
Mr. Obama is wheezing across the finish line
Obama Limping Toward Finish as Clinton Crushes Him in Puerto Rico