Hey all, I am stll a newbie so I don't know how to quote whole stories at a time, but this was a great article by Chuck Todd that I haven't seen posted anywhere that really explores how the media is keeping Clinton in this race. The article can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
I will just quote some of the juicy parts.
"At last count, Clinton had 253 superdelegates in her corner, not counting another dozen or so from Michigan and Florida.
But even including those folks, Clinton has fewer than 40 percent of superdelegates supporting her, and that's after more than a year of campaigning.
This is the wife of the former president, after all. Shouldn’t there be at least 400 party leaders who owe something to the Clintons on board?
This has been a campaign riddle that many of us have overlooked.
One reason this has been brushed under the rug? Media-types don't realize the problems many rank-and-file Democratic activists have with the Clinton family."
"Whether it's downplaying Obama's momentum ahead of the March 4 contests, placing emphasis on the importance of the Pennsylvania primary, or shifting focus to the potential for re-votes in Michigan and Florida, the media narrative seems to be in Clinton’s favor.
This is a reality for a few reasons.
First, and most importantly, is the media's bias toward keeping the campaign going.
But it's more than that, it's also a bias rooted in history. Many a reporter believes that someone with the last name of "Clinton" should never be counted out. And that built-in bias is assisting the campaign, despite the Clintons history of antagonism with the press."
"The irony to all of this, of course, is that while the mechanics of the Democratic nomination fight overwhelmingly favor Obama, the media is giving Clinton a huge lift. And this comes after a year of Clinton complaints that the media was doing them more harm than good.
Does Clinton have a path to the nomination? If this were a pure delegate fight, perhaps not and, frankly, I still have my doubts given what I think is a deeper superdelegate problem.
But anything is possible, and if Obama becomes unelectable for some reason over the next few months, Clinton will be there to pick up the pieces.
The trick for her is how to pick up those pieces without being the person to break Obama into pieces."
Again, I apologize for the mess, but this was a great article from the one reporter that I have listened to more than any other this year.