Even though HRC throws haymaker after haymaker in the hopes of impressing the judges, Obama seems to be coming out ahead on the supers scorecards...more after the jump!
In an article in Friday's New York Times writer Patrick Healy makes the case that she is actually falling further and further behind in the math...
But although Mrs. Clinton gave it her best shot in what might have been their final debate, interviews on Thursday with a cross-section of these superdelegates — members of Congress, elected officials and party leaders — showed that none had been persuaded much by her attacks on Mr. Obama’s strength as a potential Democratic nominee, his recent gaffes and his relationships with his former pastor and with a onetime member of the Weather Underground.
In fact, the Obama campaign announced endorsements from two more superdelegates on Thursday, after rolling out three on Wednesday and two others since late last week in what appeared to be an orchestrated show of strength before Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary. Obama advisers said that one of the pickups on Thursday, Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. of the District of Columbia, had initially favored Mrs. Clinton, but Clinton advisers denied that, and a Thomas aide said he had been neutral before Thursday.
In interviews, 15 uncommitted superdelegates said they did not believe that recent gaffes by both candidates would carry any particular influence over their final decision. They said they had particularly tired of all the attention, by the Clinton campaign and the news media, on Mr. Obama’s recent comment that some Americans were "bitter" over the economy and chose to "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them" as a result.
the article also points out that Obama still has some work to do to win over the uncommitted,
Some of the uncommitted superdelegates interviewed said they were concerned about whether Mr. Obama reflected the values and interests of voters in states that Democrats intend to carry in November or hope to steal from Republicans, like some Southern states that they typically do not win in a general election. Yet they said they had had these concerns for some time — and Wednesday night’s debate had not intensified them.
"Obama argues that he will put more states in play, but I haven’t seen him put the coalitions together as strongly as we need to," said Joe Turnham, an uncommitted superdelegate who is chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party. (Mr. Obama won the Alabama primary in February; Mr. Turnham has known the Clintons for many years.)
"You have to put together blue-collar workers, veterans, seniors and swing evangelical voters and compete in states like West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania," Mr. Turnham added. "I feel like Hillary has shown more strength there."
Mr. Obama sought to allay concerns about questions of his electability on Thursday. At a campaign stop in Raleigh, N.C., a woman told Mr. Obama that he was "really pummeled during the debate." She continued, "What is your strategy to beat the Republicans in November?"
"That was the rollout of the Republican campaign against me in November. It happened just a little bit early, but that is what they will do," Mr. Obama said. "They will try to focus on all these issues that don’t have anything to do with how you are paying your bills at the end of the month. There’s no doubt that I will have to respond sharply and crisply, then pivot to talk about what exactly are we going to do for the economy and what are we going to do about the war in Iraq."
Until the nominating fight ends, Mr. Obama said, he is "trying to show some restraint." He added, "I won’t have as much restraint with the Republicans."
But it does seem that all the negativity HRC has brought to the table is working against her
Indeed, several superdelegates said they had been put off by negative moments in the debate.
"What I’m hearing from voters in this state who have been uncommitted or not solidly behind any candidate is that they are increasingly frustrated with the negativism going on, mostly on her side," said Patricia Waak, the Colorado state party chairwoman. (Mr. Obama won the Colorado primary in a landslide.)
"In general what I heard this morning was just negative, negative, negative," Ms. Waak said. "As far as Obama’s comment on guns and religion, mostly what I’ve heard from people in general is, ‘It’s true.’ "
One superdelegate, Reggie Whitten of Oklahoma, endorsed Mr. Obama on Tuesday because, he said, he believed the candidate needed a new public vote as the Clinton camp was battering him daily over the "bitter" remark.
"I don’t think all of this divisiveness is helping him, so it was a good time to send a signal of support from a conservative state like Oklahoma that we believe in him," said Mr. Whitten, a lawyer from a suburb of Oklahoma City.
Let's hope Dean's call to the supers to stop holding onto their vote works because this party is suffering possible long term harm and we can not afford another 4 more years of republicans in the White House