The Clinton campaign continues to slowly go to pieces---but you'd never know it if you listened to Hillary's spin-doctors, surrogates, and stalwart blogosphere defenders. They all seem prisoners of some sort of reality distortion field--where losses are irrelevant, entire states are consigned to insignificance, huge numbers of new voters are a part of a GOP plot, and Obama supporters are mind-numbed zombies.
Like Baghdad Bob, Team Hillary doesn't seem to be aware that the Abrams tanks are just on the other side of town.
The Obama victory string is now up to 11, with Democrats abroad adding another double-digit thumping to list of easy Obama wins. The upcoming contests in TX,OH,VT, and RI---Sen. Clinton's "firewall" ---is not looking so promising now. Her leads in TX and OH are shrinking, and I'm willing to bet she'll lose outright in RI and VT.
Indeed, her campaign in TX seems to be in disarray, and the Clinton campaign failure to understand the TX delegate selection process seems certain to turn any electoral win into a delegate defeat. Obama is collecting major endorsements from unions and has raised money at an astonishing pace: Nearly three times the amount the cash-strapped Clinton campaign can manage.
The response from the Clinton team: "We've got him right where we want him."
There is a method behind their madness. They hope to parlay the combo of a strong performance by Hillary in the debates, a gaffe (forced or not) by Obama, and continued attacks on his credibility, experience, and character into the margins they need to stay alive and credible.
The Clinton glimmer of hope is grounded in the reality that she DOES outperform Obama in the debate format, and will likely show up with some harsh attacks and zinger lines in her pocket.
But Obama shrugged off the attacks in Wisconsin and Hawaii, and nothing the Clinton team throws at them seems to stick. He still draws huge crowds, and wherever the Obama team lands and puts in the work, Clinton poll leads vanish. His inability to match up with Hillary in the debates does not seem to have hurt his results.
Who will be appointed to be the bearer of the hard news on March 5th?