Despite having won twice as many states and having an insurmountable 124 delegate lead (plus or minus a few, depending on whose numbers you are using), in their morning conference call with reporters, Hillary Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, said this:
We believe [the Pennsylvania contest] will again show that Hillary is ready to win and that Senator Obama really can't win the general election.
In Hillaryworld, if you lose a state in the primary, you're going to lose it in an election. Even if it's a large blue state that always votes Democratic.
In Hillaryworld, it's okay to diss your fellow Dem even while trying to attach yourself to his popularity by suggesting he could be your Vice President. You are applauded for doing all you can to weaken a fellow candidate.
And in Hillaryworld, this strategy is working!
Cut to the real world.
In the real world, Nancy Pelosi is out saying we will have a dream ticket, but it won't be those two. Former basketball star and presidential candidate Bill Bradley told the Sunday Times:
"The bigger the lie, the better the chance they think they’ve got. That’s been their whole approach," he said. "She’s going to lose a whole generation of people who got involved in politics believing it could be something different."
Bradley believes that Clinton will stop at nothing to tear down Obama even if it boosts John McCain, who was confirmed last week as the Republican nominee: "The Clintons do not do long-term planning. They’re total tacticians and right now their focus is on Obama, not McCain."
It is a lie. Even Fox News is admitting that:
Of the remaining 566 delegates to be selected, Hillary should enjoy a slight edge. She’ll probably win Pennsylvania (158 delegates), Indiana (72), Kentucky (51), West Virginia (28), and Puerto Rico (55). Obama will likely win North Carolina (115), Oregon (52), Montana (16), South Dakota (15) and Guam (4). If this turns out to be so, Clinton would lead in states with 364 delegates while Obama would prevail in states with 202. But even if we assume 10 point wins for each candidate in each state (and the margin will likely be much tighter), all Hillary would get from her states is 36 more delegates while Obama would get 20 from his — still leaving Obama with a lead of 147 in elected delegates.
At that point, Obama would have about 1,900 votes, within spitting distance of the 2025 he’d need to win. Hillary would have to win the remaining super delegates by a top-heavy margin of 2:1 in order to win (steal) the nomination from Obama, who will have won the most elected delegates.
And despite her claimed victories last week, even Time magazine is asking, "So Who Really Won Texas?"
Meanwhile, in the background, I hear a chip-chip-chipping sound. That's Obama working away at Clinton's lead in Pennsylvania.
You can help him. Go to BarackObama.com and start calling people in Pennsylvania. There's a script and an audio tutorial as well. It's easy. It's fun, most of the time. But most of all, it's important.
And that's no lie.