Obama must drop out now. He cannot win against McCain. He's toast.

I can't believe that they've gone back to stealing Obama's lines again. Yes We Can, indeed. I'm going to donate some money to Obama.

“…But I really do think it’s a strange time because we’re all watching to see who won, but as Nora pointed out, 4 out of 5 ,or so, of the Hillary voters today believe she’s still in the running. That this is still up in the air and I think that was probably a mistake of the media. I think in the effort of the media, to try to keep this game going, we’ve created the delusion that somehow this race is still open. I don’t think it is open. I think if you look at the numbers Barack has to really blow it in the weeks ahead to lose.”

-Chris Matthews

I wonder what the Hillary Deathwatch will say in two weeks? It's been about 9 percent chance of getting the nomination. Slate.com

Yes you will drop out, my dear.
Yes you will.

I know it's meager, but another $25 to hillaryclinton.com

with 78% of the vote HRC lead is 10 pts. i guess the suburbs didnt go for obama...

I may have missed it but did Hillary congratulate Obama on the race in Pennsylvania? I'm listening to Obama congratulate her on her victory, and I was raised that it's even more incumbent on the winner to be gracious--guess they skipped those lessons in Scranton since I have yet to hear her congratulate him whether he won or lost.

well, obviously, if obama can't carry ALL the states in the primary, then he must not be able to win the general.

so I guess the supers should just give the nomination to the second-place finisher instead.

did I miss something, or is that her new strategy?

......cue Michigan and Florida extra voluminous bellowing now? As an Obama supporter I can't say I feel disappointed by the somewhat narrow loss as it juss serves the purpose of taking more time off the clock (days off the calendar) as we wind to the inevitable conclusion of a near certain Obama nomination. It is juss painful to see the delusions exerted by Mrs Clinton as she tries to find reason to continue on. Will Indiana even be telling regardless of who wins? Is she really moving on if she ekes out a three or four point win (with the expected Obama victory in NC undoing whatever she gained tonight?)

Dear fellow Democrats:

Before you decide to give McCain your anti-Obama or anti-Hillary vote in November, you might want to ask yourself if another 8 years of Bush-Rove Republicanism is the legacy you want to leave your country, your children and your grandchildren. Before you walk through that door, at least take a minute to become acquainted with The Real McCain first.

By his own admission, John McCain is not a moderate - he is a loyal, conservative Republican. Despite the "myth of the maverick," in all his years in the Senate, with a few notable exceptions (e.g., stem cell research, gun laws and global climate change), he has rarely bucked his party.

However, he has gone to great lengths to cultivate the moderate, likable guy with-a rebel-streak persona. His independence from lock-step party expectations emerged during his 2000 presidential bid, but he has rescinded quite a few of those "maverick" positions since then. Unfortunately, his astute manipulation of the press corps has allowed him to continue to project his moderate maverick image without serious inspection or challenge.

But make no mistake: John McCain is NO moderate, and his positions on many issues are clearly out of step with a majority of Americans -- they just don't know it. For example,

- He does not have a plan to deal with the health care crisis (doesn't really think there is a crisis); believes the health care industry will reform itself with more competition

- He does not believe in the federal minimum wage and has repeatedly voted against it (he would rather leave wages to competition and market forces)

- He's against environmental provisions in trade agreements

- Believes Social Security should be privatized and supports a shift to personal savings accounts

- Supports the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive war

- Allowed his Military Commissions Act to end up denying habeas corpus to detainees

- Supports federal wiretapping of US citizens without a warrant and voted against electronic privacy

- Voted NO on requiring CIA reports on detainees & interrogation methods

- Said CIA assessments on Iraqi WMDs were all wrong - but Iraq invasion was still justified

- Voted NO on restricting business with entities linked to terrorism

- He voted against a bill banning the CIA from using torture, specifically including waterboarding (big flip-flop)

- He says he supports educational benefits for veterans, but opposes the bipartisan 21st Century GI Bill, which the VFW endorsed last June

- Consistently votes against increasing funding for the VA (facilities and services)

- He voted against increasing college tuition deduction which was targeted to help middle class families

- Said Bush tax cuts for the super rich was wrong and fiscally reckless; now supports & will extend them

- Supports further reducing corporate taxes (even for companies already showing record profits)

- Supports FCC approval of larger media conglomerates, consolidating media ownership in fewer corporate hands

- Would not pass his own 2006 Immigration bill if it came up for a vote today

- Voted against Family Medical Leave Act

- Voted against health insurance program for children (SCHIP - 2005, 2007)

- Voted against funding smaller class sizes; supports school vouchers; would provide funding for private tutors instead (i.e., supports initiatives that essentially outsource and privatize education)

- Supported $75M for abstinence education but voted against $52M for "21st century community learning centers"

- He is 100% pro-life, supports constitutional amendment / repealing Roe v Wade and has promised to only appoint pro-life judges.

- He supports teaching "intelligent design" in science class

By his own admission, McCain's grasp of economics is weak. In fact, it's worse than that. While he has finally acknowledged that times are tough for some people, he argues that the economy is better on the whole. However, the data doesn't support him. Since 2000, the median household income has gone down $1000 and unemployment is up from 4.2% in Jan of 2001 to 5.1% in March of 2008 (no way to account for how many people have exhausted unemployment benefits and are thus uncounted, but are still unemployed). The annual inflation rate (4.1) is the highest in 17 years - and that doesn't count food or fuel. In 2001 gas was $1.41/gallon. Now it's past $3.50. The London Economist estimates that contrary to what the Fed says, real inflation is up more than 16%; food prices are up more than 30%. McCain is in Youngstown today on his "Time for Change Tour," promising to continue the same free market "pro-growth" policies of the past 7 years - hasn't anyone told him that's the definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...)? Not to mention that, uh, it's hardly a "Change"?

So what does McCain say about the Republican legacy all these years while he's been a Washington leader? When has he shown the political courage to repudiate our mammoth trade deficits? or the lucrative tax giveaways for corporations who've shipped jobs overseas and not had to pay taxes on the resulting windfall profits? Here's the fundamental question no one is asking McCain to answer: Why are Americans losing income and falling behind when the nation's wealth has skyrocketed? (see Bill Moyers' interview with David Cay Johnston - link below)

The bottom line is that the Real John McCain is a free market, free trade conservative Republican. We've been there and done that already. See where we are today? Moreover, McCain is more hawkish than Bush, with dangerous tendencies toward empire-building, and conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."

Are you starting think maybe you don't really know John McCain very well? If so, you're right - he's not the moderate most people think he is. If you're still not sure, here's some background reading you might want to do between now and November:

If McCain's A Moderate, I'm The Easter Bunny
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/if-mccains-a-moderate-i_b_85905.html?page=2

Maverick vs Iceman
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=4a65fb2f-7752-493f-a8d3-7fa4aa5e55d0

Will the Press Get Over its Love for McCain?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/02/01/mccain_problems/print.html

Straight Talk and Cold Cash
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070520/28mccain.htm

Is John McCain Bob Dole? Or is he Dwight Eisenhower?
http://www.nymag.com/news/politics/45997/index.html

Our Indefensible Tax System
http://www.motherjones.com/interview/2006/04/david_cay_johnston.html

Bill Moyers Interview with David Cay Johnston: "Free Lunch:How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense (And Stick You With The Bill)."
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/transcript.html

For all you anti-Obama Dems out there: I get Hillary's tenacity and fighting spirit and I agree that we need a fighter in the White House, but I don't see how the math works for her, and the longer this goes on, the harder it will be for us to make the case against McCain because he's getting a pass. I'm also convinced that Obama will put people first and deliver a knock out in November.

I know in anxious times it is natural for us to gravitate toward the known, rather than risk the unknown. But we would not be here in America today if our ancestors hadn't overcome their insecurities and taken chances on the unknown. Obama has proven that he is a man of principle and action. And while he's got the vigor of fresh perspectives and new ideas that we need today, he's also probably more of a mainstream guy than you might think.

The Washington Post gave him an A- for his economic stimulus plan.

CIA officials agree with Obama’s approach to finding Osama Bin Laden.

The League of Conservation Voters gave Obama the highest score on his environmental voting record (McCain scored a zero).

He got tough civil rights/death penalty reform legislation passed unanimously in the Republican-controlled Illinois Senate.

During his 12 years in Springfield and Washington, Obama got an impressive amount of pro-family legislation signed into law, helping kids, women, working people and veterans get the economic, health care, education and civil rights protections they needed.

He has a superior record on confronting lobbyists and special interests, passing substantive ethics reform in Illinois, a bipartisan government transparency law and the toughest federal ethics reform legislation in the U.S. Senate since Watergate.

Here are a few articles about him and his positions on the issues:

The Audacity of Data: Obama's surprisingly non-ideological policy shop
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=4d40a39e-8f57-4054-bd99-94bc9d19be1a

What Makes Obama Run? (Obama's 1st campaign)
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/archive/barackobama/

Obama's Touch of Class
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120873309012529689.html

The Conciliator: Where is Barack Obama coming from?
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/07/070507fa_fact_macfarquhar/?printable=true

The Agitator: Barack Obama's unlikely political education.
http://www.tnr.com/story_print.html?id=a74fca23-f6ac-4736-9c78-f4163d4f25c7

How Obama Will Get Us Out of Iraq
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-wiener/samantha-power-how-obama_b_88963.html?view=print

Renewing American Leadership
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070701faessay86401/barack-obama/renewing-american-leadership.html?mode=print

Obama Urges Federal Response to Housing Crisis (March 2007)
http://obama.senate.gov/press/070322-obama_urges_ber/

The Obama I Know
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-oped0314obamamar14,0,334694,print.story

The Obama Phenomenon
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/tik0803/frontpage/phenom

Whatever happens in the next few weeks, let's unite to win in November. I don't want my son thinking he's going to have to become a draft dodger.

Thanks for listening.

Hillary will drop out within six days.

And they shall be called The Obliteratti

Democrats must act NOW to stop this monster or she will be the downfall of the Democratic Party.

Hillary is a gutter-level politician and if we nominate her as the Democratic nominee Democrats will get what we deserve -- a McCain win.

http://nobillary.blogspot.com/

I am glad this is over in Pa.,so I won't have to be getting so many phone calls from the Obama people,the last one came at 7:30pm today. They are the worst in the world, 3 to 4 calls a day for the last two weeks, no real people on the line to tell them I am an Independent and can't vote, so stop calling me. I got one call from a Clinton person told them I was an Independent, and was never called again. I got junk mail from Obama, at least every other day, I guess he doesn't care about the trees, never got anything from anyone else but him. I can see where he out spent her 3 to 1, I got so much junk mail from him and it was the same thing day after day. Hell if he wants to throw his money away he can just send cash. I guess if you keep handing it to him he'll keep spending it, but I'm glad it over here in Pa., maybe I can watch TV again also.

read the NY Times editorial in Wednesday's paper. It's scathing and right on the mark.

Hillary's negative campaign is a loser for everyone in the Democratic Party. It's time for her to end this kitchen sink approach - it will ruin Obama's chances to win and hers if she ends up the nominee.

It won't stop.

They've got a lot of work to do in order to keep a Republican in the White House, and damnit, she's going to fight to the convention to see that it happens!

the 'bots sure are steamin,' like a cow pie!

Clinton 220000 MORE votes than messiah Obama. I'd call that a stomping. Deal with THAT losers.

The media is having a serious problem with rounding up / down with the numbers tonight.

With 99% reporting, it's 54.3% Clinton to 45.7% Obama...

Everywhere, the media is reporting "ten point victory", but you do the math. It's 8.6 points!
http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/

Incidentally, 8% is what Josh called the "dividing line" on expectations.

As for Obama campaign expectations, it's worth pointing out that they predicted a loss in Pennsylvania a long time ago, and their loss tonight was only moderately higher than they predicted a long time ago in a leaked spreadsheet, with a difference within the margin of error.

http://www.ilikesalt.com/files/obamacampaignexcel.xls

Obama is clearly a flop. He spent five times as much money and he was still skunked in yet another of the most important states. He can never win in November, and anyone who doesn't see that by now is demented. If the party nominates this pathetically weak candidate and hands the presidency to McCain - I swear - I will NEVER forgive the people who helped to destroy this country by foisting this loser upon us.

Obama lost! Hello?

Okay, I've been looking and looking, and that chump "itiotic" hasn't posted yet. I've given him all night, but "idiotic". Lots of idiots, but that's another story.

So I'll do it for him.

THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!!!!! FOR OBAMA!!!!!!!

Losers.

CNN says 80 for Clinton, 66 for Obama.

So, 14 net delegates?!? I hope they were worth bankrupting her campaign for.

Face it, a win for her is IMPOSSIBLE, period:

http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/04/pennsylvania-results.html

If Hillary steals this, the Dems may lose me for good. What a bunch of weakling losers. Shoot ourselves in the foot every single time. Can never ever seal the deal.

We all knew the GOP would have to reinvent itself after Bush, but now the Dems will also. Who knows, if Clinton represents what the dem party is about, a revamped GOP may just end up being more attractive.

Hillary lost me after SC, when she went negative and the Ex-Prez started his race-baiting commentary, which she finished off so eloquently in the debate by raising the ghost of Farrakhan.

Well, it worked, and it should in Pa. Having lived there in the 70s (and F-L-A) before that, I can tell you that while Pennsylvanians are friendly, there is an underlying racism there that came out towards the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 70s, since they had more black players than the blue-collar Pennsylvanians could stand. Don't forget Carville's quote that PA is Pittsburgh and Philly, with Alabama in between.

It seems that this is changing in Pa, since young Pennsylvanians strongly supported Obama. Too bad their parents cling to their neanderthalian racism, as evidenced by Hillary's landslide with the old-white crowd. In such a hostile landscape, Obama's margin is truly impressive, and should be viewed as such. Hillary's effort should be likewise viewed as continuing as pandering to the worst in people-albeit successfully-which is why she does not deserve the nomination of our party.

Rstephen-

Let's look at judgment from Hillary: (1)why didn't she distance herself from an extremist adulterer (i.e her husband); (2) why get involved financially with the Whitewater crowd, as well as the unsavory folx who stayed in the White House during BC's presidency, and those who've given her money during her campaign; (3) why did Bill invite this same extremist pastor to the WHouse after he admitted his adultery with Lewinsky; (4) the bomb throwing extremist is a College Professor-will you similarly condemn his students; (5)How is Hillary not arrogant and elitist, when she went to an elite College, and Yale Law School, and then sat on the board for Walmart (6)Al Gore and John Kerry were by far the best debaters-what good did that do them?

Finally, how will any of this affect our lives in any fashion???

Some of the MSNBC pollsters came out and noted today that -- notwithstanding the millions of dollars spent and gazillion words that were printed in the last seven weeks -- Pennsylvania ended up almost exactly as Ohio did with the same demographic breakdowns. And she didn't have the family connection to Ohio that she does to Pennsylvania. The tide hasn't moved at all. The fact is that you can predict the outcomes of almost every race from here 'till June based on the demographics. She'll take WV, KY and narrowly Indiana, and he'll take the rest. She'll still be about 130-150 pledged delegates behind after Purerto Rico, and he'll have caught up in superdelegates by then. And she's made no significant movement vis a vis Obama in polls as to the general election against McCain.

There has not been nor will there be any race-altering action to spur the superdelegates to take the contest out of the pledged delegates' hands. I figure that, at a minimum, Obama will be only about 99 votes away from the magic 2024 at the end of the primaries. This would mean that -- between now and then -- she'll have to take 192 of the remaining 290 uncommitted superdelegates between now and then. Given that she's been getting about a fourth of the superdelegates that he has sicne February, that scenario is implausible absent a major, never-before-happened, Eagleton-magnitude meltdown.