I travelled to PA to canvass for Hillary and have made phone calls from home and in the phone banks in NY, but I don't consider myself Clinton "staff" or even an official "volunteer". I think the reason I seem out of the ordinary is that many other Hillary supporters and die hard democrats have largely been driven off TPM and other blogs because of the hatred and venom thrown at Hillary and Bill during this campaign.

In terms of Obama's electability, I thought he was more electable than Clinton when they first started and would have preferred Hillary but would gladly have taken Obama. After Reverend Wright and the whole course of this campaign, I lost a tremendous amount of respect for him. I honestly don't think he can withstand the smear attacks destined to head his way. the GOP turned john kerry vietnam war hero into an anti-american, lying, purple heart stealer. Do you really think given the ammunition Barack himself has provided he really has a chance? I honestly do not. I think he'll lose by a much larger margin than Kerry. Just my opinion

Why is Hillary losing the primary when I think she has a better chance at the general election? Because the democratic primary is not the same as the general election. Because Reverend Wright came to light late into the primary season in PA where Obama already had a sizeable lead (previous to that he was doing much stronger with the white vote). Because there are states like SC, NC, MS, LA where half of the democratic party electorate is African American - when 90% of those folks are voting for Obama, that means he is likely to win those states by a large margin. In the general election, "gimmie" states like that don't exist. Because the general election is more similar to primaries than caucuses where it is not tilted towards the younger, white collar, more affluent, more motivated folks who have a few hours to kill to all report to a caucus site. Because primaries favor the more move on.org / liberal wing of the party. Notice how Barack's criticism of Hillary in the democratic primary for saying she would engage in vigorous diplomacy with the world's dictators but would not pledge that would not declare she is willing to meet with them in her first year was "a continuation of the bush policy of non-engagement with enemoes". Now that he is potentially facing McCain in the general election, he's moderated his postion and taken that off the table. Quite unprincipled in my opinion.

I could go on and on and on, but it is clear that to win the democratic nomination does not necessarily mean you will the same appeal to the general electorate.