Clinton Has An Edge?

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

Can someone explain to me why Rick Klein had ABC News thinks that "Clinton Might Have An Edge"?

Obama won the last two primaries.  He trounced Clinton in Mississsippi last night, getting six to seven more delegates than Clinton.  And before yesterday, he was 600,000 votes ahead of Clinton in the national popular vote.  That has since expanded to 700,000.

So why does Clinton have an edge?

Well, according to Rick Klein, because she has "time".  There are no primaries until April 22, when the Big Penn holds its primaries.

But what, might I ask, is time going to get Hillary?

First of all, she’s already ahead in Pennsylvania.  And she’ll probably win that.  So time gets her nothing that she doesn’t already have.

If anything, time gives Obama the chance to close that gap in Pennsylvania.

But according to Klein, this six week gap will allow Clinton to make an orchestrated attack on Obama, attacking (most likely) his supposed lack of experience.

Huh?  Like Clinton hasn’t done this yet?

Look, here’s the deal.  Obama leads in pledged delegates.  He leads in popular vote.  When the convention rolls around, and he still has both those things, the superdelegates — most of them — will unite behind him.  There’s no way on God’s green earth Hillary will pull ahead in the pledged delegate count number.  She has a chance to win the overall popular vote, and then make her case to the superdelegates.  But "time" is just as much his friend/enemy, as it is hers.