Sour Notes and All: And the Band Played on....

Is Clinton on life support? Is Obama a paper tiger?By Mike Allen on April 23, 2008 @ 7:39 AM
Good Wednesday morning. NBC reports that the North Carolina Republican Party plans to make race — and Rev. Wright — an issue with an ad out at 11 a.m. Eastern today. Deets below,

BUT FIRST: At Clinton headquarters, they're singing, "You ain't seen nothin' yet — B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet." Is it wishful thinking?

Obama chief strategist David Axelrod, on the candidate's plane into Indiana last night, courtesy Maria Gavrilovic of CBS News: "We have a fairly significant lead in delegates, we've won twice as many states, we're ahead in the popular vote. … By virtually every measure, we're ahead. … [M]ost Democrats would like to move on — hunger to move on."

N.Y. Post: "TAKE THAT! Hill slams Bam by 10 in Penn."

N.Y. Daily News: "HERE WE GO AGAIN! He won't win, she won't lose … "

N.Y. Times, 4 cols., 1 line: "Clinton Clearly Outduels Obama in Pennsylvania."

Newsday: "She's Still Got A Shot. But it's a long shot, as Obama retains strong lead in delegates, money."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Clinton wins, the race goes on"

The A1 Philly Inquirer analysis is headed, "Obama still leads race, but the doubts remain."

Dan Balz, WashPost A1 analysis: "Decisive Win Can't Forestall A Daunting Task."

AP's 99 percent Pennsylvania figures:
x-Hillary Clinton 1,258,245 - 55 percent
Barack Obama 1,042,297 - 45 percent

x-John McCain 585,447 - 73 percent
Ron Paul 128,188 - 16 percent
Mike Huckabee 91,211 - 11 percent

The CBS News Pennsylvania delegate allocation gives 82 to Clinton and 69 to Obama, with seven unallocated. Obama had a 139-delegate lead going in, now cut to 126, per CBS.

NBC's Tim Russert, on "Today": "Math is not her most important subject. She likes psychology. She can't beat Obama in math. … She wants to get in the heads of these [super]delegates and say: I'm a tougher candidate against John McCain. I can win the big states. … You can switch and vote for me."

MSNBC's Chris Matthews: "Another victory for cable television tonight! The battle goes on, no resolution, Hillary Clinton beats the spread."

ABC's Jake Tapper, on "Good Morning America": "In losing Pennsylvania, at the very least, Obama's momentum has slowed. But not enough to blunt his campaign's optimism."

Senator Clinton this morning on CBS' "The Early Show": "It was incredibly gratifying to win so decisively in the face of a very determined and quite well-funded campaign that was outspending me 3-to-1, that was, you know, taking some pretty, you know, tough hits at me as well. Why people came out yesterday in the numbers that they did, I think reflects, you know, their view that, you know, I'm the candidate with the leadership, the experience, the know-how to actually turn the country around."

Clinton's Howard Wolfson on ABC's "Nightline": "Senator Obama was going for a knockout blow … We are going to be close in delegates. We are going to be close in the popular vote. And the superdelegates will do their job and choose the best nominee to face to John McCain and the person they believe would be the best president. I do not believe that the Democratic Party will nominate someone who's had the kind of problems that Senator Obama has had winning in the large swing states like Pennsylvania, like Michigan, like Florida, like Ohio."

Karl Rove on Fox News: "The rule of proportionality means that the thing that allowed Barack Obama to get ahead, it is difficult for him to fall behind. It's also difficult for him to catch up."

Politico's Roger Simon: "In other words, [Obama] probably 'closed the deal' when, after Super Tuesday, he won 10 contests in a row, running up his pledged delegate lead while Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, was still trying to figure out what was happening. (Clinton, who fired Penn, still owes him $4.5 million. I could have come up with a losing strategy for half that.)"

Republican analyst REED DICKENS on CNN's "Larry King Live": "The one thing we know for sure about this elongated primary is that it shortens the general election. So for a GOP candidate who for once doesn't have as much money, it turns the general election into a sprint. … Barack Obama is a very undefined candidate. They're learning more about him by the week, and I don't know if that's a comfort."

ONE MORE SUPERDELEGATE- From The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman: "Gov. Brad Henry, who said earlier he would not endorse a Democratic presidential candidate until this summer's national convention, announced this morning he is supporting Barack Obama."

Once again, exit polls OVERSTATED Senator Obama's vote, showing a 3- or 4-point margin for Clinton, when it wound up being 10. Fox called the race for her 45 minutes after the polls closed, and AP and the other networks quickly followed.

Clinton chairman Terry McAuliffe repeated the campaign's contention that this will NOT go to the convention - that it will be resolved shortly after the final contests on June 3.

Russert, wrapping up MSNBC's coverage last night: "The more time the Clintons can buy, they remember the 'bitter comment,' they remember the Wright situation - perhaps more of those episodes, events will occur."

MAKING NEWS TODAY, from NBC/National Journal's Carrie Dann: "The North Carolina Republican Party will unveil a 30-second ad [Wednesday] that attacks Democratic gubernatorial candidates Beverly Perdue and Richard Moore for endorsing Barack Obama.

The ad, per the party, will reference 'controversial figures from Barack Obama's past' and raise the question of the candidates' 'judgment' in supporting him. The ad will be unveiled at an 11am press conference. …

***"The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is expected to play a starring role."

***Russert: "It's going to inject - it appears - race front and center."