NYT: Obama & Clinton "keep standing there, pounding and bloodying each other, and no one is winning" [View All]

[Amerigo Vespucci]

The Bruising Will Go On for the Party

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/us/politics/23assess.html

By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: April 23, 2008

The Democratic Party may prove to have been the real loser in the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York defeated Senator Barack Obama of Illinois by enough of a margin to continue a battle that Democrats increasingly believe is undermining their effort to unify the party and prepare for the general election against Senator John McCain of Arizona.

That worry was confirmed in exit polls that again highlighted the racial, economic, gender and values divisions in the party that Republicans would no doubt try to exploit if Mr. Obama won the nomination.

To take one example, only 50 percent of Democratic Catholic voters who attend church weekly said they would vote for Mr. Obama in a general election; 25 percent said would vote for Mr. McCain.

“This is exactly what I was afraid was going to happen,” said Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat who has not endorsed anyone in the race. “They are going to just keep standing there and pounding each other and bloodying each other, and no one is winning. It underlines the need to find some way to bring this to conclusion.”