Reply #5: Obama already had the nomination locked up by the time Clinton went negative. [View All]

[nsd]

Obama is the nominee because of his February victories, which happened before the "3 AM" television ad, Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, the "commander-in-chief test" and so on. Once the Clinton campaign decided to go after him, they did really well, winning Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. If they had gone negative even earlier, Hillary Clinton might well be the nominee right now.

That's why Obama didn't need to go negative in the primary. The contest was effectively over by the start of March (even if Clinton's supporters didn't see it that way).

Obama can't be passive here. He can't simply decry McCain's negativity. Obama has to take the guy apart.


Edited: fixed typo