Hillary's incredible shrinking Pennsylvania victory...two days later, the tide isn't turning

[BeyondGeography]

So far, she has gained a grand total of 9 delegates, with three more to be awarded:

Clinton picked up nine delegates on Obama in Pennsylvania, calculations done Wednesday showed, giving her at least 82 of the 158 available after her decisive 9-point primary win Tuesday. Obama won 73 delegates, with three more yet to be counted by Wednesday evening, The Associated Press reported.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5prez.6376523apr24,0,5558992.story

The media is actually picking up on the fact that she did not win by double-digits:

Thank you, Pennsylvania! What an incredible margin of victory you gave me! Ten percentage points over Barack Obama. Count 'em! Ten!

All right, 9.2 points if you insist on actually counting. But they said I had to win by double digits to keep my campaign alive, and I think 9.2 points counts as double digits. And I am alive! And kicking! And punching and biting and kneeing my opponent in the groin!
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks24apr24,0,6111338.column

In North Carolina, about 50 of John Edwards' most high profile supporters have lined up behind Obama:

The group includes Ed Turlington, Mr. Edwards’s former national general campaign chairman; three North Carolina members of Congress; and 46 local activists, philanthropists and business leaders, among others. (Not surprisingly, given Mr. Edwards’s background, the list holds the names of 20 lawyers.)
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/edwards-backers-team-up-with-obama/

Clinton got a fundraising bump, but so did Obama (and his numbers are always more credible):

Obama's average donation is about $96. That's about 5 million in the past 24 hours from new donors alone. That doesn't include offline contributions and donations from previous donors.

In the late afternoon, using the $96 per contribution estimate, he was clocking over a 1/4 of a million per hour. It looks like Obama is doing fine.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/23/221632/852/236/502180

Clinton's "Only I can Win Big Swing States" argument is being challenged by the New York Times today:

Yet for all of her primary night celebrations in the populous states, exit polling and independent political analysts offer evidence that Mr. Obama could do just as well as Mrs. Clinton among blocs of voters with whom he now runs behind. Obama advisers say he also appears well-positioned to win swing states and believe he would have a strong shot at winning traditional Republican states like Virginia.

According to surveys of Pennsylvania voters leaving the polls on Tuesday, Mr. Obama would draw majorities of support from lower-income voters and less-educated ones — just as Mrs. Clinton would against Mr. McCain, even though those voters have favored her over Mr. Obama in the primaries.

And national polls suggest Mr. Obama would also do slightly better among groups that have gravitated to Republican in the past, like men, the more affluent and independents, while she would do slightly better among women.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/us/politics/24clinton.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

And superdelegates are still on board with Obama:

Brent Budowsky, a blogger with The Hill, just told Clout host Richard Greene that "at least 20 superdelegates" are privately committed to Obama, and will slowly pledge their support for him over the coming weeks, mainly before the NC primary.

Budowsky stated that his sources were rock solid, and that Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry was the first of these supers to go public. Greene commented that this is a brilliant political strategy by Obama, and I must say I agree with him. Imagine, one or two supers a day coming out for Obama, stretched out over the next 10 to 15 days. (Emphasis added for update)

Think Obama knows what he's doing? This will effectively reverse whatever momentum Clinton got from her PA win. And rather than release the good news all at once, he's going to let it come out just a bit at a time, so it can dominate multiple news cycles.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/23/22010/3114/229/502171

It was close to being a bad night, but Obama did what he had to do in Pennsylvania.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

1. Stewart reported it as 9.2 last night.

[ginnyinWI]

2. a few things that have gone down the memory hole:

Wisconsin is a swing state,and Obama won here by 19% according to the Governor.

Obama has shown the ability to win over Independents and Republicans.

And forgive me if I'm mistaken, but I don't think he's lost any SuperD's, unlike HRC.


The media (tv and radio anyway) have set the bar so much higher for Obama that anything less than godlike perfection leaves him open to harsh criticism. And HRC's weaknesses and excuses are allowed to stand.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. in that respect, she and McCain are identical

[Mme. Defarge]

3. Now if the MSM would just stop saying

that she won Texas ... :banghead:

[RBInMaine]

4. How long before the PA provisional are counted?? That should knock her down a few clicks.

[TheDoorbellRang]

9. And still 40 districts in Philadelphia County haven't reported, either

Obama is winning in that county 2 to 1, but all the results aren't in for some reason...

[BeyondGeography]

11. Rendell and Nutter are warehousing the numbers until "double-digit victory"

becomes an indelible part of the campaign narrative.

[TheDoorbellRang]

12. Exactly. Just like the Texas caucus results didn't surface for a month

So that today we still hear how she won Texas. PA will be a double digit win in tiny pundit minds everywhere even when the point spread falls to nine or lower.

[redqueen]

5. Thanks for posting this.

:)

[quantass]

7. kr

[nichomachus]

8. The tide may be turning

but the thing with the tide is that six hours later, it turns the other way.

[samsingh]

10. the media are liars - rounding before a final calculation will get

you an E on many math tests.

Jon Stewart showed the true number.

imagine

you owe .2 + .2 + .2
media math: 0 + 0 + 0

you owe nothing!

[olkaz]

13. Brent Budowsky actually said 20-25, at least 20.

So it will likely be more. He also said that they will be trickling out every day until NC.