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Dems: Who Can Beat McCain?

As GOP rallies round McCain, Hillary must battle Obama and the Clinton negatives

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 31, 2008 10:43 AM CST
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(Newser) – With the presidential race narrowed by yesterday's big defections, David Broder sees a clear favorite in each party. Despite lingering opposition from "unelected conservative ideologues," McCain's got the nod, the payoff for dogged stumping in New Hampshire and huge endorsements heading into the big states. But on the Dem side, he sees "a remarkable shift of establishment opinion" from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama that makes the outcome harder to predict.

Obama is "not inevitable," but the longer the race goes on, the better his chances will get, as "Democratic elected officials and candidates come to view him as the better bet to defeat McCain in November." Broder blames the prominence of Bill Clinton's role in Hillary's campaign, especially his mean-spirited rhetoric in South Carolina, for reminding Democrats of the negatives of a Clinton return to the White House.

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks about the withdrawal of John Edwards from the Democratic presidential race, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008, during a news conference at North Little Rock High School in North Little Rock, Ark. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks about the withdrawal of John Edwards from the Democratic presidential race, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008, during a news conference...   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, center, talks with supporters at a Stand for Change rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008, in Phoenix, Ariz. Obama is flanked by Arizona's Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, left, and Caroline Kennedy, both recently endorsed the candidate. (Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, center, talks with supporters at a "Stand for Change" rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008, in Phoenix, Ariz. Obama is...   (Associated Press)
  (composite of Getty Images)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., gets the crowd worked up as Georgia labor commissioner Michael Thurmond stands behind her after she was introduced during the Democratic Party of Georgia's annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, a fund raising event held Wednesday, January 30, 2008, in Atlanta, Ga. (AP Photo/John...
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., gets the crowd worked up as Georgia labor commissioner Michael Thurmond stands behind her after she was introduced during the Democratic...   (Associated Press)
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Republicans unite while Democrats divide
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