Obama Has 70% Chance of Topping Ticket

Barack Obama is far more likely to be the Democratic nominee than Hillary Clinton is, says Joe Trippi, the veteran strategist who advised Howard Dean and John Edwards. In an IM interview with New York, he puts Obama’s odds at 70%, predicts a race that lasts until the convention, and foresees "a remote chance of a third candidate if this gets really ugly and Clinton takes a meat ax to Obama."

"Now it looks like Obama is in for some tougher treatment," Trippi says of the media's recent scrutiny. "That is a good thing." He adds, "If the Obama camp can't cope with this, then better we all find out now." And he's blunt about the final analysis: "In the end, Clinton may need a self-inflicted mistake by Obama to get the nomination." (More Hillary Clinton stories.)