Battle for Democratic Women Moves to NC

Hillary, other prominent Democrats mobilized in battleground states

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama’s campaign will mobilize high-profile female Democrats in key states to counter Sarah Palin’s potential appeal to undecided women voters, reports the New York Times. The move follows Palin’s widely watched acceptance speech to be John McCain's running mate at the Republican National Convention. Obama will lean on Hillary Clinton, scheduled to speak in Florida on Monday, and female Democratic governors. More»

She stands to be more powerful than any loser in history

(NEWSER) - It doesn’t look like Hillary Clinton will be the Dem nominee this year, but she “may gain more leverage from losing than almost any other failed presidential candidate,” says Michael Tackett in a Chicago Tribune piece about what’s in store for the second-place finisher. Assuming she is a “vigorous campaigner” for Obama in the fall and repairs rifts, she'll soon look more like Ted Kennedy than John Kerry. More»

Politico : State seems 'tailor-made' for Obama

(NEWSER) - Oregon voters' sympathy for "the cool, cerebral type" bodes well for Obama in today's primary, according to the folks at Politico, who bring us five things to watch for in the Beaver State:

1. How quick will it be called?—Oregon is three hours behind the eastern seaboard, but the mail-in votes can be quickly counted electronically.

Pandering populism didn't play—except with pundits, Klein admits

(NEWSER) - After a career of sober-minded policy politics, Hillary Clinton let loose her inner populist pol in Indiana and North Carolina, Joe Klein writes, and, like much of the media, he thought the showmanship-over-substance (along with Obama's pastor problem) might pull it out for her. But that "shameless populism" proved not to be a game-changer after all. She lost the contest—and the race, he concludes in a Time cover story anointing Obama as the nominee. More»

Clinton made mess in NC—and has all but lost her crucial blue-collar argument

(NEWSER) - The pundits agree that Hillary Clinton barely has a leg to stand on, though explanations vary:

• John Dickerson writes in Slate that Barack Obama closed the door on his blue-collar problem, shaking off the elitist label. Evidence is that Obama barely lost among poorer voters and actually won in “sharing your values” exit-polling; to win now, Clinton “must bring more states into the union.”