Win Can't Change Media's Mind

Where Barack's missing out and what Hillary needs to do

(NEWSER) - John Edwards’ endorsement may have helped Obama turn the page on recent troubles, but pundits say he should face up to them—or he leaves an opening for Hillary to climb back in:

• Sure, it was a “rational, prudent decision” to skip West Virginia, David Broder allows, but it will keep Obama’s blue-collar question alive into the fall. He could have staged a JFK-style coup in the Mountain State—he certainly had the money and foot soldiers.

Gotta fight for these voters before bias is 'set in concrete'

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama may have the nomination all but wrapped up, but that doesn’t mean his electoral problems are over, Maureen Dowd writes in the New York Times—and feigning indifference that the Mountain State gave him a raspberry last night isn't a winning strategy. If Obama wants to capture these West Virginians in November, he’ll have to fight for them, the way JFK did "despite raging anti-Catholicism." More»

It's all about whether he can woo those pesky blue-collar white voters

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's West Virginia loss by a whopping 30 points probably won’t cost him the Democratic nomination, writes John Dickerson in Slate. But the loss does put a chink in Obama’s argument that he can unite disparate groups, since, apparently, these powers have failed him among at least one key voting block—the blue-collar whites that are Hillary Clinton's base. More»

Clinton insists she's the stronger candidate after win in West Virginia

(NEWSER) - Hillary Clinton said tonight she is "more determined than ever" to continue her campaign for the White House after what she termed an "overwhelming" victory in West Virginia, NBC reports. "I believe I'm the strongest candidate," she told supporters in Charleston after romping in nearly all-white West Virginia. With the odds stacked against her and her campaign $20 million in debt, she again urged supporters to go to her website to contribute. More»

Clinton supporters are just as likely to vote for McCain as Obama

(NEWSER) - Early exit polls in West Virginia suggest that Democrats have much healing to do when the primary season ends, CNN reports. Only 25% of Hillary Clinton supporters said they would be satisfied if Barack Obama won the nomination, and only 38% of Obama supporters said they'd be satisfied with Clinton as the nominee. More telling, 36% of Clinton supporters said they would vote for Obama if he's the nominee, but 35% said they'd jump ship for John McCain. The economy was voters' No. 1 issue. More»