But with the ailing economy increasingly at the heart of the 2008 election, the white working-class vote that Obama won in Wisconsin -- and lost after that -- may be key. If Obama wants to wrap up the nomination before June, he'll have to find a way to win those voters back.

The difference is about six weeks, which is a lifetime in politics.

Since Wisconsin, the economy has worsened, we've had two consecutive months of big job losses, the housing foreclosure crisis has expanded to include more middle class voters who also are even less likely now to get credit than they were in February. And the cost of gasoline has skyrocketed.

The news we have experienced and seen in the six weeks since Wisconsin has only gotten worse. Now, more people see themselves being affected. And the economy has replaced the Iraq War as voters' number one concern (another big difference from Wisconsin).

People may "throw the bums out" during more stable times, but the majority of voters -- blue-collar working class -- aren't about to hand over the country now to a neophyte politician during such incredibly volatile times.

I said back in February that the economy was going to get worse, which would affect health care; that oil would go up and affect everything from transportation to heating costs. I said then that kitchen-table issues would determine the Democratic nominee and that voters would vote for the candidate they identified as best positioned to address these kitchen table issues.

Guess what? This is what has happened since Wisconsin. Barack Obama did not and does not have a strategy for this. His strategy was to cruise to victory on the Iraq War (and by stealth bombing Hillary Clinton as unelectable because of "secrecy", high negatives, trustworthiness, calculations, etc.) to provide just the question marks he needed to swing Clinton voters or those who probably would support her.

He is also losing because he is indecisive in the clutch (about Wright, most notably). This is not a good signal during economic hard times. That's also why he's losing.

Finally, "change" and "unity" are NOT leadership. To date, many voters have viewed them as interchangeable, in large part because they were not immediately affected by a worsening economy/housing foreclosure crisis. Now voters see the distinctions. They want leadership on these ISSUES and are flocking to Hillary Clinton.

That's the thing. The obamateur's insist that voters will transfer from Hillary to any Dem candidate. Not so. They don't trust Obama on the economy: poll after poll shows they trust Hlllary more than McCain, but McCain more than Obama.

And perhaps rightly so. first, at least you know where McCain stands - and he has a reputation deserved or not, as someone who will break from the GOP lockstep.

Meanwhile historically Obama has delivered none of the change he spews on about. And in this election his entire campaign has been Clinton bashing, posturing on an old vote on a war he had no skin in, and race-baiting.

In troubled economic times people couldn't be any LESS interested in dialogue on race, leaving aside whether they should or shouldn't be.

Rev. Wright is really pissed off at Obama, and you can be damned sure that his speech at the NAACP awards was just the beginning of a long, drawn out ass whooping. See, Rev. Wright thought that since Obama dedicated his book to him, basing the book on a sermon he spoke, and because he is his mentor and all, that he would be part of the party at the White House. But, Obama blew him off totally, and then denounced and renounced him. And Rev. Wright don't take that shit.

The phone lines have been burning up between Obama camp and Rev. Wright, and it will be interesting to see how much money it takes to silence him. I don't think there is enough, but who knows.

What I do know is that this is old time politics and ass whoopings go way way back. If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen, 'cause I'm doing just fine.

Oh, and I have more insider information than you could ever hope for. And Obama is toast. White or dark, he is toast. The only question is can you all apologize and back a real winner--HILLARY CLINTON. If not, you are to blame for the fiasco called McCain 2008.

Polls show her besting him in Indiana AND NC...and she just picked up five superdelegates. FIVE. Go America Go, Go America Go, Go HILLARY GO!

I may not like some of you peeps, but I still think you deserve better than Obama. GO AMERICA GO, GO HILLARY GO!!!

Tell your trash to the tourists. Obama picked up 5 superdelegates today, and Hillary - 4.

You guys are 100% right and 0% wrong. 20 years of black rasict osmosis from Rev. Wright means that Black Hussein Osama, outside of his hollow, empty suit exterior; is a seething cauldron of rage. The day after, God forbid, he is inaugurated, you know he will bust out with his Black Panther fist in the air, a dashiki and a pick in his hair. Then its time for payback, it's Kill Whitey time. We must stop this disgusting radical rascist Afro-Leninist America-Hater before its too late.

Hillary '08!!

Nope, you are wrong and I am, of course, right.

Also, to stupid poster, it is not just that he is a racist, but that he has no plan. Got it, good. This is not a job for weenies.

the pick in his hair was a nice touch. your posts are high quality in an otherwise horrid thread. if we all care about the country, we all need to promise to vote for whomever the dem nominee is. to all HRC and BHO bashers, i'm afraid there is absolutely no merit to the argument that McCain is better than the one you oppose. Either is better than four more years of this nonsense. i mean, policy-wise, they are nearly identical - so whoever wins will have just about the same agenda if the get sworn in. so it basically comes down to only three things:

1) personality

2) electability

3) baggage

the conventional wisdom was that HRC had a lot more baggage and higher negatives when this started, but this stupid pastor non-issue is not leaving us, because of the lazy media's inability to focus on important things. (and HRC people, most of the crap that makes up HRC's negatives is just as vapid - aka killing vince foster, whitewater, billing, etc, etc.) if the reverend wright thing has got legs, it could cause a lot of problems if BHO was the nominee. The real question is whether HRC can win over the irrational dislike many americans have for her, and whether BHO can mollify those afraid of the unknown. THe irony is HRC's problems are because she is too well known (i.e. people have preconceived impressions of her, based on facts or lies) and BHO is too unknown (so people can just lie to constituents, and they'll believe it, since the stories have not been vetted - not that that necessarily matters, just ask HRC).

Arguably, BHO has a better, more charismatic persona than HRC, who is not as easy going as him or her husband. but, while i do like to be inspired, i prefer competence to empty, reagan-esque feel-goodery. HRC would be an excellent administrator. Of course, on the flip side, BHO is a very smart, introspective man, who has a lot of substance and wonkishness. so he also would be an excellent administrator. McCain, on the other hand, does not seem to know (or intentionally tries to confuse) the difference between sunnis and shias, has more warmongering tendencies than W, and obviously knows nothing about the economy and will follow the absolutely laughable standard republican fiscal policy. Now i know HRC opponents will point out she has supported the mind-numbingly dumb gas tax holiday, and said she'd nuke iran, but let's be honest - she was pandering to create a difference b/w her and BHO to try and make up some ground in the primaries. disagree with the tactic, but let's not pretend she actually means it seriously. not like McCain. HRC wants to win, and contrary to her supporters in this thread, she has very little chance of pulling it off. since her and BHO are so close on policy, distinctions must be created, and this is what we get.

i've said before and i'll say again, i actually think this race is good for the dems. i support the 50 state plan, i think new registrations are good for the party, and i think getting this crap out now probably is better than later. i like invading traditional republican territory, and i think states like nevada, texas, montana, missouri, indiana, and virginia have a lot of potential. combine that with the death grip the dems have on the mortheast and the west coast, and that's a majority without the weird fickleness of my home state of ohio. (goddammmit ohio, what is the matter with you already?) BHO has more appeal in these states, and HRC seems to have more appeal in ohio, penn, mich and fla, so i don't know which is the right decision - all i know is we need to stop claiming that if our candidate does not win the nomination, we are gonna take our ball and go home. this is a historic year - the republicans have effed around with reality so long they can no longer pull the wool over most people's eyes, and people are ready to hear that tough problems may actually call for tough solutions (read: real solutions instead of "tax cuts will solve everything!")

we need to work together, and everybody needs to push for the dem nominee. i don't understand why the dem always gets knocked down on these personality/morals issues. BHO and HRC have both been married only once, have relatively ethical records (i live in illinois - BHO's "connection" to Rezko is just a solid as whitewater and the billing scandals that HRC has suffered through) and both are caring individuals who actually want to govern this country. the republican candidate left his wife after she raised his kids while he was in a pow camp for five years (who was disfigured in a car accident while he was gone) to marry a rich heiress he had been sleeping with while married. He was involved in the Keating five for crying out loud, which was the gold standard of financial corruption for the time between the teapot dome and enron. and republicans have shown that they have zero interest in actually governing this country. so put aside the stupid sniping and agree to support either candidate. i understand he or she may not be your first choice, but that's life.