Slight digression, but I'm wondering what impact Bill Clinton has on voters right now. Specifically, how many people vote for Hillary just because she's Bill's wife, esp. in Ohio, Penn and Indiana? I'm curious if there's been any discussion on how much pulling power he has. He's made a few gaffes and made a few people angry, but I believe he's still very charming in person. Is there any data out there to prove / disprove my point?

I have a feeling that there are a hefty dose of Republicans voting for both Hillary and Obama. Of course they will vote for McCain in the fall. the real question is whether they actually intend to vote for a democrat in the fall should the person they voted for now become the nominee.

Remember the bitterness within the Republican prinaries, before they decided on McPain. Now, a couple months later, they have healed. We will heal as well.

Gee - I'd hate to have to settle for the candidate I was in some way unhappy with.

I went out and voted today for Obama - Hillary's Strengths go against McCain's Strengths while Obama's Strengths are McCain's Weaknesses, and in my opinion that makes him a moderately better candidate.

That said - if Hillary wins I will happily vote for her. McCain has made it clear he intends to stay with the policies that got us here. Voting for John McCain means either you like those policies, or you think he's lying about staying with them and only you are smart enough to see that.

I'll take my chances with the Democratic Party any day.

Jonnan

The unprecedented vitriol pitched at Clinton and her supporters from far too many angles is almost certainly going to have a lasting effect. Also, residual anger/bitterness aside, many Clintonites just don't believe Obama is suited to be president of this country. They most certainly are dead tired of being told that they are racists for not believing He's The One.

My God! What is that supposed to mean? Yeah, if my candidate, Obama, doesn't win the nomination I will be dissatisfied. So? I'm voting for the Democratic candidate. I'm going to support Obama with my money and my time, and in November I will vote for whoever wins the nomination. I'm dissatisfied with Salon's political coverage, but dammit, here I am, right?

Hillary attracts most of the Dems who always vote for the GOP. We saw this in PA.

And if Hillary wins they will vote for McCain, because he is pro-life.

How are these people helping to elect my party's choice?

Yes, I remember the Republican primaries. I especially remember how Romney bowed out early to help unite his party -- since he knew he had no chance of winning.

The party is deeply divided, and as many black posters have stated, the manner in which Clinton decided to unfurl her southern strategy in order to garner the nomination has turned AA voters off to her, forever.

Some months ago I wrote that a friend and I had a discussion about how Hillary would run, and how she would pull out all the stops and not be concerned about insulting the intelligence of AAs, because she was confident to the point of delusion that she could bring black folks back into the fold---after all, she considered Bill an expert at this--after she'd run a campaign against them, in essence.

Not this time. It will not happen, and the party elders know it.

It will get worse, not better if she is the nominee. Even if Obama makes extraordinary appeals to his base. Black people have decided that they will walk away.

We take the issue of fairness very, very seriously.

Done.

I am a Clinton supporter and if Obama gets the nomination I'll be voting for McCain. It's not bitterness over the primary. It's simply that he is not an acceptable choice in my opinion. I like the Democratic domestic agenda; health insurance reform, saving Social Security and Medicare, education funding. But Obama's strategy for the war on terror (appeasement, bribery and surrender) are not OK. I hate the war as much as anybody (I was in the Army for six years.) but if we don't fight now we'll end up fighting later, with a much higher price in blood.

I consider McCain ideal on foreign policy and military issues. I consider Clinton acceptable. I could never vote for Obama. Because I'm an American patriot. And appeasement doesn't work.

"We take the issue of fairness very, very seriously."

And Maya Angelou doesn't? How about Sheila Jackson Lee? Mayor Nutter? John L. Lewis (who was shamefully and very publicly pressured into switching his support to Obama)? There and others. And you undoubtedly know their names. This smearing of the Clintons has got to be one of the most vile political chapters in the annals of the Democratic party. It's fine for blacks to support Obama; it's not fine for them to violate the Clintons in the process.

Every network tv station in the country just interupted regular programs to announce Obama in NCarolina.

Will Hillary bow out for the sake of the party??

Hmmmmmm, methinks she won't.

I've been predicting a Hillary derailment for some time - I offer another: John McCain will take the oath to be the 44th President of the US.

Third party formed for midterm elections. Democrats marginalized. America lurches into the future. Divided. Pointing fingers. Feeling victimized. (Fyi, we did it to ourselves with out standard of living.)

patriotic? Iraq? Only the last vestige of Bushista support, now around 25%, think anything like that. So, Benedict Arnold the Eggman, you're not a Democrat anyway. Go vote fascist if that's what run the flag up your pole. As far as Poor Kate and Poor Hillary, hey, baby, it's the kitchen, remember? Get tough or get out. That's our Billary. tonight, she'll lose another net ten to twenty delegates (winning Idiotana by, say, 7, and losing NC by 10. Thus, with the end of the road in sight to all but the billbot blineded, she'll be down better than 150 delegates. All the threats, bribery, racism, lying, pandering, personality changes (she's jest a good ol' shot 'n a beer blue collar honey who happens to make 15 million a year), droppin' her G's and pretendin' she's one o' the dumb 'uns she needs to have any shot at all, with or without a beer. She's got Katie and Eggman, so the stupid votes seem to line up again. Quelle surprise.