May 12th, 2008
Column: In hope of a principled campaign
Hillary Clinton’s failure of momentum in Indiana and North Carolina last week as good as assured Barack Obama of the Democratic party’s nomination. Regardless of what happens in West Virginia tomorrow (Mrs Clinton expects an easy win), the question is no longer whether she has a chance of deflecting her rival. It is whether the manner of her exit will support or undermine him – and then what kind of contest the battle between Mr Obama and John McCain, the Republican nominee, will be.
The nomination fight has left the Democratic party divided. Mr Obama hardly swept the board in last week’s primaries: he won comfortably in a state he expected to win and held Mrs Clinton to a close result in the other. In other words, he triumphed only in denying her the big results she needed.
He made no inroads into her base of support. He merely shored up his own – among black people, the young and the urban middle class – and (against the run of recent poll results) stopped the rot elsewhere. It was enough to win and to calm the nerves of party leaders who were starting to question Mr Obama’s electability.
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