Clinton Looks for "Game Changer" Against Obama

Hillary Clinton and her strategists are still looking for what one adviser calls "a game changer" to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from Barack Obama, and they think the Pennsylvania primary might fill the bill.

Their latest scenario is that Clinton will dramatically shake up the race by scoring a big victory in Pennsylvania on April 22. Then, the Clinton insiders' theory goes, she will win Indiana in May 6 to keep her momentum alive. Her strategists hope she can keep things close in North Carolina, also on May 6, but they concede that Obama will probably win there.

But the Hillary team predicts she will win West Virginia May 13, sweep Kentucky and Oregon May 20, and take Montana and South Dakota June 3. At that point, they believe she will be very close to Obama in popular votes, and she could pull ahead of him in that department, especially if she can persuade the Democratic National Committee to count the votes from Florida's disputed January primary. The Clinton team believes it can make a compelling case to superdelegates if she can overtake Obama in popular votes nationwide, where he currently leads. But they concede that overtaking him in pledged delegates might be impossible using only the results of the primaries and caucuses.

"Each campaign is trying to write a legal brief for the ultimate judges"—the superdelegates, says a Hillary insider. The problem for Clinton is that Obama's scenario is just as plausible. Obama's aides predict he will come close in Pennsylvania if he doesn't actually upset Clinton there, and that will blunt any Clinton momentum. Then they predict Obama will win Indiana and North Carolina.

Their pitch to the superdelegates—a group of about 800 elected officials and Democratic leaders who probably will make the difference in deciding the nomination—is that Obama will be ahead not only in pledged delegates, which will probably be correct, but possibly in popular votes as well. They will also argue that Obama has showed his mettle under fire.

"He took some punches and did well," says the Clinton insider with grudging admiration.

—Kenneth T. Walsh