Media reports are assessing Sen. Hillary Clinton's 55%-45% margin of victory in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary as sufficient to allow her to continue her campaign, but most also focus on the challenges that her campaign faces in actually securing the nomination. The Los Angeles Times, for example, reports that "mathematically, with just nine contests left, it appears virtually impossible for Clinton to overtake Obama in the popular vote and among pledged delegates -- those chosen in primaries and caucuses." In an analysis, the AP says this morning "Clinton should savor the moment. Soon enough, she must face the reality of time and money running out on her once-invincible campaign." In an analysis, the Chicago Tribune reports, "Despite another high-profile defeat, Obama still has numbers on his side." The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that while Clinton's "margin was clear, and would be considered a near landslide in an ordinary election, it seemed to have fallen short of the overwhelming blow-out she needed to dramatically reduce the delegate gap between her and Mr. Obama." Long Island Newsday reports that Clinton's campaign "will wake Wednesday to the reality that the win probably only changed the fundamentals of the race around the margins -- barely trimming Obama's delegate lead and cutting about 100,000-plus off his 700,000-vote popular vote margin."
Bloomberg News says, "Even with the victory," Clinton "faces a steep climb in her quest for the nomination. Because the Democratic Party apportions delegates based on the popular vote, she's not likely to erode much of Obama's lead." The AP says Clinton's win last night seemed to have little effect on the race for convention delegates, as "a preliminary tabulation showed her gaining at least 52 national convention delegates to 46 for Obama, with 60 still to be awarded. That left Obama with 1,694.5 delegates, and Clinton with 1,561.5, according to the AP tally." The Hill reports, "When the dust settles from Pennsylvania, Obama will no doubt continue to hold a delegate lead, a popular vote lead and an overwhelming money lead."
The race now moves on to North Carolina and Indiana, which hold their primaries on May 6. Obama is heavily favored in North Carolina, where the Democratic primary electorate is heavily black, but Indiana is a serious battleground. In fact, Indiana may be decisive, the New York Times reports on its front page this morning, as it poses "another make-or-break challenge for Mrs. Clinton, according to several of her advisers, who said that they would urge her to quit the race if she lost that state." In an analysis, the Financial Times says Indiana "suddenly looms large."
Clinton Says Win Shows "Tide Is Turning" McClatchy reports that addressing supporters in Philadelphia, the former first lady said, "Some counted me out and said to drop out. ... But the American people don't quit. And they deserve a president who doesn't quit, either. ... You listened and today you chose. ... Because of you, the tide is turning." And "noting that Obama outspent her 3-1 in the state, Clinton made a direct appeal for contributions to shore up her cash-starved campaign."
While much of the media is focused on Hillary Clinton's inability to win the nomination despite her double-digit Pennsylvania win, a second theme emerging this morning is questions about Barack Obama's ability to put her away. In an analysis, the AP reports, "Why can't Barack Obama close the deal? It's a question Hillary Rodham Clinton and her surrogates raised through the last days of the caustic Pennsylvania primary contest. And unfortunately for Obama -- who lost to the former first lady by a 10-point margin Tuesday night -- it's a question that bears repeating." In his The Politico column, Roger Simon writes that Obama's inability to "close the deal" validates Clinton's argument that Obama "does not have 'what it takes' to be president and lead the nation in crisis." The Philadelphia Inquirer says that while Obama remains "in a much stronger position" to take the nomination, yesterday's results "had a disturbingly familiar feel to them, raising anew questions about his ability to close the deal with voters."
A front-page Washington Post story says Obama's defeat in Pennsylvania "raised anew questions about his ability to win the big industrial states that will be critical to the Democrats' hopes of winning back the White House in November." In the coming days, Clinton's camp will try to play on those doubts with uncommitted superdelegates -- who have been moving toward Obama over the past two months -- urging them to remain neutral until the primaries are over." A second front-page story in the Washington Post describes Obama as "unable once again to score a knockout," and says the Illinois senator "is likely to make his new negative tone even more negative."
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A third theme in this morning's coverage of the Pennsylvania primary is the negative impact the extended primary is having on the Democrats' chances of taking the White House in November. The New York Times says the party "may prove to have been the real loser in the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday." While her margin of victory was "enough" to go on, Democrats "increasingly believe" the ongoing primary battle "is undermining their effort to unify the party and prepare for the general election against" Sen. John McCain. In an analysis, McClatchy says that Clinton's win "means that the Democratic Party's eventual nominee will be badly bruised and could have a tough time rallying the party in the fall. Clinton on Tuesday once again failed to do well among young and African-American voters, who are growing increasingly alienated from" her.
The Washington Times runs a similar story under the headline "Democratic Prizefight Might Knock Out Party," in which it remarks on exit polling showing "an alarming chasm between the two Democrats -- with only half of Clinton voters saying they would back Mr. Obama should he win the nomination. One-quarter of Clinton voters would back Mr. McCain while 19 percent said they would stay home in November entirely." Of Obama supporters, "67 percent said they would support Mrs. Clinton if she earns the party nod, 17 percent would back the Republican senator and 12 percent would not vote." The Washington Post reports that "there are signs in the Pennsylvania exit poll that the prolonged battle for the Democratic nomination may have negative consequences for the party," as does the Wall Street Journal.
However, not all observers see the battle as harming the Democrats. In his Wall Street Journal column, Gerald F. Seib writes that though "nervous Democrats" will balk at the suggestion, the long Democratic race will make the ultimate winner "a better candidate, and just maybe a better president if he/she wins in November. Toughness and resilience are important attributes, and that is what a long campaign instills in a candidate. So just maybe this prolonged fight is good for the Democrats."
With the media in recent days speculating that Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign's dire cash situation (it began the month with $9 million in cash and $10 million in debt) would potentially cripple her campaign going forward, her win yesterday seems to have put those concerns to rest. Bloomberg News reports that Clinton "parlayed her" Pennsylvania win "into a pitch for funds, and her campaign said she raised $2.5 million in the hours after the polls closed. ... Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said the money came in less than three hours after voting ended. He called it 'our best fundraising night ever.'" In a story headlined "Hillary Clinton Begs For Cash Post-Win," the New York Daily News reports, "A beaming Hillary Clinton declared victory Tuesday night, and immediately begged her supporters to shovel cash into her campaign's depleted war chest. 'We can only keep winning if we keep competing,' insisted Clinton, who then plugged her Web site and urged viewers to make a donation during a speech from a Philadelphia hotel."
The New York Times reports, "Wagging his finger once again," former President Bill Clinton "chided a reporter on Tuesday for what he deemed a misinterpretation of his remarks during a radio interview in which he said the Obama campaign 'played the race card on me.'" Clinton "confronted the issue of race again on Monday when he was asked by an interviewer for WHYY radio in Philadelphia about his remarks earlier this year on the results of the South Carolina Democratic primary," in which he "likened the victory of Senator Barack Obama to that of the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1998," and WHYY reporter Susan Phillips "asked him whether he would still make that comparison or whether it had been a mistake, prompting Mr. Clinton to reply: 'No, I think that they played the race card on me. We now know, from memos from the campaign and everything, that they planned to do it [all] along.'" Clinton was "caught, at the end of the interview when he apparently thought he was off the microphone, saying, 'I don't think I should take any' - he then used an expletive - 'from anybody on that, do you?'"
The Philadelphia Daily News adds, "Asked yesterday by Mike Memoli, of NBC and the National Journal, what he'd meant by accusing the Obama campaign of playing the race card, Clinton responded: 'No, no, no. That's not what I said. You always follow me around and play these little games and I'm not going to play your games today.' Clinton then accused Memoli of trying to 'get another cheap story to divert the American people.'" The Boston Globe reports that "Obama was incredulous when reporters asked him about the former president's comments. 'I have no idea what he meant,' he said. 'These were words that came out of his mouth.'"
On the same day President Bush defended NAFTA during a press conference with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, the Wall Street Journal reports Sen. John McCain "brought his economic message to this battleground state" of Ohio, and "didn't back away from his support for free trade but added a heavy dose of compassion in a quest to win voters here." However, McCain's "softer tone didn't change" his "stance on some issues unpopular in these parts. He reiterated his support for NAFTA and his aversion to restraining overseas trade." The Los Angeles Times adds that when McCain "went to Michigan on the eve of its January primary and told voters that the state's lost jobs were not coming back, many political experts thought he had made a huge mistake. Particularly after he was trounced by Mitt Romney, who pledged to rebuild the state's auto industry." But McCain delivered a "similar economic message" yesterday in Youngstown.
McClatchy says McCain used "his own recent political fortunes - a dramatic fade followed by an unexpected comeback to secure the Republican presidential nomination - to illustrate that depressed Rust Belt cities such as Youngstown can rebound." But to "preach the virtues of free trade in such a place is risky even for a candidate who prides himself on 'straight talk.'" Similarly, the AP says McCain "made a risky argument."
McCain Sounds Off On Dangerous China Toy Imports Bloomberg News reports that McCain "vowed that as president, he would halt toy imports from China if life- threatening safety defects are found. 'I have to tell you, if I were president of the United States, the next toy that came into this country from China that endangered the lives of our children, it would be the last toy that came into the United States,'" McCain said in his Youngstown speech.
The New York Post reports this morning that a Siena College poll shows Sen. John McCain competitive with both Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in New York, a state that has been reliably "blue" in recent elections. The poll shows Clinton leading McCain 46%-42% and Obama topping him 45%-40%. The New York Daily News adds that McCain "is within the poll's 4-point error margin against both Democrats. 'New York is looking more 'purple' than 'blue' these days, since neither Clinton nor Obama gets 50% of the vote against McCain,' said Steven Greenberg, the Siena poll spokesman."
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The Washington Post reports, "As Senate leaders yesterday observed Equal Pay Day, the White House threatened to veto a bill that would make it easier for victims of discrimination to sue their employers over unequal pay." The bill, which has already passed the House, "aims to reverse a controversial Supreme Court decision from last spring," which held "that Lilly Ledbetter, the lone female supervisor at an Alabama tire plant, could not sue her employer over unequal pay because the alleged discrimination that cut her wages occurred years before she filed a complaint."
The White House, however, may not have to act on its veto threat. On its front page, the New York Times reports Senate GOP "leadership aides and other Republicans said they expected to be able to deny backers of the bill the 60 votes needed to bring it to the floor in a showdown scheduled for Wednesday."
The bill is drawing mixed editorial reaction. The New York Times said the "act's defeat would please the Bush White House and the United States Chamber of Commerce," but it would also "be a significant civil rights setback." The Los Angeles Times editorializes that "Congress should pass this bill, and...Bush should sign it." But the Washington Post says that before passage, "lawmakers should tweak some of the language to close possible loopholes that could have unintended consequences."
The Wall Street Journal reports US auto makers "must increase the average fuel efficiency of their cars and trucks to 31.6 miles per gallon from today's 25 by 2015 under new rules issued by the Bush administration. The pace of the increase is somewhat faster than was mandated in last year's big energy bill." USA Today says the Transportation Department's "proposal is tougher than the fuel-economy requirements passed by Congress last year, which called for a 3.3% annual increase in gas mileage. The federal plan calls for a 4.5% annual increase from 2011 to 2015." The Washington Post adds that DOT "said the regulation preempts efforts under way in California and 17 other states, including Maryland, to implement their own legislation limiting tailpipe emissions. California has been battling the Transportation Department over a state law requiring a 30 percent reduction in emissions standards from motor vehicles by 2016, which translates into 36 miles per gallon."
The AP says the proposed schedule "was more aggressive than initially expected by the auto industry. ... Environmental groups and their allies in Congress, who have criticized the Bush administration's handling of the requirements, said they were mostly encouraged by the proposal." Meanwhile, the New York Times reports the timetable that Transportation Secretary Peters "laid out is nearly 50 percent faster than what would be required to meet the law passed last December."
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The AP reports Education Secretary Margaret Spellings in Detroit yesterday announced "new rules designed to address the nation's dropout problem and ensure close attention is paid to the achievement of minority students" under NCLB. The rules include "a new requirement that by the 2012-13 school year, all states would have to calculate their graduation rates in a uniform way" and schools would "be judged not only on how the overall student body does but also on the percentage of minority students who graduate."
USA Today reports Spellings said "the nation's public schools 'need to get real about having kids graduate from high school on time." The Washington Post calls the proposals "major changes" that are "meant to tighten oversight of public schools."
The New York Times called the proposals "a series of ninth-inning regulatory fixes" that Spellings "said she was proposing...because efforts in Congress...have stalled and because 'everywhere I go I meet parents who are demanding change.'" The Washington Times reports, "Top lawmakers complained the changes aren't enough and blamed one other and President Bush for the law's problems."
McClatchy reports former senior Justice Department official Robert E. Couglin II "admitted Tuesday that he did favors for clients of lobbyist Jack Abramoff while accepting free meals at upscale Washington restaurants and luxury-suite tickets to sports games paid for by Abramoff's former firm."
The AP notes Coughlin "accepted the gifts from 2001 to 2003 while working on legislative affairs for the Justice Department. He later became deputy chief of staff of the department's criminal division -- the same division handling the Abramoff probe -- before he resigned a year ago, citing personal reasons." The Washington Post reports, "Coughlin told US District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle yesterday that he already had met at least once with federal investigators." Coughlin "faces as much as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but his plea agreement indicates he is likely to face no more than 10 months and a $10,000 fine, or less, if he cooperates."
USA Today reports that the Supreme Court justices yesterday "fiercely debated the constitutionality of the 'millionaires' amendment' of federal campaign finance law...in a case that revealed the justices' tensions over congressional latitude to regulate campaign financing." The provision, part of the 2002 McCain-Feingold bill, "kicks in when a candidate gives more than $350,000 of personal money to his or her campaign. The law lets opposing candidates then exceed the ordinary campaign donation limits."
The Wall Street Journal says "campaign-finance regulations often provoke sharp divisions on the court," with "liberals" tending "to focus on the regulations as furthering the goal of fair, clean elections" and "conservatives often" seeing "campaign-finance regulations as interfering with First Amendment rights to free expression."
The Hill notes the "so-called millionaire's amendment was added to the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act as an attempt to help candidates stay competitive and prevent self-funded candidates from simply buying their way into Congress."
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Jay Leno: "In Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama celebrated Earth Day by throwing mud at each other."
Jay Leno: "Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, working on a new book about his strategy for the war in Iraq. The book just came out. We have a first copy here. It's called, 'Don't Blame Me, It Was Cheney's Idea.'"
David Letterman: "How about the presidential campaign? ... I'm no political expert, but here is the problem with what the Democrats are doing. They're spending too much time attacking one another and not enough time trying to rig the election."
Conan O'Brien: "Earlier this morning, Hillary Clinton...said she will stay in the presidential race even if she loses the Pennsylvania primary. Yeah. She also said she'll stay in the race even if she loses the nomination and November's election."
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