Expect the Expected

Hillary Clinton did the expected and won the West Virginia primary in a landslide. She gave a good speech. She was gracious, determined, focused, and even a bit poetic. She insisted she would stay in the race. That, too, was expected.

However, unlike her supporters' rapturous declaration of a significant victory, the facts tell another story. The delegate math is irrefutable--even if one buys the outrageous new move-the-goalpost-strategy of declaring 2,209 as the number of required delegates to secure the nomination. (This supposes that...sigh...Michigan and Florida will count). And another Clinton super delegate, former Colorado governor Roy Romer, used the math to throw his support to Barack Obama. This gives Obama an ever widening superdelegate lead, as well. Pesky facts.

Nevertheless, Clinton has a right to make her case that she could win the general against McCain. She no doubt could. But many people think that Obama could, as well.

Which leads us to one big question: can the outcomes in these primaries be reliable harbingers of general election results? Does an Obama loss to Clinton in PA mean that he has no shot against McCain there? Hillary says yes. Others say, 'It's hard to tell'. Hillary's demographics seem consistent. But Obama has proven that when he gets in front of voters he can change opinions. And with the Rev. Wright issue stabilized and not fresh in the minds of a racially wary group of white voters, couldn't he make inroads with those working class white voters. We won't know until, possibly, the fall.

But there's this to consider: if any one can change the electoral map of battleground states, it is Obama. While Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida have been the old school swing states, Obama (with the help of Howard Dean and his 50 state strategy) has created a new map of swing states: Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Montana, North Carolina and maybe even Georgia.

So don't hold your breath while you drink the latest Clinton Kool-Aid. Not that much has changed after tonight's victory. But after a 35 point blowout, you can't blame her for offering you the drink.

Do these primary demographics spell trouble for Obama in a general? Talk about this or anything else you'd like by clicking on 'comments' below, by passing the Google search engine and hitting the nickname or anonymous button.