Why is Barak O’Bama still in the race let along winning it? How does a first term African American Senator with a funny name lead a former First Lady of a popular and good Democratic President? How and why? The answer is simple. He is leading because his campaign has worked smarter and better than has Ms. Clinton's campaign. It’s that simple. It isn’t because he is black; it isn’t because she is a woman. It’s time to face reality. It’s because he has done a better job. He has taken nothing for granted. He’s has taken each state’s primary or caucus seriously. He has expanded his market while Ms. Clinton has sought simply to gain a larger share of the existing one. He has voiced a vision for change, which the country desperately wants. She hasn’t. That’s not to say that Ms. Clinton is a bad person or that Mr. O’Bama is a good one; it is to say that he’s done a better job. I got the feeling in February as Mr. O’Bama was racking up win after win in the "little" states that she wasn’t paying enough attention. She was Appollo Creed to O’Bama’s Rocky.
The reality is that Ms. Clinton didn’t realize what had happened until it was too late. After February, it was clear that the only way she could win was to avoid getting swept in hopes of taking the election to the Convention. Given recent events, I’m not sure she can hold out irrespective as to whether she wins in Pennsylvania. She has pulled out the last weapons in her arsenal – race, religious, gender, and experience questions. The question is whether they will work. So far, her actions seem to have had some initial success – she won Ohio and Rhode Island - but I don’t think it lasts and my guess is that in six weeks there will be a 50/50 split in Pennsylvania and then it’s up to a bunch of super-delegates, which is really her only hope and has been since the end of February.