It will be interesting to see how the polls track on Clinton voters defecting to McCain once the general election gets under way. This probably will not be a major problem but possibly could be a significant one.

"....given that Clinton would almost certainly have droped out if she lost Indiana,...."

Really? I don't believe Hillary will drop out even after Barack has won the nomination, the presidency, and been inaugurated, although maybe she'll start to realize that she's playing a somewhat weakened hand at that point. But do you really think that losing another few thousand votes in Indiana (which, at that point, would have joined the long list of states that didn't matter) would have really caused her to drop out? Hey, she's still gonna win the popular vote, right? Certainly by more than the 14K or so she lost by in Indiana, counting Michigan, Florida, and those recently killed in Burma and China (who can't speak for themselves any longer, sadly, but SURELY would have gone with Clinton if they could have voted!). No reason that would have caused her to quit. He actual ability to still win clearly has nothing to do with anything...

Not all crossover voters are out to make mischief, even those committed to their party's candidate in the fall.  Many vote for the candidate they think is least objectionable.  In some cases, there are risk-reward tradeoffs.  For example, would you rather have the Republican nominee be McCain or Huckabee? Huckabee would have been much easier to beat, but if he somehow did pull it out, the prospect of a Huckabee presidency is a lot scarier than the prospect of a McCain presidency.

The phenomenon is not a surprise, being surprised by it is a surprise.  Obama represents fear for the Republicans -- they don't know how to handle him, and of course they would much rather face off against Hillary.  What is odd is the way in which the story has been avoided by the MSM.  It's as if our fairy-tale of uncorrupted democratic participation would be damaged by openly admitting that the actual opposition party tries where it can to tweak the Dem numbers in its favor.

Agreed, AlanSP.  I had thought for a week about contributing money to the McCain campaign just to do my part so that we wouldn't have any pro-torture candidates in the general.  A week later, McCain sewed it up, so I didn't, but I seriously thought about it.

I find it interesting how little coverage this crossover vote has received in light of Indiana's famously draconian voter ID law, passed to "ensure the integrity of the electoral process."

Just to show how opinions can vary. AlanSP, I had assumed that the Dem race would be over by Virginia and so I was debating whom to vote for in the Republican primary here. On the one hand, I believed Huckabee would have been the hardest Republican nominee to beat. The man absolutely kills in one-on-one TV interviews, which will be the dominant form of candidate-to-voter communication for most of the election. On the other hand, I also believed he would be the least-bad actual president from among the GOP candidates. The crazy stuff he believes about evolution and whatnot generally has nothing to do with the job of being president, and he had a more solid record of simple good-government moderation as governor than any other GOP candidate in a while. I didn't want to vote mischievously in terms of pulling the lever for the worst GOP candidate and then snickering and twirling my mustache on the way out, but it would have been a form of earnest strategic voting either for the most acceptable potential president or against the most formidable nominee.

It's hard to divine just what Republicans meant by voting strategically for Hillary. On the one hand, there is a reason so many conservatives put Hillary's name or photo on their books: She's the Democrat they most love to hate. On the other hand, if they looked at her record, they would see that Hillary is by far the Democrat most likely to govern in a manner acceptable to conservatives and Republicans. So there is also every reason to expect that any given Republican Hillary voter honestly believed that Hillary is the Democrat he would rather see in the White House, if any Democrat must win the presidency.

Yeah right, take a bit of unsupported speculation from a pro-Obama blog and make it sound significant. Great example of shameless propaganda.

"given that Clinton would almost certainly have dropped out if she lost Indiana"

I doubt it.

I'm not sure if it's quite unsupported, sleepy -- after all, Limbaugh is (as far as I know) on the record as having sketched out such a plan on his show, and there is something revealing about the exit polls of people who claim that, despite their vote for Hillary, they have no intention of voting Democratic in November.

Again, nobody's saying it's wrong or illegal -- just that it's a tactic that might potentially have been used.  Maybe individually rather than as a planned intervention (which is what Rhubarbs was describing with the Huckabee dilemma).  In any case, I'm sure that more than one campaign is factoring this possibility into their number crunching.

irony, I note your point. It remains to be seen how much Obama's caucus success means anything in the general election. The man has lost a lot of primaries (Hillary won considerably more of those) and has almost won the nomination based on caucuses. That's a pretty weak basis for being a national candidate.

Having his supporters urge Hillary to quit before the race is over does nothing but alienate. It comes across as arrogant jury-rigging. If you want to win, then win, don't ask the other candidate to quit.

Sleepy - Obama won months ago, you just refuse to admit it and so does she.  These last several Nya Nya Nya Bigotry Will Prevail, You'll See states she's pathetically preening through mean nothing - Obama has won by every measure.  It's sad, but the truth hurts.

But a loss still hurts or needs to be explained, trivialized, ignored, criticized, doesn't it Wandrey?  That's what Barack's in for tonight.  So, here is a preview of the very boring and tired Hillary-bashing narrative that will soon be plastered all over the media:  "Hillary's win in WV is meaningless" (oh, but when she says the states she won are important, she gest trashed for demeaning the caucus states- double standard).  "Her win is nothing short of a sinister attempt to divide the party." (it couldn't possibly be the will of the WV voters now, could it?)  "She built up those large margins just to knee-cap Obama" (who looks like a messiah on today's TNR cover with his hands held upright to the sky).  "She's decided to go out on a negative note by winning WV hugely." (Damn her for appealing to people in a swing state and illustrating so vividly shortcomings in Obama)  "She's playing the racist card by winning WV"... yadda yadda yadda.  

Barack Obama will win the GE if he keeps the media in his back pocket.  Nothing else will matter nearly as much to who prevails.  The media are determined to get him elected.  No one can really dispute that anymore.  Obama has been given the most critical political capital/assistance that anyone could enjoy.  It is more valuable than funds raised, delegates, endorsements, charm, judgement etc.  John Hinderaker from Powerline said it best:

"I think we are about to witness a level of partisanship in the "mainstream" media that has not been seen since the era of professional news media began a little over a century ago. In the past, when newspapers like the Times have misreported facts, people have generally assumed it was, even if the result of bias, inadvertent. No longer. We have entered an era in which leading news organs will intentionally and persistently misinform their readers in order to achieve a political objective--the election of Barack Obama."  

The media must take great joy in celebrating privately their new awesome power.  Obama knows this as well.  That's why he played Taboo with the journalists, let them photograph him wearing jeans (I am sickened by the media fawning over this-- they weren't even Diesel's- haha), played pool, and derided the media in his rallies post his ABC debate debacle (which he could only have done if he knew the media would agree).  

Admittedly, I am divided about all of this.  I am a Democract and want us to retake the White House. Having the media on Obama's side will help this objective.  But i am distraught about our "leader's" qualities and actions and even more troubled about how the game has been stacked in his favor.  

Who is this man?  

Tammy, I am honestly sorry that this is so painful to Hillary supporters.  It makes me nothing but sad and uncomfortable.

One of the things that makes me craziest about Hillary is the drama she drags her supporters through, drama that brings out the worst in people for no reason, drama that just gives people false hope and stokes resentment rather than trying to elevate people and our nation.  

This is not what a visionary leader does, this is what a fearful leader does and after this disgraceful performance of hers during this campaign, I am very grateful that she lost.  

Imagine if Hillary had siad, when asked whether Obama was a Muslim "No, he is not Steve and the time has come to stop these rumors right now.  I personally know Senator Obama is deeply commited to his Christianity, as am I.  He has spoken very eloquently on issues of faith and his church.  Look, I have great faith in the American people and know they will not allow these ugly rumors to cloud their decision making process.  We are better than that.  I'm the better candidate on the issues that matter to the American people and that is where I want this campaign to stay focused, rather than on issues that divide us."

The media bias complaint is getting really old and tired Tammy.  Hillary lost this campaign on her own, she ran in in to the ground all by herself.  She alone is accountable for her professional performance, the strategy, the implementation.  She did a poor job and failed. Period.

And you know what Tammy - the WV vote really does not matter, that's the sad part, it's not just some mean old hateful Obama supporter trying to be smug and torment people. Its just an objective fact.  The only thing that happens with this state is Hillary gets to show off her disgusting race baiting and remind everyone of the weaknesses of her party's nominee.  Gee, I'd be so proud if I was on her team.  What a visionary.

Obama is not a perfect candidate and may lose, fair and square (although I doubt it).  Bully for Hillary normalizing the polarized thinking that gave her such false hope ere for awhile, egging it on, validating it.  Way to go.  

But no Tammy, the truth hurts, but it is the truth nonetheless.  WV will change nothing except the very last ember of respect I tried to scrape up for her.  

Well said, Wandreycer1.

Well Wandrey, I appreciate the tone of your response.  I'm guessing you mean well.  You keep wanting to make your point about Hillary and I keep trying to make mine about Obama.  Hillary could have done a lot of things differently, but I don't have to kick her to the curb to support Obama.  Aren't you tired of doing so?  I can't believe your reading of a WV Cliton victory is simply race-baiting.  Aren't you playing the race card for Obama?

My warnings about Obama's blind-spots get ignored here.  No problem.  It's hard getting people to see principle when the rules favor the outcome they want.  It doesn't matter if you're tired of the "media loves Obama" charge.  It's evident and no one disputes it anymore.  I stand by my claim that he needs to keep them in his pocket to win the GE.  And I can tell you this, the more the media praises just how cool he is (jeans, pool cues and all) and how evil Hillary is, the less the chance for reconciliation.  If people don't care about reconcialition and reaching out to others, then the fundamental claim of Obama's message is thwarted, shown to be nothing more than a political gimmick to achive an outcome.  More importantly, the democratic party will suffer.

We'll just agree to disagree on this one, Wandrey.  And I look forward to other exchanges that aren't about the TNR favorite punching doll.

I