McCain—Second Coming of the Comeback Kid

One Clinton was “The Comeback Kid” sixteen years ago, the other hopes to be the same in 2008.

While Hillary Clinton won three out of four primaries and the popular vote last night, she still trails Obama in both delegates and votes. Today, Obama has picked up several delegates in the consequential-yet-ignored Texas caucuses, which choose about a third of the state’s delegates.

The caucus votes are still being counted, but it looks like Hillary picked up just 7-9 delegates last night.

The real Comeback Kid of 2008 is John McCain. Still, all of the major broadcast and cable networks except FoxNews tilted their coverage towards the Democratic race.

Six weeks ago in the Resmussen survey, McCain was at 31%. Obama was also at 31%. Clinton was at 47%.

Coming out of the primaries and caucus, Rasmusson now has McCain at 62%. Obama is at 44%. Clinton is at 48%.

McCain gained 31%, Obama 13%, and Clinton 1%.

While the intrigues between Hillary and Barack fit perfectly into the television news template, the real story last night was a resurgent Republican Party led by a triumphant John McCain. The real story was the contrast between a gracious Mike Huckabee bowing out, and an Algore-like Hillary Clinton staying in.

If there’s a media bias these days, it still favors the Democrats.

Newsprism

McCain Wins 7 Out of 4 States

You read that right—John McCain won seven out of four primaries last night. He won all four Republican races, and he won three out of four Democratic races.

On the Republican side, McCain swept Texas, Ohio, Vermont and New Hampshire to wrap up the 1191+ delegates needed to secure the nomination. Mike Huckabee belatedly joined Mitt Romney in dropping out of the race, clearing the way for the Arizona Senator’s run to November.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton won in Texas, Ohio and New Hampshire, which means the Democratic nomination won’t be secured for at least another seven weeks. Rival Barack Obama still holds a lead of 1307-1175 pledged delegates, while the superdelegate count remains in flux with Mrs. Clinton holding a lead of about 40.

Two consequences of last night’s results seem clear.

First, Republicans now have an edge in the general election campaign. The two Democratic frontrunners will be stuck in a tough contest that may well continue until the Democratic Convention in Denver in late August; that would give the Republicans nearly six free months to raise funds and energize their base.

Second, while Barack Obama’s pledged-delegate lead appears unassailable, the Democratic nomination may now rest on the shoulders of the so-called superdelegates … a decidedly undemocratic process, as I pointed out earlier this week.

Republicans are hoping for a repeat of 1968, when a chaotic Democratic National Convention split the party along a jagged and (literally) bloody schism, clearing the way for Richard Nixon’s victory that year and setting up his landslide victory in 1972.

The old saw says, “Democrats fall in love; Republicans fall in line.”

The problem for Democrats, and the opportunity for Republicans, is that the Democrats are torn between two lovers.

Newsprism