Media Defines Indiana, Not North Carolina, as Key to May 6 PrimariesPaul Hogarthbyline‚ Apr. 28‚ 2008The media still won’t admit that Barack Obama has already won the nomination. Hillary Clinton’s single-digit victory in the Keystone State was not enough to change the math, but now that she has “momentum” the race has moved to North Carolina and Indiana on May 6th. Obama is well ahead in North Carolina, and the media should define his victory in the largest state left as resolving the contest. Instead, pundits are focusing on the smaller Hoosier State, arguing that Obama must win to “prove” he can secure the votes of white working-class voters. But the media is paying no attention to Clinton's inability to win African-American or “creative class” voters, and her huge deficit to Obama in every Southern state but Florida. Nor do they acknowledge that Obama did better among the white working class in Pennsylvania than in Ohio, and that his weakness is limited to white working-class Catholics. Obama does not have to win Indiana to “prove” anything, as his expected victory in North Carolina will cement his lead in both delegates and the popular vote. |