Like everyone else, I'm pretty tired of polls these days, not to mention anything else that portends to predict the trajectory of the Democratic primary. Yet I did find Like everyone else, I'm pretty tired of polls these days, not to mention anything else that portends to predict the trajectory of the Democratic primary. Yet I did find these results of the latests Washington Post-ABC News poll interesting. Obama maintains a 10-point lead over Clinton among Democrats. He also has a 2-to-1 edge on being considered the "more electable in a general contest," and has cut Clinton's lead on the question of who would be a "stronger leader." Meanwhile, 54 percent of all respondents said they have an unfavorable view of Clinton, as well as nearly six in 10 independents. It's notable in that this recent flap over Obama's "bitter"/"cling" comments hasn't really seemed to hurt him, or at least not as much as the Clinton campaign hoped it would considering how much they've hyped it.
Perhaps I'm stretching it, but if anything, it seems to me like the recent attempts to hype up her opponent as elitist may actually be backfiring on Clinton, which is how I guessed it would play out, as did others. Attempts to make herself into a gun-loving, God-fearing small town American just look silly and insincere to most small town Americans, which I can attest, since I actually am one. It looks ridiculous to people who don't live in rural areas, too, and might well hurt her in areas like Philadelphia, a city wracked by gun violence. All this gun talk seems to amount to shooting herself in the foot.
--Kate Sheppard
