GOP gearing up for election vs. Obama
Not everyone counting Clinton out yet
While the Democratic nominating contest likely won't be decided for at least another month, GOP nominee John McCain and the Republicans' political apparatus already has decided that Barack Obama will be the winner.
The Republicans have decided that Hillary Clinton's campaign is essentially dead, and all indications are that they're gearing up for a general election campaign against Barack Obama.
"Clinton, it seems, has been erased from the picture, Soviet-style," Politico's Jonathan Martin reports Tuesday.
Despite Clinton's recent wins in big states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, the GOP's attacks have fallen almost solely on Obama, who maintains a virtually insurmountable lead in pledged delegates and is still seen as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Clinton's wins have given her some momentum going into primaries in Indiana and North Carolina next week, and Obama has seemed to stumble as he's faced criticism over his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Martin notes that McCain himself has shown more willingness to go after Obama.
On ABC’s “This Week” last Sunday, he raised, unprompted, the Democrat’s views on capital gains taxes and his ties to a member of the radical Weather Underground group. In a conference call with conservative bloggers Friday, McCain responded to a question about words of support a Hamas political adviser had bestowed on Obama by saying it’s “very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States.” He then noted leftist Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s support for Obama, as well.
Sunday, McCain ended his reluctance to go after the Illinois senator over Obama’s controversial pastor by bringing up two new statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Indeed, it may be the Wright issue that has Republicans so eager to take on Obama in the general election. As soon as his controversial comments first burst into the forefront of the campaign, GOP hit men began to salivate at the potential to exploit them.
Already, Wright has been the central focus of a negative GOP attack ad in North Carolina. The Republicans' congressional campaign is spending a half-million dollars on two anti-Obama ads in upcoming House special elections.
Not everyone is counting Clinton out, though. Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was a thorn in her husband's side through much of the 1990s, still thinks Clinton will end up with the nomination. He predicted a Clinton victory in an interview Wednesday on The View, and he accused Democratic chairman Howard Dean of being "shamefully biased in favor of Obama."
"Who's the candidate?" Barbara Walters asked.
"As of today," Gingrich said, "I think Sen. Clinton."
Video of Gingrich on The View can be seen at this link.
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