Richard Whalen

When Pennsylvania’s secretary of state announced that roughly 217,000 new voters had registered for yesterday’s primary -- more than 152,000 of them Democrats – that historic registration should have carried Senator Barack over the top because of his aggressive voter enrollment efforts.

But at the end of the day, Pennsylvania ran true to form and gave Senator Hillary Clinton the substantial victory she desperately needed, running up big margins in rural areas across the state, capturing the votes of women, lower-income white workers and anxious seniors.

“I might stumble and I might get knocked down, but as long as you stand with me, I’ll always get right back up,” Clinton told her supporters in Philadelphia last evening. “Some people counted me out and said to drop out, but the American people don’t quit and they deserve a president who doesn’t quit either.”

Yeah, this lady is a fighter. “Whatever else you can say about the lady,” one blue-collar worker told another in the Keystone State, “she’s got balls.” After the Monica Lewinsky affair, every woman in America waited for the AP photo of Clinton leaving the office of a divorce attorney but it never happened. She has proved again and again that she is resilient and determined and fiercely ambitious. And her political plans required that she stay married to Bill – the script required his presence, plain and simple.

Although there is general agreement that both Clinton and Obama are two very strong candidates, Obama’s campaign has been brilliantly organized – he has the money, the delegates and an image of integrity and authenticity.

And the superdelegates? Charles Hurt asks in his New York Post column today: “What does Clinton expect of those who haven’t yet taken sides? She has been queen of this party for 15 years – if club members haven’t gone with her by now, they’re not going to. The vast majority of superdelegates who have endorsed since early February have gone with Obama and the vast majority of those remaining will, too.”

And so, it is quite clear that her “win” will allow her to continue her death march through the remaining nine states that finally ends June 3 but at what price? Many Democrats are fearful that this slugfest will produce a nominee totally damaged. And Republican candidate John McCain, who is quietly uniting his party and preparing for the general election in November, will win the presidency.