Should Democrats fear a long primary fight? Should Republicans?

The Associated Press

The duelists.

Featured Topic | Posted 37 weeks 22 hours ago

Should Democrats fear a long primary fight? Should Republicans?

Lacking a clear route to the selection of a Democratic presidential nominee, the party’s uncommitted superdelegates say they are concerned about the risks of a prolonged fight between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and perplexed about how to resolve the conflict.

The New York Times interviewed dozens of undecided superdelegates -- the elected officials and party leaders who hold the balance of power for the nomination -- found them uncertain about who, if anyone, would step in to fill a leadership vacuum and help guide the contest to a conclusion that would not weaken the Democratic ticket in the general election.

When will the Democratic primary fight ever end? In Pennsylvania next month? At the convention in August? And when it does end, who will be left standing?

Ben likes: With Obama wounded and Hillary unappealing, will Gore finally surface?

Roger L. Simon/Pajamas Media

So what is a poor Democratic Party to do... besides sing for a rock and roll band? With two tarnished candidates lumbering toward the convention, this may call for more drastic medicine. There's a great old book about baseball by Ring Lardner (published 1916) called "You Know Me Al." Maybe everyone should start reading it. It begins this way: "FRIEND AL: Well, Al old pal I suppose you seen in the paper where I been sold to the White Sox..."

Joel likes: Making Obama unelectable

Jonathan Chait/The New Republic

Hillary Clinton needs to convince the remaining uncommitted superdelegates to split for her by about a 2-to-1 margin. The only way she can get a split like that is if she can persuasively argue that Obama is unelectable. And the only way she can do that is to make him unelectable. Some people have treated this as an unfortunate byproduct of Clinton's decision to continue her campaign. It's actually a central element of the strategy. Clinton campaign Mark Penn is already saying he's unelectable. It's not true, but by the time the convention rolls around, it may well be.