Clinton "Logic" All Wet

Sen. Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania tonight by a margin that was less than half her lead a few weeks ago. It's a victory nonetheless and I don't think the outcome should result in her deciding to drop out of the race unless she's broke, which may be the case.

But this logic her staff and surrogates keep trying to foist off on the voters and super-delegates is starting to grind at me pretty badly.

Put as simply as possible, here's their key "battleground states" argument.

Candidate A won State X
If Candidate B is the nominee, he will lose State X
Therefore Candidate B is unelectable

What kind of bullcrap is that? This assumes that many or most of those who supported Candidate A in this election will either stay home or vote for the Republican in the General. In other words, if I lose to a Democrat when the Democratic vote is divided between two of us, I will necessariy lose to a Republican when there's only one Democrat in the race. On what basis is that conclusion drawn?

I'll tell you.

It's drawn from the certain knowledge that Obama will have more delegates, more popular vote and more state victories than Clinton. So the only way they can hope to present themselves as the winners in this brutal campaign is by changing the definition of "winner" and then fudging their own definition.

It is, indeed, as Obama says, the old-style politics.

And it's hogwash.