Why would he lose to McCain in those states? Obama's drawn out millions of voters in those states to the polling booths. I don't really follow the logic of equating a Clinton win to a potential McCain win. In the fall, if the party isn't destroyed by then, all the democratic voters will rally under Obama. They're not going to splinter into factions or anything like that. In 1988 Dukakis came in third in Iowa's primary, but ultimately won it in the general. Whereas Obama has the ability to inspire, which makes him such a viable candidate for the fall. Fact is, Clinton's ability to win "big states" really has no bearing on her ability to win a general election. It doesn't even give her enough room to win the primary.
Dead in the water time and time again? Who is that referring to, just to clear up. If Clinton, we have to remember that after Super Tuesday, the race turned pretty stagnant with most of the states finished with their voting and we had long periods of inactivity. Clinton began her campaign with a big bang. She polled extremely well everywhere and "inevitability" became the slogan of her campaign. But Obama has been steadily gaining ground, and he's winning now. Clinton has been running a dirty and despicable campaign.
The pledged delegate race is over. Obama has won that. South Carolina will likely erase any gain that Clinton made today, and the popular vote has a great chance of going to Obama.
We're coming out of 8 Bush years, remember. As long as the Democrats fucking play ball, I don't expect to see McCain anywhere near the white house.