Sabato’s Crystal Ball: OBAMA’S NEXT CHALLENGE

I missed several Sabato’s Crystal Ball emails due to accidental unsubscribing. Here is one of many make-up posts.

05/15/2008

Rhodes Cook’s OBAMA’S NEXT CHALLENGE: Turning Primary Losses Into Electoral Votes

As Barack Obama prepares to move from the primary to the general election phase of the 2008 presidential election, he faces a new challenge which combines both – to bring many of the states where he suffered primary losses this winter and spring into the Democratic column this fall.

Obama has expressed confidence that he can hold Democratic mainstays such as California and New York, as well as strongly compete in battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio – all places he lost decisively in the Democratic primaries to Hillary Clinton.

But his ability to actually carry these states is another matter, and if he is to succeed, he will need to prove himself a coalition builder of the first magnitude.

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