Today is the day that Hillary Clinton may be able to crush Obama and salvage her campaign.

The outcome of West Virginia's primary Tuesday may best be foretold by where Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama plan to spend the day.

Clinton is expected to be in Charleston, West Virginia, to celebrate what should be her large victory.

Obama has no plans Tuesday night, but he is spending the late afternoon at a campaign event in Missouri. That state has already voted this primary season but is considered a swing state that Democrats and Republicans have in their sights this November.

Clinton, it seems, is concentrating on the present; Obama is looking to the future.

Polling places in West Virginia opened at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Clinton, from New York, is ahead in West Virginia by an average of 40 points in the most recent public opinion polls.

Now let's be honest here -- a challenger's 40 point spread over a near-certain nominee is telling of that nominee's weakness. But some Clintonoids are suggesting an even a bigger gap.

Political campaigns usually look to lower expectations – but one of Hillary Clinton’s supporters took the opposite tack Monday, setting the bar for a West Virginia primary win at an unprecedented high at an enthusiastic campaign event.

“You think this crowd’s noisy?” said West Virginia Senate Majority Leader Harry Truman Chafin. “Just wait ‘til we win like 80-20.”

“We’ve got to give her a vote tomorrow of 80-20 or 90-10,” he added moments later.

A campaign spokesman quickly tried to downplay Chafin’s remaks, saying “We appreciate his exuberance, but we're pretty sure this race is going to be much closer than that.”

Yeah, that's a case of campaign train hyperbole. But what if Clinton can pull out a win of greater than 40 points -- perhaps as many as 50? Does that change the calculus of who the Dem nominee ought to be? Does it change the VP calculus?

We'll know later tonight if those are just idle questions, or if they are issues that the Demccrats need to deal with for real.

Posted by: Greg at 10:42 PM | Comments (27) | Add Comment
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