Hours before the polls close in the hotly contested Pennsylvania Democratic primary, Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.) campaign continued to play down expectations, saying in a widely circulated campaign memo that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) "needs a blowout victory in Pennsylvania to get any closer to winning the nomination."
{mosads}"The Clinton campaign has been trying to spin away their earlier confidence and move the goalposts for victory in Pennsylvania," the memo states. "But the bottom line is that if Sen. Clinton is going to make meaningful inroads in this race for delegates, she will need a huge margin in Pennsylvania."
While Clinton is the favorite going into Tuesday's contest, the Obama camp's analysis falls in line with what most analysts are saying.
The New York senator continues to lag behind in both pledged delegates and the overall popular vote, and a narrow win Tuesday night would likely not be enough for her to cut into either of those counts. Or as the Obama camp put it, Clinton's 14-30 record in Democratic contests is "not good enough even to make the playoffs in the NBA Eastern Conference."
Howard Wolfson, a senior Clinton adviser, said Monday that he rejected "the notion that we need to achieve a certain standard of victory other than victory.”
In addition to the nonstop advertising assaults and sharp stump attacks, the two campaigns used the closing days and hours trying to push the expectations game. The Clinton campaign has argued that Obama outspent Clinton 3-to-1 in the state and thus cannot realistically downplay a loss of any margin.
The Obama campaign said in its memo Tuesday that Clinton "has family roots in the state, she has the support of the Democratic establishment — including Gov. Rendell’s extensive network — and former President Clinton is fondly remembered."
The memo also made clear, as did travel schedules and ads unveiled Tuesday, that the race is by no means over if Clinton wins Tuesday night.