Day after Pa., Clinton seizes the moment

The day after winning the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (N.Y) campaign claimed new momentum and a substantial cash infusion, but rival Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) campaign was calm and confident in the aftermath of the race.

Clinton’s near-10-point victory in the Keystone State clearly injected new energy into a campaign that was, and in many ways continues to be, up against a wall.

{mosads}Heading into Tuesday night’s vote, the campaign appeared to running on fumes financially with more debt than cash on hand, but, by Wednesday afternoon, campaign officials were boasting they were “on track” to raise $10 million in the 24 hours since the race was called in her favor.

That staggering figure was combined with Clinton’s message of the day — “the tide is turning.”

But Obama’s camp, not noticeably shaken by Clinton’s margin of victory, despite outspending her in Pennsylvania by an estimated 3-to-1 margin, reminded reporters that the Illinois senator continues to hold an almost insurmountable pledged-delegate lead.

David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, broke down the math in a Wednesday morning conference call, noting that with only nine contests to go and 408 pledged delegates on the table, Clinton continues to face an uphill climb.

Plouffe estimated Clinton would net anywhere from 10 to 12 delegates in Pennsylvania because of the party’s method of allocating delegates proportionally by congressional district.

Giving Clinton the benefit of the doubt and presuming the number to be 12, Plouffe painted a daunting picture for the New York senator. To catch Obama in pledged delegates, Plouffe said, Clinton would need to win 70 percent of those remaining. To get within 100 delegates of Obama, Clinton would need to win 57 percent.

“The structure of the race remains the same,” Plouffe said. “We continue to think pledged delegates is the most important marker here.”

But the re-energized Clinton campaign sought to refute that argument. It bolstered its own path to the nomination throughout the day, most notably with a conference call featuring an “all-star line-up” of surrogates, who attempted to use the media to reach out to the remaining uncommitted superdelegates.

Govs. Ed Rendell (Pa.), Jennifer Granholm (Mich.), David Patterson (N.Y.), Ted Strickland (Ohio) and Jon Corzine (N.J.) and Sens. Evan Bayh (Ind.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.) all joined reporters on the call, each clearly prepared to make their part of the Clinton argument that best suited their geographic expertise.

Rendell, leading the call, made the case that the margin in Pennsylvania was indeed “a landslide in so many ways.”

He and others added that superdelegates should see the Pennsylvania win as “dynamic-changing.” Rendell went further and said that pledged delegates “are elected in a very undemocratic way.”

Bayh, whose state is the next big toss-up on the calendar, seemed to be tasked with the job of encouraging another debate, this one in the Hoosier State, while Granholm and Nelson both made the case for counting Michigan’s and Florida’s votes toward the total popular count.

“Every one of those votes was cast legally, and that is a certified election,” Nelson said.

All of those on the call made Clinton’s case that wins in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, especially within the blue-collar demographic, are a crucial barometer of strength in the general election that superdelegates should consider as they make their decision.

Despite the sense of triumph and resolve emanating throughout the day, the Clinton campaign did appear to be lowering expectations for the next round.

Howard Wolfson, a senior Clinton adviser, gave the advantage in the May 6 North Carolina and Indiana primaries to Obama. In North Carolina, a state thought to be favorable to Obama, Wolfson noted a poll that showed the Illinois senator leading out of the gate by as much as 20 points.

Perhaps more surprisingly, Wolfson credited Obama with a “home-court advantage” in Indiana because the state’s northwestern media markets overlap with those in Chicago.

Both campaigns and some on Capitol Hill seemed resigned to a race that goes through the last contest on June 3, despite continued fears about an increasingly negative tone that could damage the eventual nominee’s prospects in November.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), an Obama supporter, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said that the race will “keep going on for a while,” adding that the “extraordinary enthusiasm” the race is creating for Democrats is a plus for the party.

But Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), another vocal Obama supporter, said Tuesday she is concerned about the length and tone of the race, noting she fears “how reckless the other side  [Clinton] is going to get before this is all over.”

“I’m hopeful that superdelegates will realize that the sooner everyone folds in, the sooner we can get busy pointing out that John McCain is really John McSame-as-Bush,” McCaskill said.

Manu Raju contributed to this article.