The mixed results, however, did not bode well for the Democrats in the general election, especially after John McCain became the presumptive Republican nominee Tuesday night with the departure of his last GOP rival, Mike Huckabee, from the race. McCain, who was scheduled to meet with George W. Bush in the Rose Garden on Wednesday, quickly took advantage of the Democratic disarray, saying Americans no longer had patience for an “uncivil brawl over the spoils of power.” McCain declared: “The contest begins tonight.”
For McCain it certainly will. And he knows that the fierce rivalry between Obama and Clinton-which is likely to continue through the Pennsylvania primary on April 22 and could potentially last until the final primary in Puerto Rico in June—opens the way for him to define the terms of the fall campaign. That’s what happened to John Kerry in 2004. In that election Kerry actually secured the Democratic nomination in March, but stayed silent while the Republican machine branded him a flip-flopper—waiting for what one of his aides called the “regular campaign season.” By the time of that summer’s Democratic convention, Kerry had been painted into a corner from which he never emerged.
The problem for Obama and Clinton: by ratcheting up their attacks on each other, they risk weakening the eventual nominee in the general election against McCain. They are certainly supplying the Republicans with a priceless amount of free advertising. Clinton’s “red phone” ads raising questions about Obama’s preparedness to be commander-in-chief, and Obama’s counterattack commercials challenging Clinton’s judgment, are likely to be re-aired by GOP politicos into the fall if she somehow manages to emerge as the nominee. Indeed, one reason for Clinton’s success on Tuesday appeared to be her campaign’s decision to attack Obama’s integrity and honesty—raising questions about his relationship with a Chicago real estate magnate charged with extortion and his reported waffling over the NAFTA trade pact-as well as his readiness; exit polls showed that late deciders broke decisively for the New York senator.
