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Democrats' Damaging Brawl
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In contrast with her poll ratings in 2006, she has dropped 18 points among Democrats, 13 points among independents and 7 points among Republicans. Despite Democratic voters' willingness to see the contest continue, three times as many say that the long campaign has hurt their party's chances as those who think it has helped.
In increasing numbers, they characterize the race as negative, not positive, in tone. And by a large margin, they blame Clinton more than Obama for taking the campaign in that direction.
In all those respects, the Democratic politicians I interviewed are more critical of the campaign, and more worried about its effect on the party's chances, than the voters in the Post-ABC poll.
They see that, despite the big Democratic lead on the so-called generic ballot, McCain already has achieved a near statistical tie with either Obama or Clinton, trailing the former by 5 points and leading the latter by 3.
A few more nights like Wednesday, and the Democrats may find themselves lagging behind McCain. He has hardly struck a blow at them. Obama and Clinton are doing such a good job of demolishing each other, or scuttling their own chances, that McCain conceivably could coast to victory.
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