First of all, the idea the Hillary won the popular vote is a misconception. She is only ahead in the popular vote under the most imaginative of tallies. You have to ignore the counts in select caucus states like Iowa and Washington since they didn't record turnout, and you have to award Hillary all of her votes from Michigan and give Obama zero because his name wasn't on the ballot. I don't think anyone would consider that a fair reflection of the will of the electorate, and even with all of that she only comes out BARELY ahead.TJ wrote:And you have to hope that the Hillary supporters come out in large numbers, because many just aren't behind Obama yet and a significant number probably still won't be by November. The positive thing about having a close fought, very high profile primary campaign is that it ends up mobilising many in the party to vote. The downside of it being so close and dragging out so long is that there is a larger than usual number of people in the party who didn't back and don't feel motivated by the winning candidate. It's very rare for the nominee not to have got the popular vote after all.
I think November will be much closer than you think.
Secondly, the number of disgruntled Hillary supporters is relatively insignificant. Most polling indicates that Obama is winning Democrats about 89 to 11, which is better than Gore or Kerry managed.
The party is united, becoming more energized, and poised for a hell of a victory.