Race has become the Democratic Party's Achilles heel

Faye Anderson, Citizen Journalist
As expected, Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary. In her victory speech, she said: "It's a long road to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and it runs right through the heart of Pennsylvania." Demographics foretold Clinton's destiny. Barack Obama won Philadelphia, Harrisburg and a handful of rural counties with sizable black populations. But Clinton took the rest of the state.

CNN exit polls show the racial divide. Obama received a whopping 90 percent of the black vote. Clinton won 63 percent of the white vote. Clinton won white voters of all ages, including 52 percent of independents and voters age 18-29.

Clinton's victory keeps her in the game and bolsters her case that she is more electable in November. Although Obama maintains a slim lead in pledged delegates, the Democratic nomination race is increasingly about race.

Indeed, 19 percent of Pennsylvania Democrats said the race of a candidate mattered. More revealing, 25 percent would vote for John McCain or not vote if Obama is the Democratic nominee.

Obama won Philadelphia with 66 percent of the vote. But he needed to win in a landslide to offset his limited appeal among working-class voters or voters who "cling to guns or religion." Obama's Philly margin might have been bigger if he had not bypassed campaigning in predominantly black areas, including Rep. Chaka Fattah's congressional district.

CNN's Roland Martin noted that having a rally of 35,000 people is good, but you have to be able to close the deal. I was at Independence Mall. The atmosphere was more like a concert or sporting event than a voter mobilization rally.

Polls show that voters who made up their minds in the last three days broke for Clinton 59 percent to Obama's 41 percent.

In this history-making primary season, race has become the Democratic Party's Achilles heel.

8:09 PM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink