Did Hillary Clinton Make Barack Obama Unbeatable?

Last week, Barack Obama's campaign hit a couple of numbers that almost defy comprehension. In St. Louis, MO, under The Arch, Obama held a rally that attracted a crowd estimated at 100,000. That gathering gained all the attention, but in the same weekend there was another Obama rally on the other side of the state in Kansas City that attracted only 75,000. Also announced was Obama's fundraising total from September which set a record. Obama had the previous monthly record of $66 Million set in August. The total from September was $150 Million. $150 MILLION!!!!!!! This is almost double the entire amount John McCain gets from Public Funding and it came from over 1,500,000 people donating an average under $100 each.

So what does all this success have to do with Hillary Clinton?

Although at the time, many senior officials in the Democratic Party were very concerned when Hillary Clinton stayed in the Democratic Primaries until the end, in 3 important ways, Hillary Clinton immunized Barack Obama from potentially fatal McCain attacks, increased his base and gave a major boost to registrations in key states.

FIRST - The Rev. Wright bonfire occurred in the Spring and Obama had time to deal with it. Hillary definitely got traction again when this came out. However, it was old news by the Fall and credit goes to McCain for being steadfast in not resurrecting it. However, had Rev. Wright not hit the hot lights of mainstream media until a few weeks after the Republican Convention when Obama was already off balance, he might not have recovered.

SECOND - Barack Obama was not well known, even after he had taken the delegate lead from Hillary Clinton. Four more months of prime time coverage, especially after John McCain had pretty much locked up the Republican nomination, with more debates than we could count gave more and more Americans a chance to get to know Barack Obama.

THIRD - Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina had primaries late in the season and both Clinton and Obama's campaigns made tremendous efforts signing up new voters. In each state, Obama is benefitting from having this registration advantage over John McCain.

This would be one of the most spectacular ironies of the entire election if Hillary Clinton was the person who put Barack Obama over the top.