Morning Roundup

*On NBC's "Today," Hillary Clinton told Anne Curry she's being outspent 3- or 4-to-1, "and if he doesn't win what does that say about his ability to win the big states that a Democrat has to win in order to win the White House?"

On the margin of victory, Clinton said, "I don't think the margin matters." She then added, "This is a really close race and its not just about the math, its about an assessment." Clinton added that a lot of voters were shaken by the recent ABC debate, causing people to stop and say, "Well wait a minute, we have to have somebody who can stand on that stage and go toe to toe with John McCain".

In a separate interview Obama said a loss tonight wouldn't mean much since Clinton started off with a 20-point lead and has Gov. Rendell supporting her. When Curry asked Obama the significance of losing big states like California, New York, and probably Pennsylvania, Obama responded, "Well hold on a second. Now, if anybody thinks I'll lose New York or California in the general election, there's no chance of that happening."

* On ABC's "Good Morning America," Clinton said Obama can beat McCain though it will be harder to win than if she is the nominee. Asked about a possible convention fight, Clinton gave no indication she thought the primary would be over by then and said such a struggle would be better than knowing the outcome of a convention before it began. (Video)

Obama responded to why his campaign has gotten so negative in last week, saying "You've always got to measure if somebody throws an elbow at you, and after three or four times of getting elbows in the ribs, you know, at what point do you sort of say, 'OK, you know, we, we, we've gotta put a stop to that'?" (Video)

* On Fox News' "Fox and Friends," Washington Post reporter Chris Cillizza said that Hillary's goal is to "raise doubt" about Obama.

"Sen. Clinton knows she's not likely to overcome Obama in pledged delegates; probably not likely to overcome him in the popular vote," Cillizza said. "So what does she need to do? She needs to win those superdelegates. How does she do it? She raises questions. The biggest thing Democrats are worried about is: 'Will we lose the White House again?'"

Rudy Giuliani also made an appearance on "Fox and Friends":

*On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," David Axelrod gave his election-day spin:

"The point is we're going to get our share of voters, we're going to get our share of delegates ... We've come a long way," Axelrod said. "I think it's going to be closer than it was when we came into the state. The truth of the matter, no one really knows for sure what's going to happen. I do feel good about what we've done in the state. "

On the tone of the race: "Partly [the race] got combatitive because the Clinton campaign at the beginning of last week started putting on a flurry of negative ads .. and put us in a position to have to respond to that. I think we all feel that there's a lot at stake here."

Following Axelrod, Terry McAuliffe pulled a Joe Namath and predicted victory:

"When we win tonight in Pennsylvania, you look at the states that Hillary Clinton will have won: Key big states," McAuliffe said. What does this mean? "[Obama] can't close against us."

"A win tonight, after having been outspent nearly 3-to-1, lots of negative ads run against Hilary Clinton: What does that tell you? That he outspent us 3-to-1 and he could not beat Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, which is a key swing state for the general election."

Here's a quick rundown of MSNBC analysts predictions:

Pat Buchanan: "A win for Hillary CLinton is indispensable."

Tim Russert: "If Barack Obama pulls an upset, and Hillary Clinton lost, she's out. Her closest advisors tell me that. If Hillary Clinton wins, which is expected, why is the margin of victory important? Becuase she has to make the case, she has to provide the rationale, to superdelegates and donors that she has a reasonable chance of winning this nomination and its worth their effort to consider to give her an additional look.

"What is a big victory? She had been ahead by 20. She would like to win by double-digits, that would be convincing. ... She's in debt, she owes a lot of her vendors."

Andrea Mitchell: The Clinton campaign understands that it needs "to get close to double-digits ... to bring out those undecided voters, to motivate people. Because, I got to tell you, they are broke, they are in debt."

Mike Barnicle: "To sustain herself, she's going to have to win by at least 10 points."

Chuck Todd: "There seems to be four results, two are easy to interpret. Obama wins: Done. She wins by double-digits: It changes the course of the race. She has created real doubt... If [Obama] loses by less than 10, he could say he gained a little ground. If it's seven points or more, there's a fundamental problem for him."

The candidates also made an appearance on CBS's "The Early Show":

(Greg Bobrinskoy contributed to the Morning Roundup.)



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