The American Spectator

Freeze!

That’s the message that Pennsylvania voters delivered to the Democratic Party last night by handing Hillary Clinton a sizable but not landslide victory in the Keystone State.

For all the buildup to the primary over the past six weeks, by the end of the evening the Democratic race remained largely the same as it was going in. Clinton’s chances of overtaking Barack Obama in the delegate count or popular vote are still remote, but questions remain about Obama’s ability to win over key demographic groups in large swing states.

For all the talk about how volatile this primary season has been, it has actually proven quite predictable. In states where there is a critical mass of older, white, working class voters, Clinton wins; where there is a critical mass of young voters, black voters, and affluent whites, Obama wins.

Clinton, no doubt, came into Pennsylvania with a huge advantage in the state, and benefitted from the backing of Gov. Ed Rendell. But Obama dug into his war chest and poured a tremendous amount of money into the Keystone State.

If the goal wasn’t to win, it was at least to narrow the gap enough to prove to superdelegates that demography is not destiny — that he can attract white working class voters who have resisted his charms thus far.

p> WE WILL NEVER know how much the firestorm over Obama’s associations with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers hurt his showing in the state. But while it is inconclusive, there is at least some data suggesting that Obama’s comments about small town voters clinging to guns and religion out of bitterness hurt him in Pennsylvania. br> In Ohio — a neighboring state with similar demographics to Pennsylvania — Clinton edged out Obama among weekly churchgoers 51 percent to 47 percent, according to exit polls. But that was before his controversial comments. Last night, Clinton dominated Obama among this voting bloc by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin. /p>

This is especially worrisome for Obama looking forward to the general election, because he has pitched himself as a Democrat who could reach out to religious voters who have been historically neglected by liberals.

While Obama did slightly improve his showing among white and rural voters, he still did badly with those two groups — attracting just 38 percent and 39 percent, respectively. Among gun owners, Clinton trounced Obama by 62 percent to 38 percent in Pennsylvania (but no similar statistic is available for Ohio).