As our InsiderAdvantage polling showed over the past week, there was never any doubt that Hillary Clinton would win the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary by a margin of between 7 and 10 points.

That, my friends, is a big win.

But to hear the pundits on most of the news networks in their coverage early Tuesday night — excepting at least FoxNews and MSNBC — Hillary Clinton was a dead duck.

Of course, some of their comments were based on these absolutely absurd exit polls. As I have said many times, exit polls are garbage. Why the networks waste their sponsors' money on this rubbish is beyond me.

Regardless, the endless refrain of "Hillary Clinton must face up to the facts and get out of the race" has been postponed at least another week or two.

Now that the rose-colored glasses have been at least temporarily knocked off of those who live and comment from within the self-referential cocoon of the Washington, D.C. bubble, let's get some facts straight.

First, Barack Obama is not going over well with mainstream, older working Democrats. He does go over well with liberal Democrats. (Don't misunderstand. I'm not one of those analysts who uses the "L" word as if it is a scarlet letter. I'm being descriptive only.)

More, Obama is losing a portion of women over the age of 45, whose resentment of his candidacy grows with each new contest.

Second, Hillary Clinton is increasingly despised by white Democratic elites, both from within the political ranks, among the very wealthy and among academicians. And her family's onetime hold on black America is gone for the foreseeable future.

The Democrats finally have reached the point at which they have a true mess. So, too, do the many journalists and analysts who have tried every sly word mix possible to, in essence, destroy the hopes of Clinton as she doggedly fights to the finish of the nominating process, which is starting to draw nearer.

Face it.

Clinton has won every big state so far, save Obama's home of Illinois. She is humiliating the likely Democratic nominee and making Sen. John McCain the presidential frontrunner when he and his Republican Party should be running for the hills.

It is virtually inconceivable that Obama has a chance of defeating McCain in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, so long as McCain keeps his distance from George W. Bush.

And should Clinton win the nomination, marginal states where large black turnouts are necessary for a Democratic victory — including several of the states listed above — will be impossible for Clinton to win. Again, McCain, absent a "Four More Years" perception by the public, wins.

So how do the Democrats survive? The only hope is a shotgun wedding. Hillary becomes Obama's vice presidential nominee, should he regain his momentum; or Barack runs as Clinton's VP if she continues knocking him off in states such as Indiana or Kentucky.

In either instance, it will be painful and forced, and it still might not work. But it is likely the Democrats' best hope. Otherwise, the loser takes his or her toys and goes home mad — really mad. And John McCain waltzes — OK, maybe he soft-shoes — his way into the White House.

Just how excited the Republican establishment may or may not be about such a McCain victory is a story for another day.

Meanwhile, we will sit back and watch much of America's fumbling and bumbling national media continue its not-so-hidden effort to stack their stories in Barack Obama's favor.

They are doing him irreparable harm by creating lasting resentment that he otherwise has not earned on his own.

Matt Towery served as the chairman of former Speaker Newt Gingrich's political organization from 1992 until Gingrich left Congress. He is a former Georgia state representative, the author of several books and currently heads the polling and political information firm InsiderAdvantage. To find out more about Matthew Towery and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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