In a surprise to no one, Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary last night, netting 14 delegates and about 200,000 votes.  Which, unfortunately for Senator Clinton,  leaves the landscape largely unchanged from the past six weeks.  Then as now, the Clinton campaign’s game plan consists of earning enough of the popular vote to make a credible case for superdelegate support.  At this point, there are only a few states with populations large enough to - if won by a large margin - cut further into Obama’s lead (and one of them, North Carolina, is almost certainly an Obama win). 

But that isn’t the end of the story; the landscape of the race may not have changed, but there has certainly been some growth, with most of it in Obama’s direction.  The Field gives us a rundown on the exit polls:

We’ll know more in the morning but it seems like the margin in Pennsylvania will be between 8 and 10 percentage points, which means:

Clinton’s margin among all voters in Ohio (10.5 percent) diminished by the time she got to Pennsylvania.

The margin among registered Democrats (a 14 percent lead in Ohio) diminished by at least 39 percent in Pennsylvania.

Among white registered Democrats (70 percent of them in Ohio) - the demographic that the pastor-bashing and bitter-posturing was aimed at - Senator Clinton lost 24 percent (down to 53 percent in Pennsylvania).

Among African-American registered Democrats (14 percent of them in Ohio) she lost 42 percent of her previous support (down to 8 percent in Pennsylvania).

Clinton is strong among rural and working class Democrats (in states with a moderate African-American population) but Obama is slowly advancing on her territory; I expect the margin in Indiana - if Clinton meets expectations and wins - to be smaller than what we saw yesterday.

At this point though, we’re just going through the motions.  Obama almost certainly has the nomination, and Clinton is only delaying the inevitable.  But - truth be told - I don’t see Clinton ceding the nomination to Obama.  Here’s Andrew Sullivan (a known Clinton-hater, granted):

But here’s what she does have: total shamelessness, and an absolute belief that she is the rightful nominee. Shamelessness: the appropriation of the message and even the words of her opponent; the portrayal of one of the most privileged and advantaged candidates in memory as an insurgent underdog; the eager embrace of the tactics - and message! - of the Rove right if it could help in any way; the picture of a candidate who saw a 20 - 25 point lead dissipate into single figures as a candidate for momentum. What sustains her is this deep, deep sense of entitlement and an absolute refusal to let the next generation take over.  She will take this to the last day of the convention if necessary.

It’s going to be a long year.

(Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Blue Bell.)