WASHINGTON, April 30 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton may have won in Pennsylvania but Republican campaign advisers are focusing on her Democratic Party opponent, GOP strategists say.
The National Republican Congressional Committee bought $500,000 in ads targeting presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the Republican National Committee sent the media scores of e-mail messages slamming the senator and strategists for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., launched "Audacity Watch" in an apparent play on Obama's book title, "The Audacity of Hope," all while Clinton, D-N.Y., claims she is the one who will win the Democratic nomination.
"Even though Hillary Clinton won (Pennsylvania), Barack Obama is seen as the front-runner among Pennsylvania Democrats and is perceived to be the candidate most likely to win the Democratic Party's nomination," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told the Politico, a Washington newspaper.
Republican operatives once viewed Obama with a sense of fear but with Obama stumbling recently, GOP veterans see him as as a vulnerable candidate.
"The apparatus will be ready for both but the Barack Obama that a lot of Republican strategists looked at four or five months ago was a lot more formidable than the one stumbling through the last few months," Republican strategist Kevin Madden told the Politico.
