Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York ran 40 percentage points ahead of Senator Obama in rural areas of the state during the Democratic primary. With its neighborhoods of white working-class laborers and retirees and fraying party loyalties, it has become a most uncertain political terrain and an inviting target for Senator John McCain — and one that could tip the electoral balance in Pennsylvania, a place packed with electoral votes.

Organizing a harmonious convention is not exactly a new Middle East roadmap. But like all settlements between enemy forces, it required leaders who were willing to forego the temptation to appear tough at all times, and followers prepared to get over it, whatever historical wound “it” happens to represent.

Senator Clinton finished third in the Iowa caucuses, narrowly behind second-placed Senator Edwards and the victorious Senator Obama. Without Mr Edwards complicating the contest, “we would have won Iowa, and Clinton today would therefore have been the nominee”, Mrs Clinton’s former communications director, Howard Wolfson, said today.