Pittsburgh Rep. Mike Doyle, an undecided superdelegate whose district includes working-class Monongahela Valley, and whose family was hurt by the collapse of the local steel industry, stated, "I don't disagree with a lot of what he said.

"I thought he was spot-on when he said how people feel," Doyle told the Washington Post.

But other Democrats said his remarks would come back to haunt him in the general election.

Maria Cardona, a veteran party strategist who supports Clinton, told me this week that Obama's "bitter" remark "is not going away.

"He came across as elitist and denigrating of the way average, hardworking, law-abiding, God-fearing Americans in small towns live. It will hurt him in the upcoming primaries, and if he is the nominee, it will hurt him in November," she said.

Republican strategists in the McCain campaign think so, too. Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, shot out a fund-raising letter Monday that said Obama's remark exposed "deeply held beliefs ... we must do everything we can to make sure these beliefs don't make it to the White House."

Early polls showed Clinton's numbers rising in Pennsylvania, where she was already leading by seven to eight points anyway. But is this one gaffe enough to close the 130-delegate gap with Obama? Not under the proportional system that hamstrings the party's nominating process. Win or lose, Obama will still come out of Pennsylvania with a lot of delegates to add to his total.

After the April 22 primary, look for more superdelegates to endorse Obama if the noise over his gaffe disperses between now and then.

Gaffes come and go, one Obama supporter told me, "but the Iraq war and an economic recession will overwhelm everything else."