Hillary is a California Man
She'll win California, Illinois, and New York.
That gets her about half way to the White House.
Only Obama could steal it from her.
He does have a slight edge: He is a blank slate. Nobody really knows anything about him, but they all seem to like him. Hillary however has the money and as you said, the Eastern Elites...With them comes the knowledge and power to turn Obama's strength as "an unknown" into a weakness. (They will be the ones who define just who Obama is).