Clinton goes from inevitable nominee to on the ropes
She said merely, but pointedly: "You don't choose your family, but you get to choose your pastor."
After Obama told California fat cats about bitter small-town Americans who clung to their guns and Bible, Clinton saw a chance to become ever more the populist, and went for it with gusto.
In Indiana and North Carolina, she won the votes of two-thirds of whites without a college education, exit polls found.
In the bizarre calculus of choosing a Democratic presidential nominee, expectations remained paramount deep into the race, even though hard delegate totals give a candidate the prize.
In part, that's because this nomination is close enough that it can only be clinched by the party figures known as superdelegates, who sit out the contests and decide on their own time who's most likely to beat Republican John McCain in the fall.
Through all of Obama's trials, they continued drifting his way, slowly but inexorably. Bill Clinton hectored some of them, to no avail.
Still, Hillary Clinton survived, as long as she exceeded expectations.
At first she was expected to win big in Pennsylvania. Then she appeared to lose most or all of her advantage. So her eventual win there, just short of 10 points, was a bit more than expected.
That all changed in Indiana and North Carolina.
By then, Obama was the one seen struggling, still wrestling with the Wright fallout and his broader problem with some whites.
And so expectations rose for Clinton to win Indiana handily and close in on Obama in North Carolina.
It didn't happen.
In a twisted way, the Wright matter may have been the worst thing that could have happened to Hillary Clinton.
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Associated Press Writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.
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Clinton goes from inevitable nominee to on the ropes
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View All Comments »LA at 05/13/2008 10:57:49 AM
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Let's look at this for what it REALLY is! Hillary's goal is to show that Barack cannot capture her support base of white, elderly and less educated supporters. This is her reason for staying in the race because she knows that WV and KY are over 90% of who supports her. What isn't being said is WHY???
I have heard the "pundits" dance around this because they don't want to say it but I will: the reason Barack has not "attracted" her base is because her base is racist!!! They do not want and will not support Barack because he is black. If you listened to what Hillary said in her interview, this was exactly what she was saying and unfortunately, she is right! But she can make this right if she wanted to but I really don't think she will if she doesn't win.
The problem I have with this is that Hillary is also showing her true colors. She is fueling this racial concept by staying in the race and the media is enabling her to continue with this as well by constantly reporting on how her "wins" in these 2 states can redifine her campaign and her argument to the superdelegates. We ALL know that the math is against her but the media still wants us to believe that she could still pull this off! There may be some truth to this. Keep watching...
Let me just reflect on this issue with MI and Fla. I am all for these 2 states having their votes count. After all this is a democracy, right? HOWEVER, whatever happened in these 2 states that caused them to push their primaries up, everyone involved in this decision agreed that this violates DNC rules and that the consequences for doing so will be enforced. Remember, I said EVERYONE invovled in that decision agreed: this had to also include Hillary as well. But now she has become the spokesperson for MI and Fla to have their votes counted. WHY? Because they count in HER equation! And now what she doing? She is making it appear as if Barack is disenfranchising them, which in turn, turns them against him and once again fuels the fire of racisim. See how this works?
Just keep watching. You will see how eventually the media will begin to slowly start to trickle out ways to cut Bararck off at the knees. It's actually starting as we speak. Look at how they are still trying to find ways to show how Hillary can still win the nomination. Then when that doesn't work, they will start subtly fueling the fire of a racial storm. The saga continues ...
rainydaiyz at 05/13/2008 4:22:56 AM
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i'm a woman and i just wanted them to put her in a skirt once in a while--have her use her feminine charm----
ronraye at 05/12/2008 8:10:06 PM
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hillary has polarized this electorate.how can this woman expect to be a leader when she interjects race in the campaign and operates a campaign that has a significant debt.hillary is not acceptble to be the democratic nominee or the second spot on the ticket.you can't have a person on the ticket and not have trust in that person.