People belittle Bill Clinton these days. He was widely criticized for intemperate remarks in New Hampshire and saddled with the blame for the debacle in North Carolina, when he single-handedly seemed to transform a 50-50 split for black voters into an 80-20 split for Barack Obama. Some people have even said that he's never been quite the same since his heart bypass surgery a few years ago.
Well, Bill Clinton proved his genius with Ohio and Texas without anyone even knowing it. He defined the Presidential race on his own terms, and for the states most favorable to Hillary. By saying that if Hillary lost either Ohio or Texas, the campaign would be over, he accomplished two things:
1) He selected the states most favorable to Hillary: Texas with its large number of Hispanic voters, and Ohio, with its economic hardships for working-class people. Both these groups have generally broken in favor of Hillary with the recent exception of Wisconsin.
2) He played to the greed of the Barack Obama camp. Eager for a knockout blow, they seized upon his suggestion because they were confident they could win one of the two.
So, Barack's 11-state winning streak fell by the wayside as did the intervening primaries and caucuses. Both sides played under the new set of rules, a loss for Hillary in either Ohio or Texas meant a likely withdrawl from the race.
The fact of the matter was that if Hillary couldn't win Ohio and Texas, she wasn't likely to succeed in any case. But it was the greed of the Obama camp for a knockout blow that created the new dynamic of this race. They let the other side determine the terms.
The same thing is happening now with Pennsylvania. So despite Barack's lead, Hillary with just one more win can make a claim for the nomination. After all, there are really only a few percentage points separating the number of delegates for each side, and most superdelegates are looking for an excuse to back Hillary. She is part of the Washington establishment, but so are they.
More about the superdelegates later...
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- Willy Gissen
- In 2003, Willy Gissen founded Cut-It-Out Communications, a full-service public relations agency based in Hartsdale, New York. His organization specializes in the incorporation of online activities into traditional public relations programs, primarily for business-to-business clients.
These activities include the creation of e-newsletters, the set up and maintenance of internal blogs, and the development of inbound links to maximize a client’s search engine ranking.
See his other articles at public relations instruction, and visit his other blog, New York Times Leader, for an analysis of each morning's lead story.