Hillary Watch

SHE FINALLY WINS SOMETHING. ON "mini Super Tuesday," Hillary beat Sen. Barack Obama in three of the four states being contested, including an impressive win in Ohio and a close one in Texas. She also picked up Rhode Island, but lost in Vermont. Hillary had some ideas why she had a good day, saying that "it is now about who is strongest against the Republican nominee, John McCain," since "people who voted a month ago didn't know who the Republican nominee was going to be." But despite breaking her streak of 11 straight primary losses and winning in two big states, Hillary, at press time, ended up gaining only a net total of 12 pledged delegates against Obama (although a handful of Texas delegates are still to be awarded). Since Hillary's win was so narrow in Texas, the two candidates practically split the delegates. According to CNN, the pledged-delegate total is now Obama with 1,321 and Hillary with 1,186. Hillary leads the super-delegate race so far with 238 to Obama's 199. In the race to 2,025 total delegates, the remaining primaries have more than 600 pledged delegates at stake and more than 350 super-delegates are undecided so far.

HILLARYS ON THE PHONE. Last week, Hillary's campaign ran a commercial in Ohio that many pundits called a "fear smear" against Obama. The ad started with children safely asleep at 3:00 a.m., but "there's a phone in the White House that's ringing," and something bad is happening in the world. The voice-over asks: "Who do you want answering the phone?" Ideally, "somebody who already knows the world's leaders, who knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world." The commercial ends with a focused Hillary answering a phone. Obama had his response ready, however, saying that Hillary had her "red phone moment" on the vote to go to war in Iraq and that she failed miserably.

FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN REDUX. Michigan and Florida might actually have "do over" primary contests by June. Both states pushed ahead in the primary process in January, causing the Democratic National Convention to punish them by refusing to seat their delegates. Neither Hillary nor Obama officially campaigned in the states, but Hillary's name was the only one that appeared on the Michigan ballot, and she ended up "winning" both states. More than two million Democratic voters participated in the two-contests. Naturally, her campaign is enthralled with the idea of making those first elections count (or possibly doing it all over again), as it would help her catch up to Obama in delegates. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R.) and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D.) have jointly called on Democratic officials "to resolve this matter and to ensure that the voters ... are full participants in the formal selection of their parties' nominees." Of course, neither state wants to spend the $25 million to have another primary. Hillary advisor and former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe said, "Let's let all of the voters go again if they are willing to do it." But even if the re-vote doesn't take place, the states are determined to get their delegates seated at the party's national convention in August. Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said, "It is very possible that no satisfactory alternative plan will emerge, in which case Florida Democrats will remain committed to seating the delegates allocated in the January 29 primary."

CLINTON/OBAMA '08? The morning after her wins in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island, Hillary appeared on CBS's "The Early Show," where she came very close to offering Barack Obama the vice presidential spot on her ticket. "That may be where this headed, but of course we have to decide who's on top of the ticket," she said. "I think the people of Ohio very clearly said it should be me." When Obama heard about this, he said, "We are focused on winning the nomination. That is my focus. I respect Sen. Clinton. She has been a tenacious opponent. It is premature to talk about a joint ticket."

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Mar 10, 2008
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