The Comeback Queen takes Ohio and Texas
Daniella Zalcman/Creative Commons
She's amazing! And it's amazing. What'd happen, I asked before, if Hillary did manage to win in both Ohio and Texas? Well, she's done just that, and opened up once again the race for the Democratic nomination. Opened it up wide.
What won them for her? Maybe the Latino vote, or perhaps more importantly the Latina vote in Texas; and the white blue-collar vote in Ohio. Maybe a general sense, in both states, of impending or actual recession, which I think plays much better for her than it does to the upbeat, spirit-lifting Obama. Perhaps it's more difficult to share his vision if you're one of those Americans who fear losing your job in the coming months, whether because of NAFTA, or the credit crunch, or whatever. Or maybe, finally, that 3 a.m. phone call advert that implicitly told America she, not he, was ready to take that frightening call saying, I presume, that the world's going to end. A ridiculous advert, that, I think: much as admire Hillary, I've never bought the idea she has great experience, and certainly not in security or foreign policy. What's more, I think it's a dangerous strategy when you consider who's more likely to beat John McCain, who's obviously now going to be the Republican nominee for November. McCain will be able to pull experience-rank on either Democrat: but Obama has already neutralised that weapon by arguing that experience counts for nothing. How would Hillary respond?
Anyway: where do we go from here? I think it's now bound to go down to the National Convention in Denver this summer, and the superdelegates who are now I think bound to swing the contest, whatever happens in Wyoming, North Carolina, Mississippi and most importantly Pennsylvania. There's also the wild card factor of what happens about the unofficial primaries in Michigan and Florida - it's all horribly dirty, horribly complex, and tremendously exciting. The most absorbing and compelling head-to-head political race I can recall.
I'm loving it, but I've given up predictions.
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