March 5th, 2008 • 11:16 amKitchen Sink Strategy Pays Off
That’s the opinion of this Chicago Times article on the strategy Hillary used in stopping Sen. Obama’s momentum.
With no margin for mistake, she had to do what she had been unable to do previously: to make Barack Obama mortal.
Before the critical primaries in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday, her campaign had vowed to throw the “kitchen sink” at Obama to derail the momentum that had led to wins in 11 straight contests.
She honored that vow. It paid off in Ohio, where she won a clear victory but probably not a huge number of additional delegates. It also paid off in Texas, where she won narrowly in the popular vote.
Yesterday, I wrote about a stunned Obama reeling from the tough questions they asked at his press conference. It’s still too early to tell how Obama will adjust but the notion is getting floated that Obama has a glass jaw. If he doesn’t regain his composure soon, he could let Hillary back into the race.
It’s still too early to say that Hillary’s back in it again but her victories Tuesday night stopped Obama’s coronation momentum in its tracks. Hillary brought her total delegate deficit within 100 of Obama but it’s difficult to picture how she makes up that big a deficit with only 600-something pledged delegates left to win via the primaries. In fact, Hillary still trails Obama by 130 in pledged delegates.
Here’s what’s gotta scare Howard Dean each time he thinks about the convention: What happens if Hillary enters the Convention with fewer pledged delegates than Obama, then wins on the strength of the superdelegates? Frankly, that’d split the Democratic Party so badly that it’d struggle to win another national election for a generation.
For all the talk about Hillary’s kitchen sink strategy, it’s still an uphill battle for her. Still, it isn’t wise to write Hillary off until you see the wooden stake sticking out of her chest.
Technorati: Hillary, Obama, Superdelegates, Pledged Delegates, Howard Dean, DNC, Election 2008
Cross-posted at California Conservative
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