Hillary Claims She Won Most States…
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Dumb Things Said By Smart People, Hillary
…after February 20th.
“I’ve been closing very strongly since Feb. 20,” she said, referring to the day after Mr. Obama won Hawaii and Wisconsin. “I have won more votes and won more states than Senator Obama. All the independent analyses break in my direction. A lot of the key states that we have to win, I win those states.”
So why February 20th?
Well, because before that Obama racked up 11 victories in a row after Super Tuesday. So if you count contests after Super Tuesday, Obama has won 17 and Hillary 8.
However, if you start with the Ohio and Texas contests, well, she’s beating him by a count of 8 to 6. So yes, after more than 3/4ths of the contests were over, Hillary leads in states won.
This one definitely goes in the Dumb Things Said By Smart People category.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Democrats, Dumb Things Said By Smart People, Hillary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:09 am
Meh. Hillary overstates her case, to be sure. No surprise there. The Clintons are congenitally unable to avoid exaggerating in their own favor, not unlike most politicians.
But she has a legitimate case when it comes to the question of who has truly shown his or her self to have greater appeal. Especially when it comes to the question of who would have more overall appeal in the general election, and even more especially when it comes top important battleground states.
Now personally, I tend to think the dems will come home to roost for Obama in November. But if Obama loses because he got creamed in FL, could not carry Ohio and barely got by in places like MI and PA, remember how you and many other Obama supporters routinely dismissed such concerns. I’ll be there to remind you Justin, so don’t worry. I hope Obama wins, and I prefer him to Hillary, but I am not so foolish as to suggest that there no reason for serious concern about Obama’s gen elec prospects. He has not exactly closed strongly, now has he? We can expect a widespread outbreak of handwringing and buyer’s remorse soon after Hillary officially bows out.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:54 am
You nailed the reason, even if the US Virgin Islands and Democrats Abroad weren’t exactly powerhouse victories as part of those “Obama 11,”* having no electoral college votes. Kinda disingenuous of Clinton to use the Feb 20 date–there were no elections between 2/19 to 3/04, the Obama string ran from 2/09 to 2/19. (*–I only get a string of nine, not eleven, counting DC, USVI, and Dems Abroad and excluding Vermont on 3/04, when there were 4 primaries of which Obama won 1).
If she’d said she won more states that will actually be contested in November, it’d mean something. Her “legitimate case” is that she is more electable in crucial swing states. But at this point, the truth is that the intra-mural fighting has reduced the ability of either Clinton or Obama to win in November, so electability arguments in general are getting dumb.
The DNC really needs to consider reforming their primary process. It’s hurting them this round.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 am
She won more states, is this electoral college system that makes a popular candidate not win.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Suppose, for the sake of discussion, the Democrats kept their current system. But instead of announcing that they would give Florida and Michigan zero delegates, just did what the Republicans did and took the 50% penalty which was mandated in their rules. Otherwise, no changes at all.
A whole less drama and opportunities for overacting. But the same result for the nomination.
If I were Dean, I’d be really embarrassed at what a sloppy example of managing a party he was demonstrating. Anyone who supports the Democratic Party can only hope that Obama spares a moment to inject some new blood into the DNC as soon as the opportunity presents itself.