Clinton's edge among unions, women falters

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080225/NEWS01/802250305/1002/rss01

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign received more good news last week with the endorsement by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters a day after his decisive victories over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Wisconsin primary and Hawaii caucuses.

Clinton spokesmen played down the grim news that she lost her edge among women and other key demographic groups in the Wisconsin contest as Obama widened his lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, said her poor showing was "a result of the investments the Obama campaign made" in the state.

The picture that emerged from exit polls showed Obama resoundingly defeated Clinton among demographic groups her campaign is counting on for support in the critical primaries March 4 in Ohio and Texas. Rhode Island and Vermont also vote that day but have fewer delegates at stake.

According to exit polls published by CNN, Obama's 58 percent to 41 percent victory included a majority of support among most key demographic groups.

Women evenly split their vote between the two candidates while Obama racked up a 36 percentage-point edge among men, 67 percent to 31 percent.

FULL story at link.

[PATRICK]

1. This is the long awaited

people rush to go for the winner. I believe it has less to do with the person or issues than simply that.
Kerry was the big, swift beneficiary of such a popular shift. This has simply been a lot closer and taken more consideration and time. That has been a whole lot healthier for the choice process overall, which I hope people might see in retrospect.

It also means that really one should not fault Hillary for suddenly failing on personality and the issues, although her showing will be worsened by her overall campaign difficulties. The public decision has simply left that, as it has many fine candidacies, in the dust. It also means the drama of the coming states is ending. They are becoming less a referendum on Hillary than simply a time measurement of the Obama- and then Democratic party- momentum wave at a particular point in time. What THAT means is there is still a lot of work to do to solidify party unity behind the nominee and deepen the support with more attachment to the candidate and his issues. "Winning" is a boost but it is not everything that needs to happen before November. All the states previously where the people were NOT yet decided to surge behind Obama are a huge reminder of reality. Kerry's fast track could ignore that.