By Tom Stoukas
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are locked in a heated battle for the hearts, minds and wallets of Democratic voters and there is a good chance that Super Tuesday will not resolve the impasse.
Super Tuesday, held on Feb. 5, earns its name because it showcases 24 state primary elections for the Democrats accounting for 52 per cent of the party’s delegates, while Republicans will vote in 21 states to pick 41 per cent of their delegates. Over the years Super Tuesday has morphed into crucial electoral event, second only to the presidential election in November.
Obama’s campaign hopes to challenge Clinton with thousands of volunteers on the ground which worked effectively in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, but may be difficult in a nationwide campaign. Obama admitted the fight for delegates on Super Tuesday won’t be easy.
“The Clinton operation is a tough, well-honed political machine built up over the course of 20 years,” Obama told AFP. “We have always been the underdogs in this campaign; we have always been the outsiders, the insurgent campaign.”
Obama has momentum following his convincing victory in South Carolina. That, along with the endorsement of Senator Edward Kennedy and other prominent Democrats, has helped Obama raise millions of dollars. Money he will need to wage a national campaign against Clinton who leads him in delegate-rich states such as California, New Jersey and New York.
Campaigns tone down rhetoric
Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, hope to avoid the toxic rhetoric and racial overtones that dominated the South Carolina primary.
The former president sparked controversy when he compared Obama’s South Carolina win to Jesse Jackson’s in 1984 and 1988. The implication being that Obama was the black candidate who couldn’t win in a general election.
Many political observers blamed Senator Clinton’s poor showing on her husband’s aggressive tactics.
At a campaign stop in New Jersey on Jan. 29, Bill Clinton didn’t mention Obama in his speech to an adoring crowd of 500 at a school auditorium. Instead, he assured supporters that his wife was the right person to handle the teetering American economy and repair the country’s reputation abroad.
“More than half the world is mad at us,” the former president said. “We have to send a different message to the world and she is uniquely qualified to do it.”
If Super Tuesday does not produce a clear winner then the campaign will continue with crucial states, such as Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania, up for grabs and a possible final showdown at the Democratic national convention in Denver on Aug. 28.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, U.S. President
[...] was greatly distressed when Hillary told me that I need to dial down the combative tone of my rhetoric. I am the only candidate running who has been elected President, and it’s my experience that [...]