The Daily Background

Now that Obama has won Wisconsin by perhaps 10 points, we’ll start hearing spin from the Clinton campaign about how Wisconsin’s primary doesn’t count for one reason or another, even though many factors were supposed to favor her. Among those were the large numbers of union households n WI, the large female turnout, the primary structure instead of caucus structure, the nonexistent African American population and the fact that Obama is a Bears fan. Plus she went negative and Obama didn’t.

Besides, she wasn’t really trying, right?

Clinton did not even bother to acknowledge the fact that she lost The Badger State primary. The truth is, the Clinton campaign wanted to win Wisconsin and tried to win hard, pulling out all the stops (including new negative direct mail and television advertisements). Before the memos start flying, let’s take a look at the state of the Wisconsin contest just a few days ago.

“Clinton ramps up in Wisconsin”

“Hillary Rodham Clinton’s latest Wisconsin campaign schedule doesn’t sound like the battle plan of a candidate who is conceding the state, as some have suggested.”
[Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, Feb 15]

“Clinton scrambles to contest Wisconsin”

“Sen. Barack Obama has been lavishing attention on the historically independent voters of Wisconsin. Rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is moving belatedly to make a contest of next Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary.”
[Associated Press, Feb 13]

“Clinton Ups the Ante in Wisconsin”

“[I]t’s clear that the Clinton campaign recognizes that while it must try to take the bark (or the halo — choose your symbol) of off Obama, they must also find a way to balance that more negative message with a positive storyline about her. [Also] it shows the Clinton campaign is investing serious resources in Wisconsin — believing that a win (or at least a narrow loss) is possible.”
[The Fix, Feb 16]

“Obama, Clinton fight hard for Wis. win”

“Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary here is just a way station before the critical March 4 Texas and Ohio primaries, but the campaigns aren’t treating it that way…. Congressman Ron Kind, the Democrat who represents the [third] district, told Politico that Obama’s campaign got a head start organizing there, but that “the Clinton campaign has really ramped it up in the last few weeks.”
[The Politico, Feb 18]

“Hillary Clinton Not Conceding Wisconsin”

“The Clinton campaign has confirmed that in fact Hillary Clinton will not be leaving Wisconsin tomorrow morning after all and will be campaigning there all day. The signal being sent is not only that the Clinton campaign thinks they can win in Wisconsin or at the very least out-perform expectations, but that Obama’s leaving the state for events in Ohio on Monday and in Texas on Tuesday doesn’t worry them… the fact that Clinton is remaining in Wisconsin all day on Monday rather than heading out of the state as Obama is doing does seem to indicate, as we posited yesterday, that she knows something we don’t know.”
[MyDD, Feb 17]

“Clinton strives to stem Obama’s surge”

“Democrat Hillary Clinton fought Tuesday to arrest her rival Barack Obama’s stunning surge as Wisconsin became the latest battleground to vote in their bitter White House contest.”
[AFP, Feb 18]

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog