The Biggest Winners in Indiana Don’t Even Live There

Who are these women? Read to find out!

I just guest-posted this commentary on PunditMom‘s “Mothers of Intention” column. Much will be said about last night’s primaries, but I always try to follow hockey star Wayne Gretsky’s advice, something like: “I don’t skate toward where the hockey puck is. I skate toward where the hockey puck is going to be.”

Sometimes when you win, you lose.

That’s the lesson of the Indiana primary.

What is winning? In the latest polls, Hillary is besting John McCain by more than Barack Obama in a general election hypothetical matchup.

Yet there’s Obama making a victory speech in North Carolina, sounding for all the world like he’s accepting the Democratic party nomination. I’m struck that the first part of his speech, which focused on middle class economic hardships, sounded as though he was channeling Hillary Clinton.

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To date, Clinton has won the big states necessary to Democratic victory in November. Obama’s lead in the popular vote—not counting the currently uncountable Michigan and Florida which went for Hillary—only matches the 500,000-vote margin he pulled out of his home turf of Chicago, and the delegate count remains close.

Conventional wisdom had Obama winning Indiana just a few weeks ago. He himself predicted she’d win Pennsylvania, he’d win North Carolina, and Indiana would be the tiebreaker.

Turns out Indiana wasn’t a tiebreaker; it was more like, well, a tie.

At the beginning of the evening, the press seemed in complete blood lust watching this battle of titans, despite having led the chant for Hillary to withdraw in recent weeks, as Media Matters’ analysis documents stunningly. But politics being their favorite contact sport, they’d have to find somebody else to pick on tomorrow if Hillary bowed out. So they appeared a little sad as the Indiana race tightened.

Her crisp blue suit looked optimistic as springtime as Hillary Clinton began to speak to her cheering crowd: “We’ve come from behind, we’ve broken the tie and thanks to you it’s full speed on to the White House.”

“Hillary, Hillaree!”

Her smile is broad, upbeat, genuine. But something about her tone of voice doesn’t sound sure.

She was ahead by just four points with 86% of the vote in; the votes still unreported were from heavily African American precincts. At best, it would be a squeaker and, coming on the heels of Obama’s 14% victory margin in North Carolina, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the quintessential political realist, knew the definition of winning and losing was shifting under her feet.

“For all of those not in the headlines but who have written America’s story, tonight is your victory right here,” she threw out one of her most effective populist lines.

“Obama and I have been on much the same journey to perfect America.”

“Yes she will”, chants the crowd.

“Never stop believing in the promise of America,” she responds. “I will never stop fighting for you.” Then she slips into the litany of policy issues that so comfortably roll off her tongue: Time to make sure all Americans have health care. Time to take care of the mortgage crisis and ensure that soldiers who have been in harm’s way can come home and resume their lives with dignity. Better futures for you and your children, solving the problems that affect us….

CNN and MSNBC pundits who have declared Clinton’s campaign dead so many times, once again begin to pontificate about how this is the end, the numbers can’t work out in her favor, Obama gets his hot waffle and Hillary is cold toast.

“No matter what happens, I will work for the nominee of the Democratic party because we must win in November,” she says, sounding conciliatory, then adds she’s looking forward to the remaining primaries in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota, Puerto Rico.

“I am running to be the president of all America; that’s why it is so important that we count the votes of Florida and Michigan.” She surely must have those votes to win, but the commentators decide she’s taking up this cause not because it will give her the nomination but because she must, must, must find a noble fight to close out her campaign on.

About midnight, Chris Matthews and Tim Russert declare the race over. Chuck Todd calculates how the delegate count can’t work out in her favor. Of course we all know these guys want to be the true deciders of the political fate of our nation.

At 1:10 am, NBC declares Clinton the winner in Indiana, by a razor thin 2%.

Todd runs the delegate numbers again, and now he says it’s still a long shot for her, but not impossible.

Quick, somebody go wake up Russert.

Remind him that especially in politics, even when you lose, you often win.

The first truly viable woman candidate for president didn’t score that knockout punch she so badly needed in Indiana.

But by running this race with such tenacity, courage, and strength, Hillary Clinton has scored a critically important victory for women.

The evidence is in that photo above.  The women I’m seated among are from Emerge Arizona, a relatively new organization that recruits, trains, and helps elect Democratic women. This is just one of a burgeoning number of programs dedicated to righting the gender imbalance in American politics.

All of these women, even the Obama supporters, said they had been inspired by Clinton’s candidacy. Those who ran in the last election didn’t win, yet they plan to run again, and meanwhile they’ve gotten themselves elected delegates to the Democratic National Convention and are positioning themselves with the party to be the next generation of power brokers.

In the end, Hillary’s biggest win may well be a billowing wave of women emerging at last to equal participation in our nation’s politics.

10 Comments

  1. Punditmom on May 7, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    Thanks for being a Mother of Intention!

  2. Stacy on May 7, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    I agree that the media has absolutely torn Hillary apart and seems almost giddy at the possibility that she might not get the nomination. But I also think there is another problem- the media in general have been very unforgiving of both Democratic candidates while giving John McCain wide berth to spew utter nonsense – John Haggee immediately comes to mind. And regardless of who ultimately gets the nomination, this is going to be a VERY big problem because if the double-standard continues, the Democrats may ultimately lose in November- not because John McCain has better policies, but because the media has defined the issues in a very inbalanced, biased way,

    While I understand we have to keep our eyes on the prize and ultimately oust the Republicans from the White House, I think I understand both Hillary and Obamas reluctance to bow out- it’s simply just too close and both sides supporters don’t want their candidate to “quit.” If there is strong evidence, and you pointed some out, that Hillary has the best chance of beating McCain, Rush Limbaugh notwithstanding, then ideally Obama should bow out and I would hope he would. But quite honestly, I don’t think he is going to do that yet.

    The irony in all of this is that the whole ‘superdelegate’ nonsense will hurt the dems in the long-run- it just simply makes no logical sense to have a bunch of elite party insiders with a whole host of potential conflicts of interest, coming in at the 11th hour to decide who the nominee is and dragging it out as long as possible. And all the while Obama and Hillary are beating each other up, McCain is taking advantage knowing he can later use all Obama and Clinton’s statements against them later.

    In other words, I hope that at the end of the day this isn’t a lose-lose situation.

    • Gloria Feldt on May 7, 2008 at 4:45 pm

      Stacy, your thoughts are most appreciated. John McCain’s true character, bad temperament, and devastating policies must be outed by the people since the media has, as they say, drunk the kool-aid and is apparently intoxicated by it.And the Democrats’ convoluted way of nominating is not very democratic. They need to own up and decide to do it differently from here on out. Hopefully the meeting of superdelegates on May 31 will do some of that.

      If Clinton and Obama simply stay in through all the primaries are over, then one will win with honor and the other will lose with honor. Ideally in my highest hopes, they would then join forces to win the White House.

      We just have to make it not be a lose-lose situation.

  3. Dana on May 7, 2008 at 4:46 pm

    Obama can’t win unless Hillary gets our and Hillary can’t win unless Obama quits. It is that simple. Then the question to all dems who can beat McCain. When I look at who is the best candidate and yeah I am a Hillary supporter I look at the dependable voter. Seniors….Hillary’s base and McCain’s base. When was the last time a President won without the Seniors…well that would be Gore, but wait he won just didn’t get the keys. West Virginia will be a true test of the Senior vote. WV just like PA has a HUGE senior population. Seniors will not go toward Obama, they will go for Hillary, especially senior women but they will go for McCain before Obama. Let’s hope the superdelegates do their research and vote for the candidate who can win.

  4. iluv_hillary! on May 8, 2008 at 4:47 pm

    gloria, i hope that your time with emerge in arizona also opened your eyes to the need for them to reach out to more than just uppper-class white women and become an organization that can truly represent the beautiful diversity of az. with women of your presence, i hope you can deliver the message of true mentoring, not gossip and ‘selecting’ those they help.

  5. Gloria Feldt on May 8, 2008 at 4:47 pm

    Dana and iluv-
    Yesterday I did a talk show on Al Jazeera, of all places, and people from Spain and Argentina called in to ask why she is still running. Well good grief, they wouldn’t stop a football/soccer game before the clock runs out just because one team is winning or another is losing. We have two great candidates. And Dana is right, neither can win without the other in the general. Let the rest of the primaries finish so that at the end of the democratic process, on candidate will win with honor and one candidate will lose with honor.

    These two candidates model the diversity all our slates of candidates should have, in age, gender, ethnicity. A daily cause for celebration for me.

  6. Dana on May 8, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    iluv_hillary!
    Emerge works very hard to reach out to recruit all circles of women. Diversity includes race, age, income and education. We also do not allow gossip. It is one of our core values and we strive to be different. We work to create a supportive environment and gossip is squashed. For example, this year we accepted our youngest program member who has a goal to be the first Latina Governor of Arizona, we want to help her achieve this goal. We could alway do better, but we make every effort to include diversity on all levels. Our selection is an application process, includes an application, and interview and we will always find a way to take down barriers not create them. If you have ideas or suggestions on how to create a more supportive environement just let us know. You can google Emerge AZ and get in touch with us.

  7. VWGal on May 8, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    Emerge Arizona takes strides in recuiting all democratic women who are interested in political office.

    As a 2006 Emerge Arizona alumni, and am not even close to being considered “upper” class. While taking Emerge I was working full time, putting myself through college and active in the democratic party. My hard work paid off and I was able to become the first person in my family to earn a college degree – even though it took me many extra years to do so.

    Emerge helped me build my confidence that I could do anything I set myself out to do. Now I am slowly working my way up in my career, looking at graduate programs and hope to someday run for public office.

    Diversity comes in all shapes sizes and colors – and EVERYONE has something to “bring to the table” that is diverse and unique.

    I applaud Emerge Arizona in all their efforts and hope to help the organization grow and flourish.

    -Bree Boehlke

  8. Debra on May 8, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    I am a woman who left home at the age of 15- never graduated college- worked hard all my life just trying to pay the bills, and went through the Emerge program, which built my network of supportive, forward thinking women. It also gave me the confidence to run for public office. There is great diversity in our Emerge world and we are always open to more women of every stripe (democratic, of course) to become involved.

    As far as the Senator Clinton issue, I am old enough to have seen battles for the nomination before. No ONE ever asked any of those Men candidates to drop out before a nominee was chosen. This is clearly because they think “the little lady” should bow out. We do not YET have a nominee and until we do, she should stay in and fight- she is the best candidate we have to run against McCain and I hate to see us lose the chance to beat him.

  9. AZracer on May 8, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    As an Emerge graduate, I can honestly say that Emerge Arizona works very hard to diversify those who participate in the program. I think it is easy for outsiders to assume that the women are similar and in the same class. If they spent any time around Emerge Arizona women, they would know that we are quite diverse. We are very proud of the organization we have built and the number of women we have been able to empower.

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