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Clinton's clout vs. Obama's motley bunch

By dmc-admin

Published: February 6, 2008 at 1:00 am

The Wyndham Hotel in downtown Phoenix hosted two parties on Super Tuesday. One ended up as a victory party for Hillary Clinton, who won Arizona’s Democratic primary election by about nine percentage points over Barack Obama, with nearly 95 percent of precincts reporting.
Not all ballots have been counted. Some precincts, many in Pima County, were still counting votes Feb. 6.
Clinton leads with more than 190,000 votes, compared to Obama with more than 155,000.
The parties for each candidate were held in the same building, but the mood and cast of characters was strikingly different in the two camps.
Clinton Jumps to Early Lead
At 8:50 p.m. with 25 percent of precincts reporting and Clinton up by about 15 percent, Clinton Communications Director Dana Kennedy said she was “cautiously optimistic.” Later in the evening, as it became apparent that Clinton would most likely win Arizona, Kennedy credited the hard work of the campaign’s volunteers and staff, and their strategy of mobilizing groups of voters –women, seniors, Latinos among them— for the impending win.
Former Arizona Democratic Party Chair Jim Pederson, a longtime friend of both Hillary and Bill Clinton, felt the night’s primary was more about momentum in the national race than anything else. “After Iowa, people were saying she was done,” said Pederson, who ran unsuccessfully for Jon Kyl’s Senate seat in 2006. “What happens tonight will influence the future – not just in Arizona, but the country.”
Pederson, a member of Clinton’s Arizona Campaign Steering Committee, said she is the stronger candidate based on her experience. “I have the highest respect for Obama, but I feel like Hillary can hit the ground running in the White House,” he said.
Pederson said a major building block of the campaign seems to be the idea of change. “People who want change are for Obama. But to truly effect change, you need someone with experience,” Pederson said.
U.S. Congressman Harry Mitchell, who briefly stopped by the Clinton party, felt Napolitano’s endorsement of Obama didn’t affect the primary results much. “People already had their minds made up about the candidates,” he said. He has not endorsed either candidate.
“Apaches for Clinton” was emblazoned in red across a sign being held by Isadore Boni, who claimed to be “the only Native American to go public” about being a homosexual and having AIDS. Boni, who has had the disease for six years, supports Clinton for her pledged support for Indian health care.
“She spoke to us in a way that a mother speaks to a child,” Boni said, “and in Apache culture, that is the most important medicine a child kind receive.”
He felt that most Apaches are in support of Clinton because of her stance on health care for Native Americans. He said he connected with how she spoke. “It wasn’t necessarily how much she said she’d spend, but how she said it.”
Obama’s Motley Bunch
They sported tattoos, wore faded T-shirts and jeans that had frayed at the ankles from dragging against the concrete at every step. They might have been headed for a kegger on any other night – but at this swanky hotel in downtown Phoenix on Feb. 5, they were there to support a presidential candidate.
Not everyone was dressed so casually. There were, of course, the suits, ties and evening gowns. The one similarity, though, was that an overwhelming majority of the rally-goers appeared to be under 35.
"My biggest thing is that Obama is going to effect change that this country really needs," said Sean Collins, 21, of Surprise.
Barack Obama didn’t win Arizona, but he climbed a steep deficit in the final month of the campaign to come within nine points of Hillary Clinton. The fact that their candidate lost almost didn’t matter to the people at the Obama rally in a third-floor banquet room of the Wyndham. They were rambunctious anyway.
“Which way for Obama?” asked one twenty-something as he led a motley bunch of college students through the hotel parking garage.
Inside, Reps. David Schapira and Ed Ableser energized the crowd as they watched the results of Super Tuesday stream in through the big screen in the corner of the room. Schapira told the crowd that the Obama movement in Arizona began with 13 people who met a year ago at Arizona State University and grew to 13,000 – the estimated number of people who attended a recent Obama appearance at the university campus in Tempe.
“This is not a campaign,” he said. “This is a movement.”
As Schapira spoke, the big screen announced that Obama had won in North Dakota, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
“The voters in North Dakota want hope and change, too,” Schapira said when the cheering had stopped.
House Minority Leader Phil Lopes told the crowd that “poll after poll” show that Obama would be more electable in November than Clinton.
Lopes then introduced Gov. Janet Napolitano, who last month gave her endorsement to Obama and has been a key ally for the campaign in Arizona.
“We’ve seen young people turning out like no other election,” the governor said. "We3 want Obama to become our nominee for president, but we really want him to be our president of the United States. This is about who is next going to lead this country."
Sean Bowie, a 23-year-old political science and history major at ASU, said students naturally gravitate toward the message of change.
"I really like Barack’s positions on ethics reform, education and health care,” Bowie said. “I think he is the change we need."
Bowie, who also is the director of Students for Obama at ASU, said Obama is a "once in a lifetime candidate."
"This country is so divided, and when you have a candidate this inspirational it's going to bring out young people," he said.
Toni Morales, Obama’s political director in Arizona, hesitated to say there was consolation in coming close, even though other Obama supporters seemed heartened by the narrow loss in a state that had seen Clinton hold a 20-point lead in early polling.
“It’s a national race,” she said Feb. 5 after it had become clear that Obama would lose Arizona. “People a few weeks ago wouldn't have expected us to be this close."

ARIZONA LEGISLATIVE REPORT

Clinton's clout vs. Obama's motley bunch

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