Clinton Campaign Marches Into St. Patrick’s Day

Clinton's Team Responds to Obama's Attacks

By Peter Glasser
The Weekly Recorder
March 16, 2008

Hillary Clinton’s team held a Saturday telephone press conference to discuss her experience with, and anticipated policies toward, the peace process in Northern Ireland. Senator Clinton was not present but was represented by her campaign’s foreign policy director, Congressman Neil and Congresswoman McCarthy. Along with reporters from the major U.S. media and Irish television, the Weekly Recorder managed to sneak in.

The three cited examples of her participation in the peacemaking process as both Senator and First Lady, her support of the appointment of George Mitchell as special envoy, and fielded questions about what a new Clinton administration’s policies in the area would look like.

Questions were posed about the choice of topic itself. The responses centered on Pennsylvania’s Irish American population and the proximity of St. Patrick’s Day. What I found most interesting, however, was that the press conference appears to have been held in reaction to an increased frequency and ferocity of attacks from the Obama campaign, in particular on Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy skills. Indeed, many of the responses contained angry responses to Obama criticisms of her. It is almost a month and a half from the Pennsylvania primary, seemingly a bit early for such an escalation in head butting.

I wanted to know if the escalation in attacks on Senator Clinton could be due to some indication that she was going to do much better in Pennsylvania’s primary than had been expected up to now, more than just a win, perhaps a huge victory. The response was that Senator Obama had no meaningful foreign policy experience and, unable to tout his own abilities, was reduced to attacking Clinton’s.

The problem with that answer is, the relative international experience of the candidates has not changed over the course of the presidential campaign. Neither one has jumped into some world hot spot and made instant peace. So why now? If we were a week or two from the PA primary, it would seem more natural, but it’s still pretty early for the hardball tactics of the political end game. Perhaps it relates to some behind the scenes battle for super delegates. But there is another possible explanation. Are there unreleased information that indicates a much wider margin of victory, and therefore more delegates, for Clinton?

The strengths and weakness of the candidates in each population segment have been studied to death. What is much harder to ascertain is the relative turnout. Will turnout be less than anticipated in the inner city areas of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh because Senator Clinton’s supporters there will just not work as hard getting out the vote that they know she will lose? Will there be surprises in turnout in the suburban and rural counties of the state? I’ve lived in Washington County for almost 30 years, and I can’t recall ever seeing this much unity behind a national or state wide candidate in a Democratic primary as there is today for Hillary Clinton. If that’s also happening across the state, will it reach deeper into the pool of registered Democrats and pull in many who are not traditionally active in primaries?