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Hillary's Win: Empty Or Not?
CNN has called it for Hillary. Her lead is decisive—49 to 29
in the latest tally, with a third of precincts reporting. The campaign
is celebrating the victory with a (now legal!) rally in Davie, Fl.
So on a scale of one to vacuum, how empty is her win?
From the Clinton perspective,
this is real--and big. More voters turned out in Florida
than the other primary states so far combined. They’ll say this slows Obama’s
mo’ and provides a more accurate snapshot of the country than South Carolina did. Obama’s people, meanwhile,
are adamant that Florida
shouldn’t matter. Hence this little zinger, sent out by the campaign: “Obama
and Clinton tie for delegates in Florida.
0 for Obama, 0 for Clinton.”
But here’s the problem. Florida represents something, however imprecisely. Say it merely indicates how one
segment of the country sees the two candidates sans campaigning. Even that could be a useful indicator. After all,
most Americans in Feb. 5 states won’t actually see the candidates in person.
They’ll decide based on TV and radio spots, watching speech excerpts on the
news, reading about their policies, and name recognition. And that’s exactly
what informed Democrats in Florida.
Granted, a lot can change in a week, even on a national scale. And of course
this produces no shift in delegates. But to say that the results mean nothing at all seems a little stubborn.
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