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Hillary's final appeal in Texas

James Forsyth

Tuesday, 4th March 2008

Hillary is closing strongly here in Texas. She turned in an assured, confident performance in her final town hall which her campaign paid to have broadcast on a local cable channel.

Clinton is at her best when she is answering questions from voters. It allows her knowledge of policy to shine through and she comes across more sympathetically in this kind of environment.

The news from tonight’s event, apart from the fact that Hillary is sporting a new hair-do, was the way she talked about Iraq. Answering a question from two disabled vets, she essentially blamed all the problems in Iraq on the Iraqis sayin: “we have given them the gift of freedom, the greatest gift you can give anyone.... It is up to [the Iraqis] to determine if they will take that gift.” This answer is, obviously, extremely crude and ignores a whole string of blunders that the coalition has made, but I suspect that it is quite an effective way politically to talk about the war in a state where there are so many military bases.

Interestingly, Hillary took only subtle shots at Barack Obama tonight. For instance, only a political anorak would have understood the distinction that Hillary was trying to draw when she talked about voting against Dick Cheney’s energy bill without mentioning that Obama voted for it. Overall, though it was an effective performance—if there are fears that Obama isn’t ready or prepared to put in the hard yards, she offered herself up as a ready made alternative, touting the fact that she is a “to-do person.” I have a feeling that if she had another week she would win the popular vote in Texas but tomorrow might just be too soon for her.

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CraigD

March 4th, 2008 11:43am

According to Real Clear Politics, the polls in Texas now favour Hillary. And don't the polls tend to be overstated in Obama's favour. My prediction is that Hillary will take Ohio convincingly and Texas less so. But with Obama outspending her 2-1 on TV commercials, he really should be able to win these contests. Unless he does so convincingly, all this nonsense about Hillary dropping out should be dropped to bed. I mean, honestly; who would say that a candidate who has 42% of the delegates should go mid way? Madness

Chuck Unsworth

March 4th, 2008 12:43pm

Final Appeal? Are they going to execute her then? We can only live in hope.

tim

March 4th, 2008 1:10pm

Craig - you make a thoughtful point. BUT she was ahead in these two states by a huge margin a month ago. 20%? If she has lost so much in one month AND lost the last 11 states,well - it is not a good record to put up against McCain is it?
However, if she claws back to where she was a month ago then I will concede your point.