Key Voting Blocs Pave Way For Clinton

Washington Post: In Nevada, Labor Endorsement Mattered Less Than Latino And Female Voters

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Paul Kane and Jonathan Weisman.

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For all the predictions of a key labor endorsement tipping the scales against her, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's ties to the Latino community and her connections to female voters provided the critical margin for her victory in Nevada's Democratic caucuses today.

The support of those two key voting blocs, along with her continued strong showing among union and working-class households, provides the New York senator with a potentially critical edge as the campaign moves toward Feb. 5, when 22 states, including key Western and Southwestern states with similar demographics as Nevada, cast their ballots in a near-national primary.

In the days before the caucuses, her campaign -- led by former president Bill Clinton -- angrily denounced the process as undemocratic. But aides continued to feverishly work behind the scenes to drum up support among female voters while also peeling workers away from the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, whose endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) failed to yield him the huge cache of expected delegates from the nine precincts in Las Vegas casino ballrooms.

Combined with the endorsement of the smaller local affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, Obama was supposed to have 78,000 labor foot soldiers working on his behalf.

"It's a sad day for the Culinary. It's sad day for SEIU. Maybe next time when they come out with an endorsement, they'll consult with their members," said Gerald McEntee, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the largest union supporting Clinton.

Network entrance polling showed the overall union vote -- about 30 percent of caucus-goers -- almost evenly split among Clinton and Obama. She had a decisive, 13 percentage-point edge among women, who made up 59 percent of caucus participants. More startling, Clinton had a nearly 2-1 edge among Latino voters, many of whom are culinary union members who work in casinos and caucused in hotel ballrooms on the Las Vegas "Strip."

Dina Titus, a Clinton backer and political scientist at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said she hosted two Clinton volunteers -- one from Baltimore, the other from Boston -- who worked the Las Vegas barrios from sunrise to sunset. Ultimately, those personal appeals may well have broken the power of the union leaders who had endorsed Obama, she said. Bolstered by nurses and food workers, both unions are heavily female.

Clinton's ground troops seeded Las Vegas beauty salons with folders displaying Clinton's hair styles through her career and declaring, "Worry about your hair. If you don't, someone else will" -- a dig at establishment sexism, Titus said. That issue came even more into focus when MSNBC political talk show host Chris Matthews was forced to apologize for comments that he conceded could have been regarded as sexist and demeaning to Clinton.

For the Latino vote, Clinton leaned heavily on Las Vegas's dynamic state assemblyman, Ruben Kihuen, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. On Clinton's first foray into Las Vegas after her victory in New Hampshire, Kihuen, 27, escorted the former first lady through a Latino neighborhood, made up largely of culinary workers, knocking on doors and sitting in the homes of union members.

Fearful that the vote in the casinos would tilt heavily in Obama's favor, Clinton allies filed a court suit to block the precinct sites on the Strip, arguing that a disproportionate share of delegates were being awarded there. A federal judge dismissed the suit, but the campaign continued to malign the process, with Bill Clinton accusing the culinary union of trying to suppress votes for his wife.

Although turnout exceeded expectations in the rest of the state, the casino sites fell short of projections. And Clinton won a larger share of delegates at seven of the nine casino sites.

"I really thought [Obama] was going to get more union support," said Anthony Edwards, who works in customer service at the Bellagio casino and caucused for the Illinois senator. But when the union started pushing Obama last week, after its endorsement, "a lot of people said, 'Whoa, wait a minute.' And today, at least, they jumped off the union bandwagon."

Xiao Jing Gu, a Bellagio housekeeper, held a sign reading, "I support my union. I support Hillary." She said she was hooked by the Bill Clinton connection. "He did so many good things for this country," she said. "Now his wife will do the same."

David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, told reporters that "all of the confusion and disparaging" of the casino sites may have depressed turnout among union workers.

Cassandra Butts, a senior Obama strategist, noted that the Clintons had been involved with the Latino community far longer than Obama. "I'm not prepared to say brown people won't vote for a black guy," she said. "If both of them were equally well-known, if they had worked the community as long, you might be able to draw that conclusion, but its an apples-to-oranges comparison."

McEntee pointed to Feb. 5 battleground states such as California and Arizona as friendly territory for Clinton with their large Hispanic populations. "They believe she is their friend. They truly believe in her," he said. "It speaks well for the campaign ahead."

However, polling showed more than 80 percent of black caucus-goers in Nevada went for Obama, a number that if matched next Saturday in South Carolina would make him a prohibitive favorite to win that primary. And some of the largest Feb. 5 states, including his home state of Illinois, Clinton's home state of New York and neighboring New Jersey, have large African-American voting populations.

[demwatcher]

Hillary just loves those illegal alien votes! That''s one bloc she can count on, because you can make them up as you go!

[starleo146]

Posted by realpatriot1 at 08:39 AM : Jan 21, 2008


You know realpatriot I am convinced the Republicans hear something and twist it every bit to what they wanted it to say. You are exactly right I saw Meet the Press and just to clarify for you

[l00ker]

Is Hillary the female and hispanic candidate, the same as Barack being characterized as the black candidate?

[l00ker]

Uh oh, here comes Bubba Slick doing the "shuck and jive" and mash potata in order to gin up some votes from his peeps in church. Look out.

[l00ker]

Talking about the poor in the Democratic party, what did the Clintons do to cause CEO salaries to more than quadruple during their years in the White House, while all of the good paying blue collar jobs got NAFTAed?

[realpatriot1]

beecuster,

I think you''re a Republican troll. The reporters on Meet the press yesterday confided that the repubs have told them they want to run against Hillary and are afraid of Obama.

I want the Dems to win and that''s why I''d like to see democrats come to their senses before it''s too late.

The Republicans don''t have the credibility to touch us but they don''t have to if we bring ourselves down by nominating a divisive rather than uniting candidate.

By the way, how many democrats have you personally volunteered your time to help elect troll!

[gunownerdan]

Why is Dr. Ron Paul IGNORED by the "mainstream media"???

Because....
*He is against corporatism
*He voted AGAINST the Iraq war
*He is not a prostitute for big money
*He will protect and defend the Constitution
*He is not a member of the CFR(Council on Foreign Relations)
*He will control the military industrial complex

Take your pick!!

OBAMA SUPPORTERS VIEW THIS ARTICLE: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/despite-rhetori.html?cid=97943134#comments

[demwatcher]

Yep, Hillary has the ''illegal alien'' votes wrapped up!

[annevilla]

FROM ''HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT WEBSITE'' - PRESS RELEASE 12/12/07

"...She must break recent tradition, cast cronyism aside and fill her cabinet with the best people, not only the best Democrats, but the best Republicans as well.. We%u2019re confident she will do that. Her list of favorite presidents - Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Truman, George H.W. Bush and Reagan - demonstrates how she thinks..."

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=4674

GO OBAMA!

YES WE CAN

Anne

[realpatriot1]

Apparently the Washington media doesn''t consider independents, disaffected Republicans, African-Americans, rurual voters, or the young to be key voting blocs.

November will be different. If there''s one thing that can reinvigorate the base of the Republican party and expand that base it''s having Hillary on the other side.

On Meet the Press this morning several of the reporters admitted that republican straegists have confided to them that they want to run against Hillary because they know how to. They are afraid of Obama because they don''t know how to counter him.

[l00ker]

Barack has spent more time in "the hood" helping the poor than Hillary, Bill, and O Bob "step n fetchit" Johnson has ever did.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by hawksprings at 10:48 AM : Jan 20, 2008

I do not consider the Clinton''s marriage to be my business. I am interested in the person most ready to serve this country and help get it back on it''s feet.

If you want to judge somebody on their marriage, religion, slimball rumors, go ahead. That''s exactly how we got BUSH!

[hawksprings]

Rowdy,
If Hillary is the best thing the Dembots have, that''s pretty sad.

Americans aren''t going to vote for a bitter, angry shrew for their president.

How many women has Bill cheated on her with?
Why would we want a woman for our Pres who can''t have enough self-respect to kick the slime ball out?

That says tons about her judgement and motives.

[rowdytexan2]

Hillary may not have gotten the delegates, but she won the vote of the people!!! Let the people speak!!!

You can pick, and nitpick at Hillary all day long and she is STILL the best candidate running!

Go Hillary!

[taotxzen]

Hillary Clinton%u2019s Sleaze Parade
by Paul Rogat Loeb

Politics can be a rough game. Candidates need to hold their competitors accountable and challenge distortions and lies. And God knows, we need a Democratic nominee who%u2019s willing to fight. But Hillary Clinton%u2019s campaign has included far too many cheap shots, sleazy manipulations, and unsavory players.

New questionable actions emerge daily. You%u2019re probably familiar with many. But it%u2019s the broader pattern that disturbs me-how much the Clinton campaign seems to nurture questionable actions from her operatives, supporters, and surrogates. And how the campaign%u2019s actions go beyond drawing legitimate political lines to an all-too-Rovian instinct to do whatever%u2019s deemed necessary to take down those blocking Clinton%u2019s potential victory. Here%u2019s a representative list of actions that, taken together, offer a troubling portent for her candidacy and presidency.

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

Start with the hiring of chief campaign strategist, Mark Penn. He%u2019s CEO of a PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, that prepped the Blackwater CEO for his recent congressional testimony, is advising the giant industrial laundry corporation Cintas in fighting unionization, and whose website proudly heralded their union-busting expertise until it became a potential Clinton liability and they removed that section. B-M has historically represented everyone from the Argentine military junta and Philip Morris to Union Carbide after the 1984 Bhopal disaster.


Then there are Clinton%u2019s campaign donors. Any major candidate has some dubious supporters, but Clinton%u2019s gotten money from particularly noxious sources. Start with her donation from Rupert Murdoch, who%u2019s given to no other Democrat. Add in massive amounts of money from Washington lobbyists and from industries like defense, banking, health care, and oil and energy providers (though Obama%u2019s also gotten a lot from some of these industries). Then there%u2019s Norman Hsu, who brought in over $850,000 to Hillary%u2019s campaign after returning to the US following his flight to evade a fraud conviction (Hsu was subsequently rearrested, sentenced to three years, and is facing further federal charges).

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

There%u2019s the Nebraska data processing company InfoUSA, whose CEO, Vin Gupta, used private corporate jets to fly the Clintons on business, personal, and campaign trips, gave Bill Clinton a $3.3 million consulting contract, and is now being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly diverting company money to his own personal uses. Mississippi attorney Dickie Scruggs recently canceled a major December 15 Hillary fundraiser (with Bill Clinton headlining) after being indicted for trying to bribe a judge. Major international sweatshop owners, the Saipan-based Tan family, have given Clinton $26,000, complementing their previous massive support for Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay. That doesn%u2019t even count dubious supporters from the past, like Peter Paul, the convicted con-artist turned event producer who coordinated a massive Hollywood Clinton fundraiser during the 2,000 election. Taken together, it%u2019s a pretty tainted constellation of backers.

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

Like most candidates, Clinton spends the bulk of her money on ads and mailings, and she%u2019s taken some pretty problematic approaches there too. I wonder how many of the New Hampshire women who voted last minute for Clinton were swayed by a mailing claiming that Obama wasn%u2019t really committed to abortion rights because he%u2019d voted %u201Cpresent%u201D on some abortion-related legislative votes. Except that Obama had done so as part of a strategy devised by Illinois Planned Parenthood to protect vulnerable swing district representatives. New England Planned Parenthood%u2019s Board Chair strongly refuted Clinton%u2019s letter, pointing out that Obama had a 100% record on all the votes that really mattered. But the mailing may still have damaged his support.

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

The distortion of Obama%u2019s position on abortion echoes Hillary%u2019s audacious argument that Obama really wasn%u2019t against the Iraq war and betrayed his promises by failing to vote against war appropriation bills after the Democrats couldn%u2019t override Bush%u2019s veto. I wish Obama had bucked the Democratic leadership and taken a stronger stand. But it%u2019s a gross distortion of history to equate his positions with Clinton%u2019s overt support for the war authorization, refusal to apologize for her vote, and claim that she was really doing it all to promote more diplomatic solutions.


We can find further distortions in a mailing sent out before the Iowa caucuses by the independent expenditure committee of a key Clinton ally, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The AFSCME mailing attacked Obama on his health care plan by using a John Edwards quote that was featured so prominently that recipients could assume that his campaign was the source of the attack piece. This and other actions so disturbed a group of seven AFSCME International Vice Presidents wrote a public letter to their union president, saying that although the union had endorsed Clinton on a split vote, the political committee had no mandate to attack Obama. They demanded the committee stop what they called %u201Cfundamentally dishonest%u201D attacks.