Opinion: Was Clinton’s Massachusetts win a surprise?
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Hillary Clinton’s spin machine, which as noted earlier has been busy, let their joy get the best of them on this one.
Shortly after it became clear she would win the popular vote in Massachusetts, the talking point memo sent out by her aides was headlined: ‘UPSET OF THE NIGHT.’
It went on to make some good points:
‘Despite the fact that Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry were actively supporting and campaigning for (Barack) Obama, Hillary Clinton won the state. ‘Despite the fact that the Governor of Massachusetts endorsed Obama, Hillary Clinton won the state. ‘Despite the fact that Obama visited Massachusetts just last night, Hillary Clinton won the state. ‘This is a strong victory and shows that Hillary Clinton has strength in places where Barack Obama was expected to win.’
It was a good win for Clinton and did have an element of surprise, given the vocal support for Obama from Kennedy, Kerry and the governor the Clinton memo neglected to name, Deval Patrick.
The missive also neglected to note that Clinton benefited from the not insignificant backing of the mayor of Boston, Tom Menino.
But here’s the bigger oversight (and the one that disputes the memo’s headline): Clinton led in all but one of the recent polls in Massachusetts, often substantially. And in the one exception, Obama’s lead was negligible. You can check out the surveys here.
-- Don Frederick