California Is No Gimme, Hillary

[cboy4]

Clinton seemed like a lock here, but with Obama's gains in Iowa, everything has changed.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/10/MNGUTQ8OU.DTL

Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Monday, December 10, 2007


For months, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has appeared to have an iron grip on California's primary election, with an army of top-name endorsers and a formidable ground organization that helped her amass a 2-1 lead in the polls over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

But with Clinton's "inevitability" armor appearing tarnished by Obama's gains in crucial Iowa and New Hampshire, some political observers are now debating whether shifts in those early states may have a ripple effect that could put California in play.

The increasingly heated competition among Democrats for attention and dollars in the nation's most populous state - which will be one of the 22 states holding "Tsunami Tuesday" primaries on Feb. 5 - is underscored by the competing schedules of the two top Democratic candidates in California today.

Clinton and Obama will hold nearly simultaneous fundraisers in Los Angeles, with the Illinois senator planning a $25-to-$50-per-ticket rally expected to draw thousands to the Universal City Walk amphitheater almost at the same time the New York senator plans a $250-a-head event across town at Social Hollywood, a restaurant and club. Clinton will appear in San Francisco on Tuesday, joining Warren Buffet for a roundtable discussion at the San Francisco Hilton before she heads off to fundraisers elsewhere in the city and in Sacramento.

[TZ]

1. They did a straw poll in Maryland yesterday

It was I think 29% Obama, 24% Edwards, 16% Clinton..
I don't think HRC should take ANY state for granted, right now.

[rocktivity]

2. That's the root of her strategy--playing the same "inevitability game"

that Bush does.

It won't be enough for Hillary to win--she'll have to do so by a margin big enough to discourage Obama and Edwards. If she merely squeaks by in IA and NH, she will embolden them, and their supporters, too.

:headbang:
rocknation