Ho Hum, Obama wins yet another meaningless state

Obama was up 56-43 in Wisconsin with just about 40% of the vote counted, and so I am going to bed.

We are hearing that Obama narrowly lost women 51-48 and won those with no college degree 54-45. That is wonderful news. He won all age groups except for the over 60.

Oh yeah, he got 75% of the caucus vote in Hawaii as well, so make that 10 wins in a row.

What has happened to the Clinton campaign?

What happened to Hillary Clinton?

Last fall, she was the “inevitable” nominee whose “machine” would raise scads of cash and push her to an early victory. She demonstrated poise and knowledge in debates, and party leaders lined up behind her, fearful of missing her fast-moving train.

But this narrative was flawed from the beginning. Her campaign has suffered from profound organizational failures, small mistakes that took on larger import, and miscalculations that have put her in a position where to survive, she must defeat Barack Obama in both Texas and Ohio next month.

The major flaw in the early story line is that there never was a Clinton machine in the sense of a well-populated organization skilled at turning out votes. Clinton campaigns have always been top-down operations focused on message and media. The Clintons have never lived in a world of precinct captains.

Obama, by contrast, was shaped by his early work as an organizer for the Industrial Areas Foundation and his political life in Chicago, a place where people still talk about ward committeemen and harbor memories of something that was called “The Organization.”

While the Clintonites dispensed large amounts of cash on polling, media and the other accoutrements of a modern campaign, Obama combined post-modern online savvy with old-fashioned organizing. His respect for organization paid off in states that select delegates through caucuses rather than primaries. It’s also clear that Obama not only spent his cash more shrewdly, he also adapted better to the new world of political fund-raising. Obama took Howard Dean’s online achievement of 2004 and jumped it forward a couple of generations in size and sophistication.

One of the things that we were told back in July, 2007, is that the Obama campaign would be based “on the ground” with field offices in every contested state. People were hired that could reach out and make the common voter or caucus goer feel welcome; for example the local field captain even knew my name on sight!

I volunteered to do certain things and they followed up to see if I had done them; I was called for events, walks and the like. This sort of thing happened or will happen in all states, other than Florida and Michigan.

I am still feeling under the weather so off to bed I go; I hope to have enough energy to make calls to Wyoming tomorrow evening and to Texas this weekend.

We need to put this one away within the next 6 weeks or so.

But if Clinton pulls of the comeback (and she is capable of it), I hope that she has learned her lessons; still this doesn’t bode well for someone who is running as the “experience” candidate.