Defending Clinton

Well, sort of anyway. There seem to be quite a few liberal bloggers out there who are yukking it up over this article in the Washington Post that I cited to earlier, in which Clinton campaign staff complain about the delegate selection process. These bloggers are taking the article at face value, and having a good old time ripping the Clinton campaign for flat-out not understanding the delegate selection process in Texas. I wasn't the fly on the wall at the Clinton closed-door campaign session who was one of the sources for the article, but I really don't think that's what's going on at all. I think this is all about gaming expectations for the primary results in two weeks. Frankly, I think what the Clinton staffers are up to is more insidious than simply admitting to gross incompetency. What concerns me more about that article are the comments that this process is "unfair" to Texas Hispanics, an allegation that is absurd given that the delegates were assigned based on Democratic turnout in the last two elections. It hardly seems helpful to me for the Democratic process for Clinton campaigners to be trying to convince Hispanics and Democrats at large that Texas Hispanics got ripped off by the Texas Democratic Party in favor of Obama. But if Clinton doesn't gain the majority of delegates on March 4th, it comes in very handy to convince observers that they-and Texas Hispanics-were cheated by the delegate selection process, especially when it comes time to make some deals at the Democratic convention.

Or maybe it's less insidious than that, and they're simply trying to revise expectations ahead of time so that a draw comes off as a win. It's hardly absurd to expect any candidate to take that approach.

Anyway, I refuse to believe that the Clinton campaign is collectively as stupid as some liberal bloggers think they are. I do think they thought this would be over by Super Tuesday, and now they're scrambling to catch up. But if Obama takes Texas it won't be because of Clinton's incompetency (or an unfair delegate selection process.) It'll be because he has the momentum and will pick up voters that Clinton simply can't win, most of whom happen to be in the big urban areas.

Oh, and one more point. Those carpet-baggers up north may be fun to read, but if you want to know what's really going on in Texas over the next couple of weeks (or well, ever) look over there to the right, under "Texas Progressive Alliance" for the greatest collection of liberal/progressive Texas blogs out there. And check back here regularly, of course.