Obama camp counters Clinton's 'big state spin' Nick Juliano

Published: Wednesday March 12, 2008



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Print This Email This Swing state lawmakers argue Obama best for November, pan Clinton attacks Barack Obama's presidential campaign is pushing back at what it calls Hillary Clinton's "big state spin," arguing that the young, charismatic senator does well enough among independents and Republicans to prevail in states Clinton has no chance of winning in November. Democratic lawmakers from five swing states that went to Obama made the case that only Obama can expand the party's reach beyond the standard cadre of coastal blue states. If Clinton were to be the nominee, there would be no room for error, the governors said, because she would be unable to compete beyond the states that voted for John Kerry and Al Gore along with a small number of battlegrounds. "It's not even close in terms of the difference a candidate like Obama makes," said Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, whose state went for Obama in the first caucus this year. Culver pointed to a recent Des Moines Register poll that had Obama taking 53 percent of the vote there against Republican nominee John McCain, who had 36 percent; conversely, McCain beat Clinton in Iowa 49-to-40 percent in the same poll. Along with Iowa's Culver, lawmakers from Missouri, Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington state touted Obama's prospects in the general election. All five of those states voted before Clinton's campaign began aggressively questioning whether Obama was qualified to be commander in chief. They criticized Clinton for undercutting Obama's credentials and for suggesting that McCain was more qualified that he was to enter the Oval Office. Responding to questions from RAW STORY , the lawmakers predicted that had Clinton unveiled similar attacks before their states voted, she would have lost by even wider margins. Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill criticized Clinton's "3 a.m. ad" that ran in Texas this month and said voters in her state were tired of being subjected to fear-based attacks. "Fear has not made us safer under the Bush administration. It has not enhanced our standing around the world. It certainly has not helped the middle class figure out how to get health care," she said. "The fear card would not [have been] played effectively." Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle noted that Clinton's campaign unveiled its first negative ad in Wisconsin, and he predicted that if the attacks had continued Obama's victory would have been even greater than the 17-point margin he attained. "It's kind hard to lose by 17 points," he said. "I think she would've lost by even more than that." Claire McCaskill's post was incorrectly identified in an earlier version of this article. She is a Democratic senator from Missouri.



