Clinton Campaign Appears Stalled

Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the White House appears to have stalled out.
After, a narrow win in Indiana, and a large win in West Virginia—Clinton has
failed to convince enough superdelegates to support her.

An AP count on May 18, 2008 shows Clinton with 271 superdelegates, and Obama
currently with 285. Obama currently has 1,883 delegates, and Clinton has 1,717 pledged
delegates.

Clinton’s case for the nomination has centered around her appeal in the big states like
California, New York, and Texas. Hillary also has as a lot of support in red states like
Florida, and Ohio.

The main problem right now is that most superdelegates are looking at the Obama’s
lead in the popular votes, pledged delegates, and the superdelegates. Ohio Governor
Ted Strickland, a Clinton supporter, has called Hillary’s chances of winning the
nomination “increasingly difficult.”

Part of the problem that Hillary is having is that she does not connect with voters,
in a charismatic way—the way Bill Clinton used to. Clinton’s speeches are often
very blasé and repetitive, Hillary often sounds like “teflon coated” Al Gore. Clinton’s
speeches do energize people in California, and New York, but she is having problems
gaining support among uncommitted voters in other states, and superdelegates.

Another problem that has stalled Hillary’s campaign is that gender politics has entered
race. Many of the superdelegates are men like former Colorado Governor Roy Romer,
or New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who apparently don’t want to let a woman
into “the old boys club” at the US Presidency.

Gloria Steniem in her oped in the New York Times, "Women Are Never Front-Runners,"
describes what she calls a “sex barrier” in American politics that leads to discrimination
against women. According to Steniem: “This country is way down the list of countries electing women and, according to one study, it polarizes gender roles more than the average democracy.”

The race issue that Obama has confronted throughout the campaign in terms of the
Jeremiah Wright scandal, and Obama’s lack of support among working class Whites
in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia—does not seem to be effecting most superdelegates. According to superdelegate Governor Romer: "I'm confident that they (voters) are going to eventually get over the issue of what color this man is, what his racial characteristics are….The reason being this nation really respects talent, and this is a very talented man.”

Clinton’s only shot now is to finish well in Kentucky, and then put Florida back into play.
However, it appears that more superdelegates are moving toward Obama now, which
will probably give him the nomination.