Reply #62: Oh, come on. Why would Bill be reluctant to lose SC, if it enhanced benefited Hillary's chances? [View All]

[pampango]

I believe that the Clinton's are in this to win the nomination, not to win the SC primary as their primary goal.

If Bill thought that an Obama who transcends race, as the earlier primaries indicated was beginning to happen, posed a threat to Hillary's nomination, Bill would want to counteract that public perception of Obama. To the extent that the voters' image of Obama could be pushed closer to that of Jackson (someone with limited appeal to white voters), Obama might win the SC primary (as Jackson did), but would not be a threat to a white candidate nationally (any more than Jackson was).

If you believe that Bill would never have done anything to hurt Hillary in SC (even though she probably would have lost there anyway, though by a much closer vote), if the Clintons thought they could pigeonhole Obama in the process in such a way as to take away his ability to transcend race in appealing to voters, then you either think less of Bill as a campaign strategist or that he is not as much of a "no-holds-barred" campaigner than most of us think he is.