Clinton campaign expands Illinois effort

[BootinUp]

Illinois can help Hillary even if Obama's 1st
FEB. 5 PRIMARY | It's not winner-take-all, so she's seeking key share of votes

January 18, 2008

LYNN SWEET blogs.suntimes.com/sweet
LAS VEGAS -- Native daughter Hillary Rodham Clinton is sending in staff to help land some delegates in the Feb. 5 Illinois primary, ramping up an operation in the Land of Obama because the name of the game in winning the Democratic presidential nomination is collecting delegates.

Illinois is not a winner-take-all state when it comes to claiming the delegates to be elected Feb. 5 from each of the 19 congressional districts in the state, which is why Clinton has a chance of picking up some delegates in Barack Obama's home state.


If Clinton meets a threshold of 15 percent of the statewide vote and then gets at least 15 percent in a congressional district, she will be able to claim delegates, the number depending on her turnout.

Because New York also doles out delegates in proportion to the vote, Obama has been making incursions into Clinton's adopted state. A reason John Edwards will continue to be a factor -- though he has not scored any wins -- is that he is picking up delegates along the way, even if not winning any states.

Clinton was born in Chicago at Edgewater Hospital, reared in Park Ridge and has a base in Illinois of friends and former Clinton administration appointees who have formed the core of her Illinois operation. And though Obama has raised millions of dollars from Illinois for his White House war chest, so has Clinton.

[SteppingRazor]

1. Gotta give her credit for marching into the lion's den.

You don't hear much about Obama's efforts in New York.

[BeyondGeography]

4. If you're not listening, that is

[frogcycle]

2. then it can also help ... let's see who is that other guy?? anybody remember?

[BootinUp]

3. kick.