Clinton in California

Senator Clinton’s campaign is putting their focus not on the debates coming up next year or the Iowa caucus or New Hampshire primary, like most candidates would, but on California. Her campaign has several strategists in California focusing on January 12, 2008, a day which they believe will show voters across the country that Hillary Clinton is the inevitable nominee, according to Howard Fineman.

The California primary has been moved up to February 5, 2008. Several states will be holding their primary on this day to have greater influence in the nomination process. Clinton’s campaign apparently supported Schwarzenegger’s efforts to move up the California primary. The new law also requires that absentee ballots should be sent to voters by January 8, 2008. Within the next few days, by January 12th, Clinton hopes that tracking polls by her campaign and news coverage will show she is in the lead with those first voters in the primary. These results will be made available before Iowa and New Hampshire. California has more permanent absentee voters than most other states, about 1.5 million are registered as permanent absentee voters. Campaign strategists think that most of these voters are middle-aged women, who’ve been the main target for the campaign.

Smart thinking for Team Hillary, who already has the endorsement of Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez. As Fineman points out this approach is being taken to overshadow the possibility of a poor performance in Iowa, and someone like Barack Obama winning the caucus. While Fineman and other insiders think this is a joke, it’s definitely a good plan. It’s actually on the contrary, people will care is Senator Clinton is “wiped out” in Iowa, there is a lot of media coverage on that caucus, candidates like John Edwards and Barack Obama have slim leads over Hillary Clinton in Iowa. California early primary next year provide the candidate that manages to win the state or at least look like they’re winning the state before any other votes are counted with an advantage. As a CA resident intune to politics, I have noticed Hillary Clinton being in the state more than other candidates as well. Senator Clinton’s campaign is a powerful machine, and reaching out to middle-aged female voters is likely to yield the results they are after.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18800268/page/2/