Hillary Clinton, The Great Manipulator

Two weeks have passed since the March 4th primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. Today, the Florida Democratic Party announced its decision not to hold a new “mail-in” primary to replace the mock primary it held in January in violation of Democratic Party rules. To put this decision into some perspective, let us return to the night of Saturday, January 26th. Senator Hillary Clinton, after being trounced in the South Carolina primary by Senator Barack Obama and yet refusing to give anything remotely resembling a gracious concession speech, took to the stage in front of her supporters in Tennessee. She could barely bring herself to congratulate Barack Obama on his stunning victory, and instead proceeded to talk about the upcoming Super Tuesday primaries, as well as… yes, the upcoming Florida Primary. The very same Florida Primary in which she and all the Democratic candidates had agreed not to campaign. No rallies on the ground, no fundraisers in the state, no campaign offices, no staffers, no ads on radio or television. No campaign. No contest. No primary. And yet because polling showed her well ahead of Obama by virtue of her greater name recognition, and because in the aftermath of the South Carolina debacle, she needed to declare a victory somewhere, anywhere… Clinton knew then what she must do.

There were no real Democratic primaries on the calendar on Tuesday, January 29th, and yet all the networks would be covering the Florida Republican Primary, which had become a key contest in the race between John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee. It was, on the Republican side, a real contest, with real candidates in the State, real campaign offices, real staffers, and real rallies and real advertisements on radio and TV. But there was none of that on the Democratic side, because there was no primary being contested by any candidate. Nonetheless, Senator Clinton flew into the Sunshine State just as the polls closed, so she could not be accused of campaigning there and breaking her promise to the DNC. She took the stage to deliver a “victory speech” that she knew the networks would cover — because it was, after all, news! And so, the Great Manipulator, Senator Hillary Clinton, all too easily conned the networks into carrying her speech live in primetime, on a night when there was no contest to be won or lost by any Democratic candidate for president.

The Republicans had their Great Communicator in Ronald Reagan. Now the Democrats have their Great Manipulator in Hillary Clinton. And now the battle to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations at the Democratic Convention begins in earnest.

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