I spent some time this evening watching the Democratic National Convention in Denver. I saw Hillary's powerful speech and thought she did a very good job of pointing out to her supporters that the worst thing they could do with their bitterness regarding her loss is to turn it into a vote for McCain.
Those are my words, of course, but she made that point very clearly. She made a number of other ones, and had some catchy slogans. That's not the point of this diary. Here I'm trying to make a simple point.
Watching her speech and the warm-up video created by the DNC (which including a testimonial from "HIllary's husband" no name given), it became clear what had been fundamentally wrong with her campaign and why it ultimately failed.
Which brings us to the main point: This was an historic primary for the Democrats, as both of the final two candidates had demographic qualities that were unique for someone so far along in the nomination process.
One candidate ran on that demographic quality and one did not.
The one that did not won the race.
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To put it very simply, Hillary ran as a woman. Barack ran as a person.
When things were going poorly for Hillary, she played her demographic card and claimed sexism.
When things were going poorly for Obama, he worked harder. He organized better and he inspired a wider range of people.
And he won.
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The lesson for the future is simple, don't pigeon-hole yourself if you want broad support. Don't put such a simple label on yourself and look at everything through that lens. It didn't ever work for Jackson or Sharpton and it didn't work for Clinton. Frankly I don't think it can work, as our country is far too diverse for such a simplistic argument ("vote for me because I was born to the same group as you"). As always, if events prove me wrong some time down the road, I'll be happy to eat those words. But as it stands now, the lesson is clear.
Don't run as a demographic.
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/similar version posted here on my normal digs.