Clinton downplays Wyo. chances
Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 9:24 AM by Chuck Todd
From NBC/NJ's Athena JonesCASPER, WY, March 7 -- Remember
that "Caucusing is Easy" how-to video the Clinton campaign rolled out
in the days leading up to the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses? It explained the
caucus process with hamburgers and dancing and singing and a bunch of
short comments from old and young about what a breeze it was.
"Dancing is hard. Caucusing is easy," went one line.
It's
been a little over two months since the senator lost the Iowa caucuses
and almost every other caucus since, save the contentious Nevada vote,
and while she stumped in Wyoming on Friday, her campaign has
consistently downplayed her chances.
The candidate herself
acknowledged the long odds at events here today, calling this race an
uphill climb, while exclaiming to supporters that their votes were
"worth fighting for".
Despite aides insisting on a
conference call Tuesday night, held to call attention to alleged
irregularities in the Texas caucuses, that they embraced the caucus
process, the senator has made it clear she's not too keen on a system
she believes leaves too many people out -- like nurses, members of the
military, people who work the night shift or who can't get off their
day shift and the very old. (And it is important to note she is not the
only one who shares that view.)
So as she campaigned in
hopes of holding her own and winning as many delegates as she can in
Saturday's caucus, which Obama is expected to win, Clinton riffed on
the difficulties the process presents.
"Most people have no idea what a caucus is. Frankly, I've never caucused, cause I've never lived in a state that did that. I've always just voted, you know, and I thought that worked out ok," she told a crowded gym in Casper.
And earlier at a town hall attended by several hundred in Cheyenne, she told the audience it was no secret that many of her supporters had never caucused before and were not clear on how it worked.
"It's not an election. In fact, time and time again, people have said to me, you know, I can't come because I work. I'm gonna be out of town. There's not an opportunity for a lot of people to participate," she said.
But even though everything Clinton says indicates she's seeking to keep expectations low, she was not giving up.
"I've never been a quitter and I've never given up and I'm just keep going and I intend to keep going all the way to the White House," she vowed in Casper.