Clinton: 'A win is a win'
Posted: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 12:29 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones
CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. -- Hillary Clinton said she just needed a victory in the Keystone State primary to feel she had done well, since Obama had vastly outspent her.
The former first day is favored to win today's contest, but polls show a wide range of possible victory margins, and it's unclear what impact thousands of newly registered voters will have on the race. Many political observers believe she must win by double-digits here or face pressure to bow out.
"A win is a win especially under the circumstances where my opponent has outspent me probably 3-to-1 maybe 4-to-1 in an enormous effort on his part," Clinton told reporters in a roughly 10-minute press conference outside a polling place in a suburb of Philadelphia.
Later she said maybe she was "old-fashioned" when it came to thinking of a win as a win and repeated a central argument of her campaign in recent days, saying that if Obama can't win here after having such a significant financial advantage, it would show that he's having problems closing the deal.
Clinton said fundraising efforts had gone well, even though Obama was outraising her.
"We've done very, very well. I mean, you have two candidates who have each raised more money than anybody's ever raised in a primary campaign, and we're gonna continue to raise money and, you know, we'll have enough. But, you know, I give him credit. He has a tremendous base of donors," she said, before making a pitch to supporters to go to her Web site and contribute.
Clinton blamed Obama for the negative turn the race has taken in recent days, again linking the change in tone to the Illinois senator's performance in last Wednesday's debate in Philadelphia, as she has done on the stump.
"I think we've run a very positive campaign," she said. "I regret that especially since the debate, Sen. Obama has chosen to go so negative and contrary to what he says in his speeches, his campaign has certainly done that."
She also brought up the search for Osama bin Laden, a figure featured in her closing argument ad called "Kitchen" which launched yesterday and sought to lay out the many challenges facing the next president, especially on matters of national security.
"I believe that the next president will have to have an effective, strong strategy against terrorism," she said. "We're gonna have to end the war in Iraq and try to win the war in Afghanistan and, you know, all these years after 9/11, we still haven't brought to justice the mastermind of the attack that devastated my city and I take that personally. I take it really personally, so this is about my leadership, my resolve, what I intend to do as your president."
After the press conference, Clinton visited a nearby restaurant where she ordered a Philly cheese steak to go.
