Opinion: Hillary Clinton finally wins one!
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The nation’s tiniest state gave Hillary Clinton her first victory since the Super Tuesday contests on Feb. 5, with each of the cable networks calling Rhode Island for her.
With a large working-class, Catholic population, the state long had been assumed to be favorable turf for her. But Barack Obama made a late run at it, traveling there Saturday for a speech in Providence.
In retrospect, given the apparent closeness of the battle for Texas tonight, he might have been better advised to spend his time there.
Clinton was backed by most of Rhode Island’s Democratic establishment. Obama countered with support from the state’s most-famed political maverick, Republican-turned-independent Lincoln Chafee, and a Democrat with an especially well-known name, Rep. Patrick Kennedy.
Obama’s defeat continues what has become a trend in this campaign season -- being backed by a Kennedy hasn’t paid ...
bottom-line dividends.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, Patrick’s dad, was unable to deliver Massachusetts for Obama; Clinton carried it easily. Nor were the outcomes any better for two of his nieces who also signed on with Obama -- he lost New York, home state of Caroline Kennedy, and California, home state of Maria Shriver.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the daughter of Robert Kennedy and the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, didn’t prove any more helpful to Clinton. Townsend’s backing failed to prevent Clinton from getting trounced in the Free Line State.
The one member of the clan who will have reason to gloat at the next family reunion? Townsend’s brother, Joe Kennedy II, a Massachusetts resident who campaigned for Clinton.
-- Don Frederick