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Debates Are for Losers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2008

Peter R. Schrott  and
David J. Lanoue
Peter R. Schrott
Affiliation:
Heilbronn University
David J. Lanoue
Affiliation:
University of Alabama
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Extract

On the morning of October 30, 2007, Hillary Clinton led Barack Obama, her closestchallenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, by a comfortable margin in everysignificant national poll. That night, however, Senator Clinton, debating in Philadelphia,wandered into an ambush. Asked for her opinion of then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer'splan to allow illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses, she first seemed to supportthe idea and then, under withering attack from Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, almostimmediately backed away from her tepid endorsement. Writing shortly after the debate, MarkHalperin (2007) of Time magazineopined that “[i]f [Clinton] loses the nomination, tonight will go down in history as thefirst step to her defeat.”

Type
Features
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 513 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 2008

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