While lots of theories are being tossed around to explain Hillary Clinton’s poll-defying New Hampshire win, this Concord Monitor story chronicling Clinton’s last-minute attacks on Obama’s record on abortion provides evidence for one more partial explanation of her comeback:
The back-and-forth over Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s support for abortion rights dragged on for a third day, with the Clinton camp mailing a letter to voters yesterday from two dozen pro-choice activists touting Clinton’s record. It was the second Clinton mailer in three days scrutinizing Obama’s record on pro-choice legislation. A glossy flier sent out over the weekend said Obama voted ‘present’ instead of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on anti-abortion legislation in the Illinois state Senate. Yesterday’s letter – signed by leaders from state affiliates of Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice, the National Organization of Women and the YWCA – reiterated the criticism. ‘The difference between Hillary’s repeatedly standing up strong on choice and Obama’s unwillingness to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is a clear contrast, and we believe the voters in New Hampshire deserve to know the difference,’ the letter said. ‘We support Hillary Clinton because she never ducked when choice was at stake.’ Obama spokesman Reid Cherlin said the accusations were false and had backfired in Iowa. Obama launched an automated phone message from a Planned Parenthood official defending his support for abortion rights Sunday. But the Clinton campaign claimed the Obama campaign violated state election laws because it had called people on the federal-do-not-call registry and failed to identify the sponsor of the calls within 30 seconds.
This three-day direct mail/robo-call skirmish on abortion didn’t get much attention in the media, but it seems to support the Feiler/Skurnik theories discussed by Mickey Kaus: “[Y]ou’ve got a vast uninformed pool of voters that only begins to make up its mind until the very last minute – after the last poll is taken.” With Obama’s record on abortion largely unknown (though apparently more extreme than Clinton’s), these attacks may have swayed Democratic voters in the final hours to stick with Hillary, who has openly stood for pro-choice absolutism throughout the years.
