Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s lingering lead over Democratic rival Barack Obama in Ohio is due in part to strong support from the state’s entrenched political establishment.
From Gov. Ted Strickland to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland, influential Democratic officeholders are working furiously to keep Clinton viable in Ohio, even as she falls behind Obama in Texas and across the nation.
“The old steadies are coming through for her,” said professor Cheryl Heckler of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. “Last night I saw for the first time an endorsement by John Glenn, and I found myself actually leaning toward the TV set — that’s how compelling it was.
“I don’t mean to overplay this,” she added. “But I was talking with somebody afterwards and I said: ‘John Glenn is endorsing Hillary. I’ve got to think about this.’ ”
Glenn, a former senator from Ohio and Democratic presidential candidate, has been a hero in the Buckeye state since 1962, when the young astronaut became the first American to orbit the earth. He is now arguing that Clinton is the only candidate with enough experience to defeat Republican John McCain.
But even Glenn’s endorsement might not be enough to hold off Obama through Tuesday, when Ohioans vote in a crucial primary election. Although Clinton has won all 25 major polls taken in Ohio this year, her lead over Obama has dwindled to eight points, according to an average by RealClearPolitics. Last month, her lead was three times that large.
Moreover, not all members of Ohio’s Democratic establishment are sticking with Clinton. Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, who was courted by Clinton, decided to endorse Obama. So did fellow Democratic superdelegate Michael White, a former Cleveland mayor, who until Monday had been supporting Clinton.
“After watching the primary election process by the day and sometimes by the hour, I decided that I cannot cast my vote for Senator Clinton,” wrote White, an African American, in The Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s newspaper. “On March 4th, I’m voting for Barack Obama because I want real change in our America, and he’s made me hopeful that he has the intestinal fortitude to make the change which our country so sorely needs.”
The exodus of support from Clinton is more pronounced outside of Ohio. On Tuesday, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who until recently was a Democratic presidential candidate, endorsed Obama.
Former President Bill Clinton has acknowledged that Ohio and Texas, which also holds its primary Tuesday, are “must-win” states for his wife. That means that even if she hangs on to her lead in Ohio, she could be undone in Texas, where new polls show her trailing by four points after leading by 16 in one poll two weeks ago.
