asu in the news 02-06-08 to - ASU News - Arizona State University

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Source: EastValleyTribune.com
Title: ASU’s Simpson comments on McCain
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Full Text: Hillary Clinton beat back a surging Barack Obama to easily win Arizona’s Democratic
presidential primary Tuesday, claiming more than half the popular vote and a majority of the state’s
56 delegates.
Clinton jumped to an early lead with mail-in ballots and never looked back, grabbing more than 50
percent of the vote to Obama’s 40 percent with more than two-thirds of precincts reporting late
Tuesday. Most of the rest went to John Edwards, who dropped out of the race last week.
While polls showed Obama gaining on Clinton in the final days and both sides predicted a long night,
national TV networks were calling the Arizona primary by 9:30 p.m.
It was a stunning win for Clinton, particularly given Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano’s enthusiastic
backing of Obama.
"Everybody wants change," former state party chair Jim Pederson told Clinton’s Arizona supporters
during the victory celebration. "Who is the person to cause that change?"
"Hillary!" the crowd shouted.
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"The Democrats in this state led a resounding voice as to who should be our nominee to make that
change," he said.
The candidates treated Arizona like it mattered, heavily courting the state’s 56 delegates with public
appearances, TV ads and direct mail. For pollsters, the excitement of Obama and the devotion to
Clinton made the race a moving target.
Voters responded, with an estimated 50 percent streaming to the polls in Arizona to cast 1 million
ballots, nearly double a typical presidential primary election.
Both campaigns set up Arizona headquarters, with offices and staff, and worked the state’s urban
areas hard for endorsements and voters. Clinton held two rallies here in the past few weeks, and her
husband came in between. Obama drew 14,000 people to Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum last week,
and his wife appeared Monday.
On Tuesday evening, both Arizona campaigns welcomed supporters at the same downtown Phoenix
hotel.
Obama’s Arizona contingent started the evening with rock music and cocktails, but crowds started
thinning as the election results started rolling in. Even so, he had a bigger, more raucous crowd than
the tamer crew one floor below at the Wyndham Downtown Phoenix.
Campaign staffers had expected the early returns of mostly mail-in ballots to favor Clinton. But as the
night wore on, his supporters were bracing for a loss.
"Hey, at the end of the day this is a race about delegates," said Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe.
"We’re just going to have to keep on fighting."
Schapira and other Obama supporters pointed to wins in other states and were hopeful he could split
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