Bill's going for the deep seats on this pitch

by Don Wheeler

David Sirota of Credo Action made a point of highlighting the Clinton Indiana strategy. And it is something to behold.
From ABC News:

ABC News' Sarah Amos reports: Bill Clinton set a high
bar in Fort Wayne, Ind., tonight while campaigning for his wife, Sen. Hillary
Clinton, D-N.Y.

In past states Clinton has made a point to lower
expectations, particularly in Texas, where he went as far as to say if she
didn't carry the state, she may not get the nomination.

Today, Clinton was singing a different tune, telling
the crowd, "we need your help. We need your help. I believe she will win a big
victory in Pennsylvania. I believe she will win in West Virginia and Kentucky.
Nobody believes she can win in Indiana because it borders Illinois. If you show
them they're wrong, she'll be the nominee, and she'll be the president."

Clinton went on to urge voters in Indiana not to make
up their minds just yet, saying Hillary does her best when voters think about
their choice in the last hours of an election.

"In every election that we've been involved in, all
these primaries, she always wins the voters that decide in the last 48 hours.
Even in the states where she had no money, no organization, got beat bad.

"In Virginia she won the closing vote, a state where we
had no organization, spent no money. She just went up there for a couple days.
In Mississippi, where she was bound to lose, she did much better than everybody
expected because she won the closing vote," Clinton told the crowd.

"In Texas, she won the vote up to 48 hours before the
election 50-49. She won the last 48 hours 61-38. The people who start thinking
about who would be the best president are coming to her," said Clinton, throwing
in one final example of a state his wife managed to win.

It was an energized day of campaigning for Clinton, who
joked throughout the day about how much more comfortable he feels coming to
rural America.

"I'm the designated rural hitman in the campaign,
because I feel at home," Clinton told one audience today.

Tomorrow, Clinton will continue his rural-themed
campaign run with stops across eastern Pennsylvania.

It's an odd strategy in at least a couple ways. Considering Fort Wayne is (along with Gary and Indianapolis) of the most metropolitan parts of our state, it seems like tin ear syndrome (at the least) to characterize his appearance there as some sort of "wallow with the hogs" initiative. And the claim that Hillary suffers from terrible disadvantages here, brings to mind an old Monty Python "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" skit.

Some might argue that having the backing of the state organization, led by US Senator Evan Bayh, might actually offer an advantage. I'll go out on a limb and say I think it does. I'm not sure what more Bill could ask for.

This really looks like a symptom of their surprisingly poorly run campaign. From the beginning, first Joe Trippi for Edwards, then David Axelrod for Obama continually baited and outmaneuvered Howard Wolfson - who seems to have a particular knack for making himself look like an idiot. George W. Bush got away with a campaign of arrogance and inevitability in 2000 to win his nomination, but he had nothing like the quality of opponents Hillary Clinton has faced.

I'm not a big fan of either Senator, but it's hard for me to see what the Clinton folks think they can do at this point. In some ways, Sen. Obama's margin is small, but in another way - being so late in the game - it is nearly impossible to overcome.

John Edwards did the math, didn't want to end up some kind of power broker, and dropped out a bit sooner than many of us would have predicted.

The new math shows a somewhat similar problem for Sen. Clinton. True, in her case, she could maneuver her way to a nomination - but it isn't likely. And if she succeeded, what would she have accomplished? Could she overcome the hard feelings created by the backroom tactics which would be necessary to pull this off? I doubt it.

Hillary Clinton needs to think carefully about whether - should she wrest the nomination - can the Democrats win the Presidency?

Hubris hasn't served her candidacy well up to this point.

Bill and Chelsea will be here (in South Bend) Monday for Dyngus Day celebrations. Any questions for them?