Ken Berwitz
In a poker game, they are what is known as “tells,” somegiveaway to what cards a player holds, some sign of whether he has the flush orhas a busted hand. As Team Clinton focuses on the state where gamblingdominates, their tells are showing.
After spending so much time touting the minority outreach,especially to Latinos, Team Clinton is now repeating the ridiculous and falsemantra that Nevada is not so different than Iowa and New Hampshire, two of thewhitest states in the union. It\’s as if history doesn\’t exist.
…From the top (campaign managerRobby Mook) on down (spokesman Brian Fallon) they pushed thefalse narrative that Nevada had an 80 percent white voterpopulation. This is so far from true, and they know it (especially Mook, who -wait for it – ran Hillary\’s campaign here in 2008).
They know that electorate was at least 30 percent minority,and they know it is projected to be closer to 40 percent this cycle. Nevada\’sHispanic population is about 27 percent, and it is barely a majority whitestate anymore – not, as Reid so memorably and wryly put it last week, like his1976 yearbook.
So the story we are asked to buy is that Sanders will dowell here because the demographics are so similar. Why does Hillary Clinton notlike white people? Or why don\’t white people like Hillary Clinton?
You see the reductio ad absurdum of this. And they can\’teven keep their spin straight, with Ruiz thentelling Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Steve Sebelius that theyare confident they will win Nevada.
Indeed, that must explain why Clinton canceled anevent in Florida to campaign an extra day here. They are so … confident.
