Mark Halperin: 10 things that never happened in a campaign before
Hillary and Bill Clinton have ruled the chessboard of Democratic politics for so long that almost no move they make comes as a surprise. But the image of a former First Couple swapping roles — with a past President trying to be a supportive spouse and a First Lady emerging as a presidential front runner looking for restitution and restoration — proved a media bonanza, a clashing intraparty cause for concern and elation, and a curiosity for the public. Senator Clinton played the POTUS card shrewdly. She regularly recalled the"good old days" of the 1990s when her husband's Administration brought peace and prosperity and alternately referred to him cozily as"Bill" or pointedly as"the President." Bill Clinton, meanwhile, made an early effort to avoid overshadowing her with his famously omnivorous personality but eventually stepped up to play a major strategic role in her campaign. Sometimes he demonstrated flashes of his old brilliance, but by his own account, he was rusty; there were days when he hurt his wife's chances more than he helped. When the son of a President ran for the office in 2000, former President George H.W. Bush and wife Barbara worked for their boy from behind the scenes. But the Clintons ran much as they had in 1992, as two for the price of one. Many Democratic voters fondly recalled the finer moments of the Clinton years and believed Hillary was ready to be President from Day One, with her husband by her side in the White House to offer guidance and advice. But the back-to-the-future pitch had a clear downside as well. As an adviser to Barack Obama said at the height of the Obama-Clinton battle,"Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton — that sure doesn't sound like change to me."
2. Superdelegates Finally Have a Say
After Ronald Reagan's landslide victory over Jimmy Carter in 1980, Democratic Party insiders decided to give themselves a bigger role in choosing a nominee. To steer the party toward more electable choices, they created the monsters known as superdelegates. Unlike standard delegates to the national convention, who are selected by voters in primaries and caucuses, the supers — simply because they hold key public or party offices — are entitled to cast a vote for the nominee of their choosing. Obama's string of 13 primary and nine caucus victories in February left Hillary Clinton with only one path to the nomination — winning a disproportionate share of the more than 800 unelected superdelegates. They ranged from the world famous (Al Gore had superdelegate status as a former Vice President) to the obscure (21-year-old college student Jason Rae won his position after serving as an activist in Wisconsin politics).
Both campaigns swarmed over these officials, learning their views, memorizing their hobbies, bombarding them with appeals to come on board or walk away from the other side. And when charm failed, there was plenty of old-fashioned arm-twisting. For several months, the supers enjoyed a level of attention and notoriety they had escaped for over 20 years. While some were genuinely torn between the new star and the iconic party heroine, nearly all eventually fell in line behind Obama. Most felt he had a better chance at capturing the hearts of independents, beating John McCain, and didn't want to take the nomination away from an African American who had won at the ballot box. The superdelegates sealed Clinton's fate....