AUSTIN, Texas. New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton raised the bar by which her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination should be judged in a speech to supporters last night, saying Illinois Senator Barack Obama needed to score a "triple double"--a three-state victory by at least ten percentage points--in the four primaries being held today.
Barack Obama, in "Hoop Dreams" phase.
"My opponent likes people to think 'he got game'," the former First Lady said in a speech that drew heavily on street slang she picked up Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. "Let me tell you something--he's gonna get a schoolin', and I ain't foolin'!"
Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
The term "triple double" is derived from basketball, where it refers to a game in which a player accumulates double-digit totals in any three of these categories--points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots. It became widely popular during the mid-1980's, when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson would routinely achieve "quadruple doubles", a triple double followed by ten Bud Lights for Bird and ten women for Johnson.
Clinton and Magic Johnson: "When she sets up in the low post, you can't move her!"
The four states that will hold primaries today are Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. Clinton and Obama were both campaigning in Texas today, the biggest prize with 193 delegates and a two-day/one-night Family Pack Special at Six Flags Over Texas, an amusement park, at stake. Under the auspices of the Democratic National Committee, the candidates engaged in a friendly game of "21" at an elementary school playground, where an Associated Press reporter picked up a bit of "trash talking" before the candidates threw "rock-paper-scissors" to decide who would get the ball first:
OBAMA: We had a back porch when I was growing up in Kansas, but it wasn't anywhere near as big as that!
Playground hoops: "Yo, Hillary--take a chill-pillary."
CLINTON: Are those your ears, or missile defense radar dishes that are draining money away from America's social ills?
Copyright 2008, Con Chapman
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Clinton Chief Strategist Mark Penn: "After March 4th, over 3000 delegates will be committed, and we project that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be virtually tied with 611 delegates still to be chosen in Pennsylvania and other remaining states. Again and again, this race has shown that it is voters and delegates who matter, not the pundits or perceived 'momentum.'" [Mark Penn memo, 2/13/08]
Clinton aide Guy Cecil: "We think that at the end of the day on March 4 we will be within 25 delegates." [Politico, 2/13/08]
Howard Wolfson: "I Think We Will Be Ahead In The Delegate Race After Texas And Ohio." [Clinton campaign conference call, 2/11/08]
New York Times: "Clinton advisers have said Mrs. Clinton must win the Texas and Ohio primaries by at least 10 percentage points if she has any hope of catching up with Mr. Obama in the delegate count, particularly because he has shown momentum recently at picking up support from elected officials who count as superdelegates." [NYT, 2/22/08]
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