"Team Clinton tries to lower Nevada expectations with incredible (i.e. false) claims" [View all]

[thesquanderer]

Last edited Mon Feb 15, 2016, 02:29 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/team-clinton-tries-lower-nevada-expectations-incredible-ie-false-claims

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told NBC's Chuck Todd...“There’s an important Hispanic element to the Democratic caucus in Nevada. But it’s still a state that is 80 percent white voters. You have a caucus-style format, and he’ll have the momentum coming out of New Hampshire presumably, so there’s a lot of reasons he should do well.”

80 percent white? What?

This canard was later repeated Wednesday by Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, according to Politico's John Bresnahan. And it was then repeated on a conference call, ABC's Liz Kruetz reported.

I understand the desire of Team Clinton to lower expectations in Nevada after being crushed by Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire. But both Mook and Fallon know that 80 percent figure is ludicrous, and the attempt to make Nevada seem like Iowa and New Hampshire is a spin too far.
...
Nevada's Hispanic population is about 27 percent. African-Americans and Asian/Pacific Islanders make up almost 10 percent each. That is, nearly half of the state's population is made up of minorities.
...
The inestimable Adam Nagourney of The New York Times ignored the nonsense in a piece Wednesday that pointed out that Nevada is "as racially diverse as Iowa and New Hampshire are not."

There is no reliable polling in Nevada -- at least not yet. But the conventional wisdom had been that Clinton had a huge advantage here, especially because Team Sanders did not arrive until October. Not anymore.

I don't smell a rat. I smell something much more pungent from the Clinton campaign: fear.