No, New York City Is Not Hillary Clinton's "Hometown" [View all]

[Cheese Sandwich]

Now matter how many articles are published saying otherwise, New York City is not Hillary Clinton's "home" or "hometown."

This is not a jab at Clinton, who couldn't hide the fact that she moved to New York specifically because there was an open Senate seat if she tried, or even at my people in Westchester County. This is only to say that it's a Herculean stretch to call New York Clinton's "hometown" in the sense that her deep-rootedness gives her some sort of advantage, or in the sense that she has ever lived here.

Clinton's extensive political connections in the five boroughs, dating to her two terms as New York senator and the attendant Democratic party backing, can't hurt her diminished-but-still-over-10-percent primary polling advantage. But importantly, throughout her eight years as a senator and four years as secretary of Benghazi or whatever, when she wasn't living in Washington (where she and Bill have a mansion) or greeting foreign dignitaries in marble lobbies around the world, she kicked back in a stately five-bedroom in Chappaqua, a place that physically, spiritually, and geographically has nothing to do with the city of New York other than feeding it office workers and smog on weekdays, and creating unfortunate scenes on the Metro North on weekends.



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For further fodder to the great New Yorker Authenticity Debate, consider Bernie Sanders's Brooklyn accent, maintained over five long decades spent outside the city limits. Clinton has famously changed dialects several times in her life, and occasionally reverts to folksy Southern-isms when the setting calls for it, whereas throughout his time in bucolic Vermont, Sanders has talked like a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker. Sanders may not have Chuck Schumer to hype the crowd for him, but he and Schumer share an alma mater in James Madison High School. Beyond that, Sanders came of age in a rent-stabilized apartment in Midwood, wiled away summers at Coney Island, and in his own neighborhood, entertained himself by throwing a Spaldeen ball at the wall for hours (for chrissakes).

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http://gothamist.com/2016/03/31/clinton_is_not_a_new_yorker.php