As Election Day approaches, one of the most publicized presidential races of the past several decades has captivated the minds of people around the world and set records for participation in the US democratic primary system. As the first woman to run as a mainstream candidate for president, New York Senator Hillary Clinton has quite a race in front of her by anyone's standards.
Even though equal rights for women have existed in the United States for almost a century, it has been a long time coming for a presidential race between Clinton and her fiercest competitor, Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Although she had led polls initially for several weeks, as the Iowa caucus started to get underway, Obama had the lead. After her third-place finish in Iowa, things were looking a little desperate for Mrs. Clinton, whose campaigning in recent weeks has been relentless. As Obama picked up the pace to match, it seemed inevitable. With the opposition taking double-digit leads in most polls in the days and hours leading up to the New Hampshire Democratic primary, the Clinton camp seemed somewhat resigned. But with an unusual combination of a record voter turnout, the first truly web-capable election, and a newfound global interest in US politics all contributed to Hillary's comeback.
The New Hampshire primary had more people voting in it than ever before by a large margin, with a half million strong coming out in the unseasonably warm weather to cast their vote. While Obama took the independent voters and many young Americans, the biggest bloc of Hillary supporters were- surprise!- women, as well as the diehard Democrats, who seemed to take Hillary more seriously. While the "electability" of either major candidate has been questioned, a race that comes down to a black man or a woman for the highest civilian office in the US is certainly not to be overlooked in terms of progress. Yet this factor may have helped win Hillary undue support. While the Iowa caucuses were held openly, the ballots cast in the New Hampshire primary were cast in private, thus begging the question: What other factors besides racism could give one candidate a clear lead in polls, yet give the other candidate the nomination?
Well, the power of the web has been somewhat underestimated in recent months, as the first presidential webcast debates have been published-er-uploaded and received millions of hits. A video reposted on Youtube of Hillary speaking to a coffeeshop audience nearly in tears went viral hours before the election, in a brief but rare emotional outpouring that just may have set her apart from the competition in an unexpected way. As often as she has tried to be sincere and make connections to people, Hillary has come off as cold and calculating, a politician to the core. Yet this moment of candidness, combined with the power of new technology that can let any potential viewer (or voter) into her perspective, helped turn the tables in her favor and catapulted her firmly back into the race overnight.