We were discussing this around the Pensito Review virtual water cooler over the weekend. Here’s the AP’s take:
After nearly a month of intense campaigning and multiple debates between the two candidates, Clinton managed to defeat Brown in the June 1992 California primary by a margin of 48 percent to 41 percent.
Hillary Rodham Clinton often says her husband wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination in June 1992 in defending her decision to press ahead until the last primary votes.
Sixteen years ago, six contests in June did give Bill Clinton the necessary delegates for the nomination, but he had essentially won the nomination in March 1992…
THE SPIN:
Responding to a question on Friday from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board about calls for her to drop out, Clinton said: “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right?”
The former first lady has used the argument before.
In a March interview with Time magazine, she said: “Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June, also in California. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual.”
She also made the claim at a campaign stop in Houston on March 4, the same day as the Texas and Ohio primaries. “My husband didn’t get the nomination wrapped up until June (in 1992). That has been the tradition,” she said.
THE FACTS
While Bill Clinton did not effectively clinch the nomination until the June 2 primaries in 1992, he had held a commanding lead over his Democratic challenger Jerry Brown since his March 17 wins in Illinois and Michigan.
Clinton’s closest rival, Paul Tsongas, left the race two days after Clinton’s Midwest victories. Brown stayed in despite trailing Clinton by more than 800 delegates.
Shortly after, Democratic leaders had all but declared Bill Clinton their contender for the fall election. Clinton was so far ahead, that Paul Tully, the Democratic Party political director at the time, told The Associated Press in a March 19, 1992 article: “The fat lady is doing a sound check.”
Clinton was just 86 delegates short of the majority coming into the six-state primary finale in June that included California. He surpassed that amount to wrap up a nominating process that started with the Iowa caucus on Feb. 10.
This year’s contests began much earlier than previous election years.
What has changed is that the California primary has been moved from June to February. So while there was a time when sticking it out until June could have reversed a campaign’s fortunes by winning a big chunk of the state’s humongous delegate count, that day is over.
It’s spin to cover the real reason she is keeping her campaign going, which may be to rack up impressive metrics for a 2012 run if Obama falters in November.
The Wikipedia entry for former California Gov. Jerry Brown offers background on why Bill Clinton had to wait until June 1992 to be declared the presumptive nominee:
Despite poor showings in the Iowa caucus (1.6 percent) and the New Hampshire primary (8.0 percent), Brown soon managed to win narrow victories in Maine, Colorado, Nevada, Alaska, and Vermont, but he continued to be considered an also-ran for much of the campaign. It was not until shortly after Super Tuesday, when the field had been narrowed to Brown, former Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, and frontrunning Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, that Brown began to emerge as a major contender in the eyes of the press.
On March 17, Brown forced Tsongas from the race when he received a strong third-place showing in the Illinois primary and then defeated the senator for second place in the Michigan primary by a wide margin. Exactly one week later, he cemented his position as a major threat to Clinton when he eked out a narrow win in the bitterly-fought Connecticut primary.
As the press now focused on the primaries in New York and Wisconsin, which were both to be held on the same day, Brown, who had taken the lead in polls in both states, made a serious gaffe: he announced to an audience of various leaders of New York City’s Jewish community that, if nominated, he would consider the Reverend Jesse Jackson as a vice-presidential candidate. Jackson, who had made a pair of anti-Semitic comments about Jews in general and New York City’s Jews in particular while running for president in 1984, was still a widely hated figure in that community and Brown’s polling numbers suffered. On April 7, he lost narrowly to Bill Clinton in Wisconsin (37-34), and dramatically in New York (41-26).
Although Brown continued to campaign in a number of states, he won no further primaries. Despite this, he still had a sizable number of delegates, and a big win in his home state of California would deprive Clinton of sufficient support to win the nomination, which Brown apparently thought would revert to him by default. After nearly a month of intense campaigning and multiple debates between the two candidates, Clinton managed to defeat Brown in this final primary by a margin of 48 percent to 41 percent. Although he did not win the nomination, Brown was able to boast of one accomplishment: At the following month’s Democratic National Convention, he received the votes of 596 delegates on the first ballot, more than any other candidate but Clinton.
Strange as it may seem, Brown — known derisively as Gov. Moonbeam — is in an ascendancy again. After serving as mayor of Oakland, he was elected to his current post as state Attorney General in 2006. He served two terms as governor (1975-1983) and may well run again. There is no Republican with statewide appeal (or even name recognition) to fill Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shoes, and it is likely that if he decides run, Brown could win.
