Hillary Clinton must put her best foot forward in New Hampshire primaries

Hillary Rodham Clinton must be hoping that the demons of the 2008 Democratic Party primaries, where she lost to her challenger Barack Obama, have already been exorcised, and that this time round, in the party primaries, she will eke out a victory and join the race for the White House.

This, however, will depend on Clinton’s next showing, more so in the upcoming New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada primaries.

Her showing in Iowa was not all convincing, given that at the end of the day, she shared the 44 available delegates, almost equally.

It is New Hampshire though, which should be of utmost interest to observers.

Former President Henry Ford once said that “History is bunk,” meaning that society should live in the present as opposed to the past.

This, for Clinton should be comforting, well aware that the Democratic race next goes to New Hampshire on Tuesday.

This is a state that has comfortably adapted the role of king-maker, either way you look at it, in as far as her party’s presidency nominations for the last two score years are concerned.

For Bernie Sanders, the 74-year old Vermont senator who is exciting his base of mostly young people and liberals, it should be all smiles, granted his populist ideologies — “Break the big banks, free college, universal health care, and removal of income inequalities” — are resonating well with voters.

It is not strange, therefore, that opinion polls have him leading Clinton in this state.

It is also worth noting that in as far as the political spectrum is concerned, quite a significant percentage of Democrats in both Iowa or New Hampshire identify as socialists.

'COMEBACK KID'
When Clinton examines her prospects in New Hampshire, and juxtaposes this to the thinking that the state has played king-maker to her husband Bill Clinton and later on to Barack Obama, she will have to put her best foot forward.

After all, knowledge of past errors should be a beacon for corrective action in the present and the future and this, I believe, will be a rallying call that Clinton will want to adapt.

One February night in 1992, Bill Clinton took to the podium at the Best Western in the town of Merrimack, New Hampshire, giddy with excitement.

Looking at the thousands of cheering supporters, who included Hillary, his wife, Bill roared:

“New Hampshire tonight has made Bill Clinton the comeback kid,” he said, amidst cheer from the adoring crowd.

This declaration made it seem as though the young Democrat from Arkansas had won that night.

In reality, he had placed second, nine points behind the winner, Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas. It was a better placing than the Iowa Caucus where he had finished third.

When Obama announced he was running for presidency in February 2007, not many gave him much of a decent shot to secure the nomination, with many backing Hillary Clinton.

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO
Obama would go on to be the star of the Iowa Caucus. His disciplined and effective grassroots organisation, masterminded by David Plouffe, would surprise the Clinton machinery, with an upset victory.

In his Iowa victory speech, Obama derided the Clinton camp noting: “They said this day would never come.”

For Hillary Clinton, she might suffer defeat in New Hampshire; how she deals with it will be worth watching, for it will shape the rest of her campaign.

In my prediction, for the Republicans, underestimate Marco Rubio at your own risk. He may end up winning it all.

Mr Muriuki lives in Los Angeles mukurima@gmailcom