Opinion: Hillary Clinton basks (but her airtime is limited)

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Hillary Clinton and her campaign, understandably, sought to give her win in Florida’s Democratic presidential primary tonight the trappings of a meaningful victory.

True, there was no actual campaign waged in the state because she and her rivals adhered to the request from national party officials that they steer clear after Florida broke rules established for the primary season and it moved its contest ahead of others. As a result -- and as the Barack Obama campaign was eager to stress -- no delegates were awarded.

Still, after a rough few days during she was routed by Obama in South Carolina and watched party icon Ted Kennedy gravitate to his side, why not celebrate? And so she did, traveling to Florida for a traditional victory rally.

Her showing did have meaning -- mainly as another warning to Barack Obama that his campaign has to work hard to neutralize her built-in advantage among white and Latino votes.

It wasn’t important enough, however, for the cable news networks to stick with the victory speech she delivered shortly after the polls closed.

CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all aired the start of her remarks. But each cut away at various points to focus on the evening’s more compelling story -- the Republican presidential primary.

-- Don Frederick