Clinton's hard-won nomination comes after learning the lessons of 2008

The journey was grueling, unexpectedly contentious and not without controversy, but on Monday night Hillary Clinton became the de facto Democratic presidential nominee through the dogged determination of a campaign intent on shattering the glass ceiling that in 2008 was left with “18 million cracks”.

Although voters will go to the polls across six states on Tuesday, the results will be largely symbolic now that Clinton has secured the 2,383 delegates required to clinch the Democratic nomination and has become the first female presidential nominee for a major party in US history.

And with the primary hurdle crossed, the challenge for Clinton will now be to unite the party – and persuade Bernie Sanders and his legion of supporters to rally behind her historic candidacy.

That the leftwing Vermont senator has already signaled he will not go quietly into the night reflects the intra-party discord that distinguishes this cycle f-rom 2008, when Clinton not only conceded to Barack Obama but offered her former opponent an impassioned endorsement. But nothing has come easy for Clinton in her second quest for the White House

She launched her campaign in low-key fashion, with the release of a video last April vowing to fight for every vote. And indeed Clinton did, traversing the country over the next 14 months, even visiting those states she was always poised to lose.

Her 2016 campaign began, in essence, by acknowledging the missteps that prevented her victory in 2008. Criticized then for appearing unavailable, through larger and more orchestrated events, this time Clinton embarked on a quiet listening tour in the early states that routinely placed her in small, roundtable settings to forge connections with local business owners and community leaders.

While Obama was viewed as the history-making candidate in 2008, Clinton let it be known that 2016 would be the year that America might finally usher into its political lexicon the words Madame President. And as opponents – not least Donald Trump – accused her of playing “the woman card”, Clinton shrugged it off by positioning herself as an advocate for women’s economic issues and reproductive rights. “Deal me in,” she proclaimed last summer in what became something of a catchphrase.

Her campaign built a formidable ground game, seeking to replicate the model that twice propelled Obama to sweeping victories. And Clinton moved early to make inroads with the coalition of supporters without whose support she could neither become the party standard-bearer nor potentially the next president, courting the African Americans and Latinos who would go on to vote for her in droves in most primary contests.

But the early months of Clinton’s campaign, however meticulous in their planning, were still beset by controversy. Revelations that she had used a private email server as secretary of state clouded her candidacy, and what was initially viewed as a nonchalance by her campaign in responding to the matter raised alarms even among Clinton’s Democratic allies.

A lack of regular interactions with her traveling press also earned Clinton the perception of being inaccessible, to the point that media outlets developed clocks c-harting the last time she took questions on the campaign trail.

And then there was Bernie Sanders.


Bernie Sanders has kept up pressure on Clinton even as she maintained a consistent lead in delegate count.
Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters

The senator f-rom Vermont had declared his candidacy for president just two weeks after Clinton, but few of those who attended his unceremonious announcement – a press conference on Capitol Hill – would have predicted the onset of a revolution.

Clinton’s campaign never expected she would coast to victory without a challenger, but what was not immediately apparent was the influence Sanders would have on shaping the conversation within the Democratic primary. F-rom Wall Street to trade to the environment, pressure f-rom Sanders, against the backd-rop of rallies attended by tens of thousands, ensured that Clinton had to tack left to represent the party in 2016.

But a more progressive posture was not sufficient to quell the challenge f-rom Sanders, who as the primary dragged on grew increasingly pointed in both his criticism of Clinton and of the nominating process.

The battle between the two reached new heights – or depths – earlier this year, as Sanders stated that Clinton was “unqualified” to be president after she refused to explicitly say in an interview whether the senator was qualified for the nation’s top job. Sanders walked back his comments amid a backlash, but the moment was emblematic of the fissures between the two campaigns.

On Tuesday evening, Clinton will take the stage in Brooklyn, New York, to deliver a speech that will mark for the first time her position as the presumptive Democratic nominee. And with Sanders refusing to back down amid complaints over the process – despite Clinton having secured 3 million more votes – the onus may well be on Clinton to set the tone for party unity.

“The coming together of the Sanders and Clinton clans is really her first major test as the de facto party leader now,” said Simon Rosenberg, the founder of the New Democrat Network.

An average of publicly available polling at the Huffington Post reveals that Sanders’ support remains strong among Democrats, at just over 40%. It will be incumbent upon Clinton to recognize Sanders’ accomplishments and reach out to his supporters, Rosenberg said, thus paving the way for a smooth six weeks before the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July.

“If you look at what has to happen, she has to bring the party together, get Bernie on board, pick a VP and conduct a good convention. This is all happening very rapidly now, and these are all very consequential things,” Rosenberg said.

Progressives will also be keeping a watchful eye on Clinton’s agenda and whether the party platform will include some of their desired priorities, such as the expansion of social security benefits, debt-free college, breaking up too-big-to-fail banks and a $15 federal minimum wage.

“While Bernie Sanders takes some time to think, the next big step will come f-rom Hillary Clinton,” said Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has yet to endorse in the Democratic primary.
“Hillary Clinton and her representatives on the Democratic platform committee can unite the party and sow the seeds for victory in November by embracing popular progressive ideas that have risen to the forefront in recent years that are not currently in the platform.”

Barring any major stumbles, Clinton is set to emerge in a strong position as Republicans continue to grapple with the day-to-day fallout f-rom having as their own presumptive nominee the bombastic and unpolished Trump. Although both nominees hold high unfavorable ratings, Democrats remain confident in their ability to portray Trump as fundamentally unserious and unfit for the office – an image he continues to play into with his own controversial comments, such as his latest attack on a judge over his Hispanic ethnicity.

Clinton allies are well aware that the road ahead will not be without its detours, given the looming unpredictability represented by both Sanders and Trump. But for now, they are content to celebrate the moment.

“I keep thinking about the great Ann Ric-hards, who said: ‘Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did – only backwards and in high heels,’” said Paul Begala, a longtime Clinton associate who consults the Super Pac supporting her candidacy, Priorities USA Action.

“Hillary has truly made history. It only took 227 years.”