OK–I’m getting really annoyed with Hillary.

Florida had its primary yesterday–but it was really only important to the Republicans. On the Democratic side, the party had decided to punish Florida for moving the primary forward on the calendar by invalidating its delegates–and it secured a pledge from all of the candidates not to campaign there. All of the candidates obeyed that, although Hillary “bent” the pledge on the final days by doing fundraising appearances there.

The polls were still open for Democrats despite the delegate issue, even though the vote didn’t mean anything. It came in lop-sided in favor of Hillary. So she put together a hastily-assembled victory party and sent out a message to supporters declaring a “tremendous” victory, while asking for money:

I know I told you our campaign journey would be filled with high-stakes twists and turns. But I never knew it would be quite as dramatic as this. And last night we celebrated another big moment in this campaign with our resounding victory in Florida.
In a race this close, whatever you and I do now can make the difference. Every campaign stop, every voter we talk to, and every dollar you give can be the difference on Tuesday. Only our online supporters like you can act decisively enough to make sure the excitement and energy of this victory carries through on February 5.

This is really rubbing me the wrong way, since she is clearly trying to spin the non-event in Florida as a victory to try to blunt her loss to Obama in South Carolina. It’s crass, it’s annoying, it’s blatantly obvious, and it whiffs of desperation.

Keep it up Hillary–and you’re going to need Republicans to vote for you on Election Day as the constituency you’re alienating stays home.

Tags: 2008-election, florida, hillary