Did Hillary's Tears Win the Race?

Softer, emotionally accessible Clinton may have won over voters

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 9, 2008 8:17 AM CST

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Did Hillary's Tears Win the Race? — Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., center, speaks to women at a cafe in Portsmouth, N.H., after become emotional while answering a question from an undecided voter there Monday, Jan. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) (Associated Press)

Did Hillary Clinton's emotional waterworks help her win New Hampshire? Some columnists think so. The image of the often-steely Clinton getting teary-eyed in a coffee shop Monday—splashed on newspapers and replayed obsessively on television yesterday—may have been enough to soften her image, especially with female voters, a critical factor in New Hampshire, reports the New York Times.

Some bloggers mocked Clinton's sudden flow of emotion when she fell into second place; others thought the whole episode was cynically planned. But after she lost to two more emotional male candidates in Iowa, it couldn't have hurt. “Over the last week, I listened to you and, in the process, found my own voice,” she told supporters in her victory speech last night.
(More Clinton 2008 stories.)

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