Hillary Clinton: Keeping it in 'Drive'

by Rick Pearson

INDIANAPOLIS--Sen. Hillary Clinton took an Indiana primary day visit to the Brickyard, the site of the famed Indianapolis 500, where racing teams were tuning up for the running of the classic auto race on May 25.

But the New York Democrat is extending the finish line for her own party's presidential nomination, saying the nominee will need 2,209 delegates, not the 2,025 figure that has been the accepted winning total because the lower number does not count delegations from Michigan and Florida.

Visiting Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with driver and team owner Sarah Fisher, the political talk of race was of a different sort as Clinton tossed in auto racing metaphors at every chance as she looked at Fisher's No. 67 entry, which displayed a "Hillary for President" fiberglass side fender.

Clinton refused to make a prediction on the outcome of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries being held today.

"I just try to do the best I can. That's what we all do--we get out there, work hard," she said. "You know, you look at this piece of machinery and what Sarah's going to do with it, she's going to do the very best she can and I hope it works out well for her."

Clinton was asked by reporters whether she thought the true finish line for the winner of the Democratic nomination was 2,209 delegates. "I think it's 2,209," she said. Asked if that was being a bit disingenuous since Florida and Michigan were stripped of their delegates because their party primaries were held before Feb. 5, Clinton said, "no not at all."

"I think that it's going to be the rest of these contests, which are very significant. And then in June, if we haven't done it already, we're going to have to resolve Florida and Michigan," she said. "And they were legitimate elections. People came out and voted. If you count them, I'm ahead in the number of people who voted. It's a close delegate race. It's a close vote total and we're going to have to figure out how we fulfill the wishes of the voters in those two important states."

Asked if she would stay in the race regardless of the outcome of the voting, Clinton said she was "interested in finding out what the voters actually think because there's all kinds of speculation."

"It would be like predicting who's going to win the Indy 500 before it even started. We don't know," she said. "People prepare. They work hard. They do their best. Life is unpredictable. Racing's unpredictable. Politics is unpredictable. So, I'm just going to wait to see what the voters have to say."

Fisher, who will be making her seventh Indy 500 start, has endorsed Clinton's presidential bid and the candidate gasped an "oh my goodness" when she entered the garage containing the race car. After greeting Fisher's crew, Fisher handed Clinton the small steering wheel of the car, which included shift buttons that Clinton tried out.

When Clinton said the technology from the race car might be beneficial to all motorists, Fisher put in a plug for her engine supplier, Honda, and said the firm does research from racing that it applies to its vehicles.

The race car, estimated to cost about $1 million, tops out at about 230 miles per hour, Fisher told Clinton. "That's like going into space, almost," Clinton said.

Asked why she chose the raceway for a primary-day visit in contrast to her routine in previous states to tour polling places, Clinton let the racing metaphors fly.

"Well we need to get on the track in America and get toward the finish line to change this country," she said. "I've said it before, I think there's a good driving analogy. If you want to go forward, you put it in D. If you want to go backward, you put it in R," a reference to Democrats and Republicans.

"Just so you know," Fisher said, "we don't have reverse in this car."