The woman who made Clinton cry voted for Obama

Yeah, maybe it was a "real" moment, maybe it wasn't a calculated act, I recognize that they're all exhausted. But I still found this story terribly ironic. Alas, my man Richardson plans to bow out today. Onto Nevada for the big 3.

The woman who made Clinton cry
voted for Obama
Suzanne Goldenberg
Thursday January 10, 2008
The Guardian

The woman whose question produced the tearful moment from Hillary Clinton that helped her win the New Hampshire primary ended up voting for Barack Obama.

Marianne Pernold Young, 64, a freelance photographer, was one of a small group of women who went to meet Clinton at a coffee shop in the town of Portsmouth on the day before the vote.

Although a lifelong Democrat, Young and the others were undecided at that point in the race. She acknowledges the power of that moment.

"It showed us that she is human and manages to still perform in the way she does, and still has a person inside of her. She is a human being. She is not a robot," Young told the Guardian.

But although she was moved by Clinton's display of emotion, it did not influence her vote on polling day.

"I was leaning towards Obama and I voted for Obama. It's strange, but he made me cry when I went to see him," she said. "We need new blood."

Young said she was not persuaded that Clinton's display of emotion had been entirely sincere.

"Her response to me was heartfelt for the first 10 seconds," she said. "She put her hand on her chin and kind of looked at me like someone she had known for a long time and we were in a coffee shop just her and I," Young said.

But the moment was fleeting. "When she turned away from me, she assumed political posture again. I felt that her body language was rigid and she assumed that political language."