[Hillary did *not* limit the antiwar protest vote against her to single digits, yet, mirabile dictu, the NY Times made no mention of this failure in its coverage:]
September 13, 2006
At the Finish Line in New York, Clinton Forgoes a Victory Dance
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
CHAPPAQUA, N.Y., Sept. 12 — Primary Day came and went with little fanfare for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. She gave no victory party. There was no balloon drop. With the exception of an early-morning appearance to vote for herself in the Democratic primary at a mostly deserted polling station near her home here, Mrs. Clinton barely acknowledged having a challenger at all. ...
“Well, I’ve worked really hard,” Mrs. Clinton said after casting her ballot at the Douglas G. Grafflin Elementary School, when asked why her opposition seemed so minimal. “And I hope New Yorkers know what I’ve done for the last five and a half years.”
With her only New York event of the day completed, Mrs. Clinton and her husband slipped back into their new hybrid sport utility vehicle and sped off for the airport.
Such purposefulness could have seemed dull, even a little ornery, in another political setting. But this is a year in which many mainstream Democrats, including Mrs. Clinton, have come under fire from liberals for supporting the war in Iraq. And just last month, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, a staunch supporter of the war, was defeated by an antiwar challenger in the Democratic primary. So for Mrs. Clinton, celebrating her victory on Tuesday over her antiwar opponent, Jonathan Tasini, might have seemed a bit like gloating to her party’s left wing.
She returned to Washington instead. ...
Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said that her quiet day was not an attempt to soften the blow for Mr. Tasini’s supporters as she considers running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, a campaign in which liberals will be the crucial voting bloc. Instead, her advisers suggested, Mrs. Clinton spent little thought on the primary. “The election we’re focused on is in November,” said Howard Wolfson, a top Clinton political strategist.
For all their apparent indifference to the primary, however, Mrs. Clinton’s staff members were probably keeping an eye on the results, since a better-than-expected showing by Mr. Tasini might have been interpreted as softness in Mrs. Clinton’s armor. Her advisers predicted before the primary that he would take about 20 percent of the vote. In 2000, Mrs. Clinton drew 82 percent in the Democratic primary. Yesterday, she won more than 83 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns.
Senator Charles E. Schumer, whose ability to draw 71 percent of the general election vote in his last race has set the bar high for Mrs. Clinton this November, said he could not compare his experience to hers because he did not have even token primary opposition in 2004.
But he credited Mrs. Clinton for effectively keeping Mr. Tasini at bay during the past few months. “The reason she can take it easy on Primary Day is she’s worked very hard for six years,” Mr. Schumer said.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/nyregion/13clinton.html?ref=nyregion>
Carl