Hillary Clinton seemed to suffer from one yesterday, with Barack Obama winning this demographic -- previously assumed to have been skeptical of him on racial grounds -- by about 5 percentage points nationally. Since the Democratic electorate is more heavily female than male, it's not crucial that Clinton win male voters to win the nomination. But today I asked Clinton Chief Strategist Mark Penn how the campaign is planning on fighting for white male votes in upcoming states. His answer was based on the idea that, given more time, John Edwards supporters will hear Clinton's new focus on populist economics and decide she shares their values. And he also believes that seeing Clinton in more one-on-one debates with Obama will help male voters to take her more seriously. Here are Penn's remarks:There were a lot of voters who were voting for Edwards who had a very short time to make up their mind. The Senator is particularly strong on what she will do to fix the economy, fix foreclosure, and keep the mortgage crisis from becoming a blight on communities, and on what she will do to reign in the special interests. And those voters will have more time to absorb her message of shared prosperity. ...It's one of the reasons why we believe it's important to have a series of debates where the voters will have the chance to see the candidates one-on-one.The Clinton campaign is challenging Obama to up to four more debates between now and the March primaries, since they believe that kind of forum plays to her strengths. Indeed, as Ezra has often remarked, Clinton is better at conversing than lecturing, while the opposite is true for Obama. But there's no particular evidence that the mass of former Edwards supporters (I'm not taking about the hyper-informed denizens of the blogosphere) are making up their minds based on a sober comparison of Clinton and Obama's health care and economic stimulus plans as presented at debates. Rather, a good chunk of them were looking to support someone newer on the scene, or someone male, or someone not a Clinton, and for that reason alone, have jumped to Obama. --Dana Goldstein
