Hillary Clinton won only 16% of voters under the age of 30 in New Hampshire. That devastating result helps explain why she is now giving a key role in her campaign to 39-year-old Jen O’Malley Dillon, Barack Obama’s deputy campaign manager in 2012. Last year, O’Malley Dillon was also the lead U.S. consulate on the campaign team of 43-year-old Justin Trudeau, who activated younger voters to become that country’s second-youngest prime minister.
NBC News reports that “both Bill and Hillary Clinton have been concerned about campaign strategy and messaging, according to sources…
The Clinton’s did not foresee the size of Tuesday night’s defeat in New Hampshire, compounding the apparent urgency to act.”
No kidding. Nevada’s Democratic caucuses are only ten days away, and momentum from New Hampshire could propel Bernie Sanders into an upset victory. The crucial South Carolina primary is a week later on February 27.
O’Malley Dillon isn’t one for giving many interviews. But she did write an article in Campaigns & Elections after she helped Trudeau’s Liberals throw out an incumbent Conservative government that had been in power for a decade. “While mean-spirited and pessimistic rhetoric may play to the base early on, optimism almost always wins out in the end,” she wrote. “(The Liberals) stuck to their campaign plan and remained true to their leader’s positive vision and authentic message”
The challenge is that what worked for the Liberals in Canada might be difficult to replicate with Hillary Clinton. Her message is seen as backward-looking and as for authenticity, a majority of Democrats who voted in New Hampshire’s primary don’t view her as honest or trustworthy.