"Hillary Clinton made a trip to Kyle on the Pine Ridge, and her husband made four stops on four reservations, including Pine Ridge.

And still, Barack Obama won the Native American vote in South Dakota.

But that doesn’t mean Clinton’s Native outreach failed. I think it played a role - possibly an important one - in her 55-45 primary win here.

First, she kept it relatively close in most of Indian Country, where Obama might - through aggressive voter registration and his widespread appeal to young, in some casees newly registered, voters - have scored a blow-out.

But just as importantly, she reached out to people beyond the reservation and Native people, to non-Natives who nonetheless care deeply about Native American issues. Many of those people are Democrats living in places like Sioux Fall and Aberdeen, and at least some of them have been unhappy with Clinton over her Iraq vote and subsequent comments on terrorists that some considered hawkish."

Get the Story:
Mount Blogmore: Native outreach and the Clinton campaign (The Rapid City Journal 6/9)

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