I read an article in The New York Times about how the town of Obama, Japan has rallied behind the Democratic Presidential candidate who shares the same name. This got me thinking how the city of Clinton, Illinois feels about their shared namesake.
I put in a call to the Mayor of Clinton, Ed Wallot, who informed me his city is named for Dewitt Clinton, a former governor of New York.
"When I wake up in the morning and I hear the name Clinton I think about a pothole that I have to fix," said Wallot. "Our thoughts go to the New York governor, not to Bill or Hillary."
Wallot said a previous Clinton mayor wanted to change the name of the city when Bill Clinton was president.
But Clinton, Illinois is not the only Clinton in the country. In fact, there are Clinton counties in nine states. I could still answer the question: Do the Clinton counties support Sen. Hillary Clinton?
The answer is yes and no. My extensive research and analysis has revealed that sharing a name with the counties did not give Hillary Clinton an advantage in the vote tally. The county votes pretty much matched up with how the rest of the state attached to the county voted.
In Clinton County, New York, Clinton defeated Obama by an almost three to one margin. Clinton won her home state by a large margin.
In Clinton County, Illinois, Obama won by four percent over Clinton in his home state.
In Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton won the most votes. However, Obama was not on the ballot in the state.
In Clinton County, Iowa, Obama narrowly defeated Clinton in the first state he won.
In Clinton County, Missouri, Clinton received more votes than Obama. Obama narrowly won the state on Super Tuesday.
Clinton County, Ohio voted this week with Clinton winning 61 percent of the vote, according to CNN.
Clinton Counties in Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania will vote in the coming weeks.
I didn't actually think the voters of this country would waste their votes by voting for a candidate with the same name as their county, but I was curious enough to check it out.
It is too bad John Edwards dropped out of the race before he could compete in Edwards County in Illinois, Kansas and Texas.
