Overconfidence led to Clinton downfall

WASHINGTON. Hillary Rodham Clinton began her presidential quest armed with talent, tenacity, fame, money, connections and a team that knew how to win.

Many people believed her victory in the Democratic nomination battle was a sure thing. Her ultimate failing may have been in believing it, too.

Clinton had one big problem out of the gate: 40 percent or more of Americans said they’d never vote for her. She was too polarizing. It’s love her or hate her.

But Clinton powered through that hurdle in state after state, showing grit that earned her the valuable political currency of being merely admired.

She also brought many more people to her side, over time, and took the edge off the Hillary haters. Later, voters started worrying more about the economy, a strength of hers over Barack Obama.

Despite all that, her campaign is on the ropes. Clinton is fighting on for a prize few believe she can win anymore, barring some game-changing development.

Clinton once said she is the most famous person no one knows, meaning Americans don’t really get her. Sixteen months after she opened her campaign sitting on a couch in a cozy online video, it’s questionable whether people ever discovered the authentic Clinton.

It’s common knowledge that she planned to wrap up the nomination in early February. It was a reasonable assumption in 2007, but there wasn’t much of a Plan B when that didn’t work out in 2008.

“They had an inevitability strategy, which was sort of a political Maginot line. It was illusionary,” Dick Harpootlian, a former South Carolina Democratic chairman and Obama supporter, said after her Super Tuesday strategy fell short.