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Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is one long haul. Sometimes it is also a long drawl. Clinton joined the South Carolina House Democratic Women’s Caucus Wednesday for her first appearance in that state of her most recent campaign, and took a slower vocal route to confirm that she is "running to live again at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue":
This marked twang rang on the stage not more than a few moments after state Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter began her introduction of the candidate with a friendly "Hey, y'all!" Cobb-Hunter's greeting received warm cheers, so it is only fair to assume Clinton's drawl returned because she knew it would receive a similar welcome. (The event is on C-SPAN's website to watch in its entirety.)
Of course, this isn't the first time we've heard the vocal inclination of Clinton's Southern roots. Here is the twang in 1983:
Here is the twang in 1987 (hat tip for these two videos to Bloomberg):
The twang also visited Selma, Alabama, in 2007:
In fact, Hillary Clinton's accent has visited many parts of the world, because Clinton carries it everywhere, and she travels frequently. We can't say, however, why she doesn't use it all the time — but it seems to show up more frequently when she’s speaking to a Southern audience. For example, the twang was not in this solemn speech on racism and injustice at Columbia University in New York on April 29, 2015:
In 2008, the twang did not join the stage with Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Colorado as she voiced support for then-fellow candidate Barack Obama's run:
We do not know where the accent will appear next, but there is a certain fascination worthy to be had of public figures who can turn their accents on and off, as if they are geolocated mobile apps in their own right.
