That’s all folks. Hillary Clinton wrapped up the Democratic party nomination in style last night, hurtling over the required threshold in both pledged and combined pledged and unpledged delegates. In the process she became the first woman candidate for president of a major party in American history.

Let us reflect on that for a moment. The US is the world’s sole superpower, with the largest economy, strongest military, and greatest influence on the global stage. It is also ranked a lowly 28^th in the Global Gender Gap Index (behind Estonia and Burundi), a country where one in five women are sexually assaulted in college, and where women make up just 19 per cent of elected federal representatives. The fact this country’s leading political party has chosen a women to be its presidential nominee truly is staggering.

Clinton did not get there the easy way, either. She faced one dogged opponent in Bernie Sanders, and another of her own making in the ‘homebrew’ email server scandal. At times it even seemed as if she would once again fall short of the top prize as she did in 2008.

So how did she pull it off? Five factors contributed to her success:

1) Delegates

Team Clinton learned from their mistakes in 2008, when they leaked delegates to the Obama camp all over the board by winning small in some states and losing big in the others. This time around, the campaign kept a laser-focus on the magic 2,383 delegate total. Clinton competed fiercely in those states that yielded the greatest bounties, targeted ad buys in those markets that would reach the most congressional districts for the least cost, and worked those unpledged superdelegates hard. The strategy paid off in spades. Clinton had built up a near-insurmountable lead in pledged delegates as early as March, and her big win in New York on 19 April essentially finished Sanders off. In terms of superdelegates, she scooped 571 to Sanders 48.

2) The minority vote

Clinton bossed the minority vote. More than 8 out of 10 blacks cast their ballot for her in South Carolina and 75 per cent backed her in New York. She outperformed in states with large Hispanic populations. And, of course, she romped home with women voters as a whole – despite Sanders’ strength in the younger demographics. As Nate Silver of FiveThrityEight.com put it back in April:

‘Sanders is winning states that are much whiter than the Democratic electorate as a whole, Clinton is winning states that are much blacker than the Democratic electorate as a whole, and Clinton is winning most of those states that are somewhere in the middle’.

3) Money

House of Cards’ Frank Underwood put it best: ‘I’ve always said that power is more important than money, but when it comes to elections, money gives power, well, a run for its money.’ Clinton built up a formidable war chest early on in the campaign, booking $112m in 2015, and entered the primary season this January with $38m cash-in-hand. The figures for Sanders were $73m and $28m respectively. While the Vermont Senator went on a fundraising blitz in the spring, Clinton’s knock-out blow in New York put a wrench in his money-making machine. Clinton entered June with $42m in the bank. Sanders had just $6m by the end of April.

4) Experience

Money can be raised; experience is earned. Hillary’s unrivalled record of public service over 35 years as first lady of Arkansas, first lady of the United States, senator, and secretary of state put her in an enviable position going into the primary season versus the little-known Bernie Sanders. This helped her rack up a number of high profile media endorsements, including from the Des Moines Register on the eve of the Iowa caucuses. The endorsement stated: ‘No other candidate can match the depth or breadth of her knowledge and experience.’ Her experience was also touted by Democratic party heavyweights Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, Jerry Brown, governor of California, and labor secretary Thomas Perez as part of their respective endorsements.

5) Organisation

Community organisers were the engine of Clinton’s delegate-grabbing machine. As early as June 2015, she had 50 full-time organisers in the early primary states, 15 offices set up in those states, and 11,869 commitments to volunteer. She invaded Iowa with a massive field operation in advance of the caucuses. According to Politico:

‘Staffers and volunteers have penned handwritten notes to supporters and kept in touch almost daily with their networks since April. Volunteers like precinct captain Julie Mason have been working full-time since April hosting neighborhood parties, button-making parties, traveling halfway across the state to attend events, and hosting “commitment” gatherings – all to make sure people know the details of their caucus locations.’

This commitment to grassroots activism helped Clinton grind out wins in the tough contests – including Iowa.

Ultimately, Clinton did not do anything spectacularly different from other presidential candidates to clinch the nomination. This time, unlike in 2008, she simply mastered the basics.

This time it gave her the win she had sought for so long.

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Louie Woodall is a member of Labour International CLP. He tweets @LouieWoodall

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