One of the most underreported facts in American politics is the fact that Asian Americans tend to vote disproportionately Democratic. The Republican Party’s problems with minorities, in other words, go beyond policies said to alienate blacks and Latinos. Simply put, rightly or wrongly, there is a perception among many minorities that the GOP is the party of and for white people. And the behavior of many Republican politicians and (especially) commentators in the Obama era has done little to rectify this impression, to say the least.

This is why Hillary Clinton’s move is clever. What do you do when you’re trying to inherit a “rainbow coalition” from Barack Obama? And you happen to be a rich, white person? The Southern Strategy in reverse. And, in particular, you put an issue like voting rights at the forefront, and hope prominent GOP figures say something awful about it, as they are wont to do.

Of course, the fact that the mainstream media, already predisposed against conservatives, will be glad to gin up any bad line and spin it in the worst way possible, only helps her cause. Republicans are especially vulnerable during their primary process, when they will be more likely to pander, er, appeal to the right wing of their party.