I can answer your quandary. Hillary was perceived by the country club republicans as more left wing. Barack Hussein was perceived as more of a centrist who would bring the country together and we could all sing Kooombaya. The country clubbers figured anointment of the “hope & change” half African would cure racial tensions once and for all.
Makes sense except that bho was known to be the most liberal senator well before the election - even to the left of Hillary and that was a major strike against him at the time. I’m not liking rove at all after what he’s said about Palin, Angle and O’Donnell.
Do you recall Obama vote on increasing the debt limit as a senator? He voted NO! That is a conservative position.
Before 2008, Obama was largely recognized as a far left liberal on social issues. He did not have a lot of history on financial issues since he was in senate barely a year when he started campaigning for president. He was a back bencher. OTOH Hillary had a well known history on Hillarycare and other left wing financial issues.