I think you’re half wrong about that. Obama won the early primaries which put him insurmountably ahead of Hillary, who came on strong at the end.
The press was enthralled with the very idea of the first black president much more than with the first female president. Hillary was thought to be both an appendix of Bill and the boss of Bill and too independent for much of the press.
NOPE. Obama was barely on the radar, then when kennedy endorsed it was a firestorm against Hilary and then obama was put into the media affirmative action program.